Employment, learning and skills charity, Shaw Trust, is combining its expertise with some of the UK’s leading educationalists to become an Approved Sponsor for Academies.To do so, it has created a multi-academy trust, entitled the Shaw Education Trust. The Shaw Education Trust will focus on supporting special schools and mainstream schools serving disadvantaged communities.
Three Staffordshire special schools have converted to become academies and will be the first schools to join Shaw Education Trust at the start of the next academic year.
The Shaw Education Trust’s board has appointed Mr Jim Kane as chief executive. Mr Kane is currently executive head teacher at Blackfriars Coppice Federation of Schools based in Newcastle-under-Lyme. Coppice school is judged by Ofsted to be good with outstanding features. Blackfriars is graded outstanding and is a National Support School and a Teaching School. During the last twelve months the Federation has been working with Walton Hall School in Eccleshall, which will also be joining the Trust.
By becoming an academy sponsor, Shaw Trust is continuing to realise its vision of a society where everyone has the opportunity for employment, inclusion and independence. In particular, the Shaw Education Trust aims to address the cliff edge when young people leave school with little or no support to help them in the next stage of their life – a more challenging problem for those with disabilities or living in disadvantaged communities.
The education trust and its schools will not only deliver a first class education to its students and play a leading role in the local communities it serves; its unique Student/School Agreement and graduation scheme will focus on smoothing the transition on leaving school.
Roy O’Shaughnessy, chief executive of Shaw Trust, said: “Becoming an approved academy sponsor is an exciting and logical extension to Shaw Trust’s vision of society and the sense of purpose we bring to achieving it. By combining our three decades of employability expertise and with some of the UK’s leading educationalists, this unique collaboration focuses on those with most need thereby making a real difference for those the charity was created to serve.”
Jim Kane, chief executive of Shaw Education Trust, said: “The Shaw Education Trust is committed to delivering best-in-class tailored learning to ensure every young person at one of our schools has the opportunity and support to achieve their full potential – whatever their abilities and whatever their background. By offering work experience placements and dedicated advisers, a focus on bridging the gap between school and the outside world will give the young people we serve the best chances to go on to education, employment or training.”
Shaw Education Trust, through the schools which join the Trust, will sign an agreement with every student and their family that guarantees they will receive an appropriate work experience placement, employability skills training and a personalised and graduation support programme to help bridge the gap after school life.
