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Posted on: 12/11/2024Learner Voice Council Induction Day: Secondary
Danes Educational Trust proudly hosted its fourth annual Learner Voice Council (LVC) Induction Day, bringing together secondary school students and staff from across the Trust in a vibrant celebration of leadership, collaboration, and skill-building. The day served as an inspiring launchpad for young leaders embarking on their LVC journey.
Held at Onslow St Audrey’s School, the event featured a dynamic workshop carousel designed to equip students with essential skills through engaging sessions, each offering a unique perspective on leadership development:
Oracy Workshop led by Nicola Spencer, Danes Educationaly Trust English Lead
Teaching & Learning Workshop with Amy Ring, Assistant Headteacher at Onslow St Audrey's School
Teamwork Workshop run by Elstree Screen Arts Academy’s Prefect Team
Research Workshop delivered by Onslow St Audrey’s Sixth Form Team
The sessions, led with energy and expertise, encouraged students to enhance their public speaking and active listening skills, emphasised practical tools and strategies for negotiation, communication, and research – foundational skills for the young leaders poised to make a difference in their schools and communities.
Miles Conway, Trust Learning Lead for Learner Leadership, shared:
"It was an absolute pleasure to see all of our schools collaboratively come together. The LVC students were so dedicated and engaged, and I look forward to the meaningful changes the students make at all levels of the Trust. Special thanks go to the dedicated workshop leaders, facilitators and student leaders who made the day a resounding success."
The Learner Voice Council continues to grow in impact and ambition, underscoring Danes Educational Trust’s commitment to fostering student leadership and voice across its schools - ‘making the difference together’.
Posted on: 25/03/2024Hatfield making a difference - Building Futures assemblies
Throughout this academic year, De Havilland has endeavoured to instil in our pupils an aspiration to explore a diverse array of career options. This initiative is designed to inspire and empower the Hatfield community to contemplate an array of different career paths. Despite initial indications from pupil feedback suggesting aspirations towards careers as YouTubers, princesses and footballers, our objective has been to broaden their awareness of alternative career paths.
The organisation of these assemblies has been a collaborative effort involving various stakeholders, including parents, local businesses, St. John's Church, and connections beyond our immediate locality. Each assembly is characterised by its high level of interactivity, culminating in a comprehensive question and answer session.
One of our favourites has been from Nick Carter, an experienced explorer who has twice conquered Everest. His riveting accounts of survival techniques held our children spellbound, stimulating a profound interest in his experiences. Additionally, a representative from 'Foxes Biscuits,' while graciously providing product samples, explained how our mathematics curriculum equips them with the foundational knowledge and skills essential for financial acumen in adulthood. Furthermore, our parent community has made invaluable contributions by sharing personal educational journeys and careers including Nursery Nursing, being a fashion buyer for Boohoo and a PHD student fighting for equality in women’s sport.
The resulting impact has been nothing short of transformative. Our pupils now pose sophisticated inquiries to our guests, delving into the intricate pathways between secondary education and the professional realm. They have gained a nuanced understanding that career fulfilment transcends mere financial considerations, demonstrated by inquiries such as, "What aspects of your job make you the happiest?" The exposure garnered through these impactful assemblies has left an indelible mark on our pupils' cognitive frameworks, fostering a paradigm shift in their perceptions.
Sarah King
Co Headteacher
De Hvailland Primary School
Posted on: 15/03/2024Danes Educational Trust football cup
To coincide with International Women’s Day, a record-breaking 465,000 girls from 5000 schools across England signed up to take part in the FA and Barclays’ #LetGirlsPlay biggest ever football session. To coincide with this, we hosted the first ever ‘Danes Cup!’ an under 13 football tournament for girls from across the Trust to compete for the new Danes Educational Trust Trophy. Over 50 Girls from the Trust travelled to John Warner School to participate. Three qualified female referees took charge of the games, they were excellent role models for the players. The tournament was a round robin, ensuring each team played five games and against every other team in the Trust. The matches were played in great spirits, all the girls represented their schools brilliantly, showcasing not only an abundance of skills and talent, but also demonstrating sportsmanship, competitiveness and resilience. As we partnered the event with England Football, all participants were gifted an FA goody bag for their efforts and The Danes Cup trophy was eventually awarded to Croxley Danes after five exciting matches, Croxley Danes topped the group with a huge 13 points having only lost one game. Overall Standings 1st - Croxley Danes A 2nd - Croxley Danes B 3rd - St. Clement Danes 4th - John Warner 5th - Chancellors 6th - Onslow St. Audreys We want to express our gratitude and thanks to all the PE departments across the Trust for bringing their teams over to compete and providing their girls with a great footballing opportunity during International Women’s Day. We would also like to thank ESA for their expertise in photography and filming a paticular thank you to our student photographers Frankie (ESA) and Owen (John Warner). It was a brilliant afternoon of football and we are already looking forward to next year! Miss H Wood-Thompson The John Warner School Deputy Head of Sixth Form Teacher of Physical Education
Posted on: 5/03/2024What is intelligent alignment, and how did our date strategy help us to achieve this at Danes Educational Trust?
Trust Data Lead, Rob Wall has contributed to Arbor Education's new ebook for MAT leaders. The ebook brings together insights from four MAT leaders on how, when and why they aligned systems, people and processes in their trusts.
About the book
In recent times, the definition of ‘centralisation’ has become far more malleable, as trust leaders recognise that varying levels of alignment work for their organisations. In fact, by using the lens of “alignment”, it becomes easier to see that a centralised trust isn’t the same as having autonomy-less schools. Instead, alignment is a way of thinking about joining up people, processes and systems, so that MATs can work as one organisation, not many schools. This is all the more important given the pressures on MATs to continue to grow, drive school improvement, and create greater efficiencies. In short, a degree of centralisation has become necessary for growing trusts.
But knowing that alignment might look different from trust to trust, many MAT leaders are asking the same questions. When is the best time to get started? Where do you begin - with systems, people, or processes? And, most importantly, how do you do it well?
There are no one-size-fits all answers to these questions, so we sat down with four MAT leaders to get their different perspectives. In this short book, you’ll hear about their experiences and how they approached alignment to fit their unique contexts.
Register for a free copy here
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