FET is an established and developing MAT of 7 Special schools. We are working through an exciting period of change which started with my appointment as Chief Executive in 2022. I lead a talented and committed staff group as we strive to provide a safe and supportive environment for us to care for and educate our children. Debbie Bailey joined in January 2023 as Deputy Chief Executive and Education Director and is using her experience and knowledge to harness the talents of our staff as well as engage with external partners, to support the stability and future growth of our Trust and schools.
Our aim is to create a cohesive team of Trust Central staff and school staff, working together, fiercely loyal to each other. We are committed to developing local school identity and ethos, adopting strategies for school improvement that build on and enhance local reputation, raise standards and respond to the needs and aspirations of those we serve. We care about our staff, their learning, development and well-being and we are responding to feedback from our first Trust-wide employee survey on a wide range of matters relating to communication, workload, personal & professional development and wider support to our staff.
Our values remain unchanged, but we want to articulate them better and give unequivocal evidence that people can see them in the decisions we make and the things that we do. Mutual respect must pervade all our relationships and together our staff will learn, practice and collaborate – a sense of team will identify how we nurture our talent, for the benefit of our young people. At all times, FET will be a safe place for our children, because our staff will know that this is their top priority.
Anyone joining the Trust must share these values and live them in their daily lives. We want to
empower people to make decisions and to be creative. We are recruiting talented, experienced,
ambitious and forward-thinking people who want to work as part of a team that is committed to our ethos of moving forward together, striving for and achieving opportunities to improve outcomes and provide stability and success for all. These are not just words, this is what we do. You will be supported to ensure that the well-being and education of our pupils is at the centre of everything we do. We will also value you and your development and well-being and we want our people to grow with us.
I am very excited about the challenges ahead. I would welcome the chance to tell you about how you can become engaged in a similar way in the future of Forward Education Trust.