A MESSAGE from the Mossbourne Federation Chair, Toby Campbell-Gray
Dear Parents, Carers, and other stakeholders,
As we approach the busy period of public exams, I am delighted to be able to write to you with news
and an update from the Federation. This is a period when our staff and children are putting thetouches on the hard work undertaken throughout the year. We recognise that this can be a stressful time for some but are confident that the incredible work of our staff will enable all our students final to fulfill their full potential.
Over the past six months, the Implementation Committee (IC), which I chair, and which was delegated responsibility by the Central Federation Board (CFB), has worked tirelessly to consider the recommendations set out in both the Anne Whyte KC report and the review authored by Sir Alan Wood.
The Committee was set up to provide objective considerations for each of those recommendations mentioned above. As a consequence of this, the committee includes a broad group of stakeholders with specific skill sets including a representative from the Members board,
senior members of both Hackney and Thurrock Education, a parent and social worker and 2 members of the CFB.
Our mission is simple; to improve the Federation’s world class o ering further, to ensure this o ering is available to all students and to continue to provide (and improve) a well-managed safe environment where we know children will thrive. We do not rest upon our already outstanding educational outcomes, for which we are well known, but always strive for better.
Our ethos of “no excuses” should not be misunderstood, we believe passionately that every child should fulfill his/her full potential –
becoming the very best version of themselves, and achieving excellent educational outcomes, this means understanding and nurturing every child. Our sta have always aimed high, and they will settle for nothing less in all respects.
The IC committee has now met on 4 occasions and is nearing the end of its work. I envisage that I will be able to present our findings and recommendation to the CFB and the Members board around the end of May. I can also share that all the recommendations of Anne Whyte KC, whose report dealt largely with our complaints processes, will have been adopted and be in place by 1st September this
year.
Our work around the Wood review has been more intricate, however, I can say that we have arrived at a position where in some cases we will go far beyond Sir Alan’s recommendations.
Throughout this process we have been actively engaging with the Department for Education, both Hackney and Thurrock education departments and from time to time I have engaged productively with the author himself.
Mossbourne Federation is a private limited company registered in England & Wales (No. 4468267) Registered O ice: Gardiner House,
6B Hemnall Street, Epping, Essex. CM16 4LW
The recommendations in the Wood review highlighted several areas of risk, which we take very seriously indeed, especially the mental wellbeing of certain cohorts of students who may require additional support. This continually requires a careful, sensitive, and empathetic approach to a constantly moving picture.
I am confident that measures we take will be a significant improvement; these will include a much more rigorous quantitative and qualitative analysis. We have also expanded the role of our safeguarding o icers to include mental wellbeing as an even greater emphasis than it already is, and we will be committing more leadership time and resources to this.
We will also be joining forces with Hackney Education to pilot what I can only describe as a fantastically innovative student mental wellbeing programme. The sum of this places Mossbourne (and Hackney) at the cutting edge in establishing robust systems to monitor, and support student mental wellbeing in schools.
Members of our leadership team have been working very hard to get this in place and I am confident we will start the programme before the end of the academic year in our Hackney secondary academies with a view to rolling it out across the Federation in due course.
I can report that we have commenced a comprehensive review of our governance structure, which will significantly strengthen the workings of the Federation, particularly as we have grown from a four-school academy trust to seven schools. This review will be informed by both internal and external reviewers, and I expect the work to be completed by the autumn of this year.
We will be conducting more parent and student surveys in future, some of which form part of the
Hackney mental wellbeing programme mentioned above. I am pleased to say that a recently
conducted survey at Mossbourne Victoria Park Academy (MVPA) showed over 90% of parents said
that they would recommend the school. This is a notable increase from the previous survey, which
was a little over 78% and the survey result is now 12% higher than the national average.
Furthermore, we now know that the number of students applying for entry to our academies next year
is again very high, with strong demand meaning that some of our academies are significantly
oversubscribed. We are never complacent, but this represents a significant show of confidence and
support from the population of Hackney in what we are and what we stand for.
I am also conscious that without our sta none of what we achieve and seek to achieve is possible.
We therefore consider very seriously their welfare and their ability to continually deliver astounding
levels of teaching and pastoral care. As a result, we will be ramping up training for sta in many areas.
In addition to this, at a school level the contact from members of local governing boards will increase.
This doubles down on our belief that all levels of governance are important and have roles to play.
I am a local governing board member of Mossbourne Parkside, and very proud to be so. The school
joined the Federation in late 2015, it is wonderfully diverse, but there are some challenges including
having among the highest pupil premium numbers in the country and over 20 multi-lingual cohorts.
With huge enthusiasm from dedicated sta and supportive parents and carers, the school is now
rated “good” by Ofsted for the first time in its history. We expect another Ofsted inspection
imminently, which we are confident about and very much looking forward to.
I can tell you that this school is a haven of happiness, largely because of the safe spaces our sta
have created, our children here are thriving.
As a result of being the Chair of the Federation Board I am lucky enough to visit all the schools in our
Federation fairly often. I have very much enjoyed meeting many students; indeed, I had a young man
from year 13 in my o ice for work experience at the end of last year. My colleagues all commented on
how engaging, well-rounded, and curious he was. I have found this a strong thread running through all
our schools. I was delighted to learn from him, that he has recently been o ered a place on an
extremely prestigious apprenticeship course in one of the top firms in the City. He really is a role
model for all Federation students.
Our CEO, Peter Hughes, will give a further update by the end of May. Parents and carers will also be
updated regularly on this work by the academy principals.
Yours faithfully
Toby Campbell-Gray
Chairman of the Mossbourne Central Federation Board
