Written by For this month’s post, I want to highlight how inspired I have been by the exemplification of one of our Trust values, “Learning at the heart of all we do.” Whilst it may seem obvious for an educational provider to hold such a value dear, it is very easy for such organisations to become distracted or deflected from our core purpose. For me, this value is about both the delivery of learning by the organisation and its stakeholders, but also the acquisition of learning into the organisation and its stakeholders.
This academic year saw the launch of John Taylor MAT’s “Cheers for Peers” programme: an initiative whereby colleagues can nominate those staff in their school who they feel deserving of recognition for the exemplification of a specific Trust value. Reading the nominations for last half term’s chosen value (Learning at the heart of all we do) I have been deeply humbled by the testimonies of those across our schools when they describe the generosity and commitment of those they work alongside.
Our in-house staff magazine (“JTMATters”), now a well-established publication, always highlights and celebrates the events, innovations and accomplishments of individuals and groups within and across our schools. Each edition seems to have even more content that both informs and inspires. Our recent families’ edition is designed to communicate more effectively what being part of the Trust means to our schools and the staff who teach, lead and support their children’s learning and development.
Most recently, this month in fact, we saw the launch of “John Taylor Training” (www.johntaylortraining.co.uk), an umbrella entity that seeks to bring coherence and synergies between our various strands of staff development. These include The John Taylor SCITT (providers of teacher experience programmes and initial teacher training), John Taylor Teaching School Hub (provider of Appropriate Body services for Early Career Teachers, support for ECTs and their mentors, and the delivery of a wide-ranging suite of National Professional Qualifications [NPQs], the Staffordshire Research School (at the heart of disseminating the best research, and supporting its adoption into school strategy) and our own in-house staff development programmes. With a strapline of “from our staffrooms to yours”, we aim to provide more support for more colleagues in more schools – always with “learning at the heart of all we do”.
None of the above would be possible without committed colleagues to drive these initiatives forward, and none of those colleagues would have anything to deliver were it not for the colleagues across our Trust whose work is of a quality worthy of sharing, and who are willing to share their expertise and accomplishments so generously. Long may that continue!
Thanks, as always, for reading.
Mike.
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