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CEO’s Blog: May 2026 – Mental Health Awareness Week
I am intending to keep this month’s blog about Mental Health Awareness Week relatively brief. There are two reasons for this. First, I claim no authority or expertise on mental health, how to maintain a positive…
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CEO’s Blog: April 2026 – “RISE to the occasion.”
Post-Easter and pre-Whit tends to be the most active part of the school year when it comes to motivational speakers and speeches, rousing assemblies, positive newsletter messages and general “upbeatness” in schools. Teachers, leaders, pastoral support…
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CEO’s Blog: March 2026 – “I fear he has suffered a great success.”
In December 1985 bass player, singer, lyricist and founder member of Pink Floyd Roger Waters left the band. Believing the band to be “creatively dead”, Waters then embarked on a bitter feud with his former band…
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CEO’s Blog: January 2026 – “Learning at the heart of all we do.”
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…
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CEO’s Blog: December 2025 – “Show up on time, know the text, and have an idea!”
Regular readers may be aware that there has been a break in my blogging for several months. I can only blame a lethal cocktail of busy times whilst working, a period of very welcome annual leave…
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CEO’s Blog: June 2025 – Gareth Moss MBE
In April 2022, my monthly blog was entitled “Eyes on, hands off” and was devoted to the importance of effective governance for our schools and our Trust. I focussed on the pivotal part forensic scrutiny and…
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CEO’s Blog: May 2025 – “Go Out and Play!”
In the context of a forthcoming Bank Holiday weekend at the time of writing, and just following the Easter break, I wanted to share with you an extract from a piece by American author Kurt Vonnegut. …
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CEO’s Blog: March 2025 – Preserve what we value
John Taylor Multi-Academy Trust is a member of the Confederation of School Trusts – an excellent organisation that advocates for the academy sector and highlights developments in schools and wider themes across education. In its latest…
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CEO’s Blog: January 2025 – “If you would tell me the heart of a man, tell me not what he reads, but what he rereads.”
Happy New Year to all my blog readers. I was asked recently by a colleague associated with our Teaching School Hub and Research School for some details of my professional reading habits, and so I thought…
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CEO’s Blog: December 2024 – “Work hard”
This festive fortnight sees numerous end-of-term events across John Taylor MAT. Many of those events are school-specific: Christmas Fayres and concerts, nativities and other fun and games, but several are times we share together as a…
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CEO’s Blog: November 2024 Men’s Mental Health Month
One of the best aspects of working within a Multi-Academy Trust is the fact that efficiencies we create and working at scale enable us to do more for our schools than they would independently. This includes…
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CEO’s Blog: October 2024: Rugeley John Taylor School
Regular readers of my blog may have noticed that a couple of months have elapsed since my previous piece, and I was reminded of this by a colleague earlier this week. One of the causes of…
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CEO’s Blog: July 2024: All Right Now
One of my ‘guilty pleasures’ is to listen to a weekly radio show called “Sounds of the 70s”. I enjoy the nostalgia that allows me to reminisce of popular songs I heard from my childhood (often…
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CEO’s Blog: June 2024: “If it doesn’t challenge you…”
Longstanding readers of my blog will remember back in October 2021 I wrote about my experiences running The London Marathon. I was very fortunate to get a space through running for a charity (“The Rainy Day…
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CEO’s Blog: May 2024: The Guide to Good Parenting
This summer includes two milestones that have drawn me to reflect in this month’s blog on the role of parents in our schools. The first is a personal one. My younger son leaves school this term. …
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CEO’s Blog: April 2024: “Like a King”
In this month’s Blog I want to take the opportunity to focus a little on an aspect of provision in schools that has become more prominent in recent years: character education. Our schools are social settings…
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Official Opening, John Taylor Free School
As many readers will be aware, last week saw the official opening of John Taylor Free School by His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester. I have been asked by several of our guests that day…
Keep readingCEO’s Blog: March 2024: “Success is in growing.”
Much was made last weekend of the age profile of the winners of the 2024 Carabao Cup Final (the “English Football League Cup” in old money – or maybe you remember it as The Milk Cup,…
Keep readingCEO’s Blog: February 2024: “Candles in the Rain”
Longstanding readers of my blog may remember a number of years ago I wrote about the signage that bedecks the Manchester United academy at Carrington. In a large and clear font, the words of the Roman…
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CEO’s Blog: January 2024: “Not my 11 best.”
For this month’s blog I want to return to a theme that I have explored on numerous occasions and a virtue that we highlight within and across our Trust: collegiality. In a staff survey conducted a…
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