Liverpool City Region Schools join new Catholic Academy Trust

5 more Liverpool City Region Schools joined a new Catholic Multi Academy Trust set up to provide the very best educational opportunities for children and young people in the North West of England.

Holy Spirit Catholic Primary School in Sefton, St Augustine of Canterbury Catholic High School in St Helens, and St Ambrose Primary School, St Nicholas's Catholic Primary School and The Trinity Catholic Primary School, all in Liverpool, are now part of St Joseph Catholic Multi Academy Trust. St Joseph is run in partnership with the Archdiocese of Liverpool, the Diocese of Shrewsbury and the Diocese of Chester.

St Chads Catholic and Church of England High School in Halton became the 1st School to join St Joseph when it transferred from being a Local Authority run School last month. More Schools are due to transfer in the summer term and then in the next academic year.

All the Schools which join St Joseph will benefit from being part of both an Academy Trust and the wider Diocesan education family, which together will bring opportunities for staff to share, learn from and introduce best practice, as well as access continuing professional development from external providers. The model will mean that students in the Schools will receive great teaching and learning, helping ensure high standards in all areas of School life. It is expected that the Schools which join St Joseph will leave the trust in 2 or 3 years to join other Catholic Academy Trusts as their permanent home.

Giselle Lynch, Headteacher of St Augustine of Canterbury Catholic High School, said:- "This is a momentous day for St Augustine's. The opportunities afforded through being part of a wider network of Schools will help us to build on the tremendous progress we have made over the past 2 years. This can only be of benefit to our School community and the future prospects of our young people."

Martin Davies, Headteacher of St Nicholas's Catholic Primary School, said:- "This begins a brand new chapter for our fabulous School which was judged Good by Ofsted earlier this term and we all hope to see the benefits from us entering into the Saint Joseph Trust as soon as possible."

Michelle Forrest, Headteacher of Holy Spirit Catholic Primary School in Sefton, said:- "We at Holy Spirit are pleased to be joining this innovative trust and are looking forward to the opportunities, collaboration and progress which we are sure will have a positive impact on our whole School community."

Matthew White, Executive Headteacher of St Ambrose Primary School, said:- "The School community of St Ambrose is very much looking forward to being part of the St Joseph MAT and the opportunity to further collaborate with Schools and colleagues across the Trust to help us achieve our aims and ambitions for our children."

Rebecca Flynn, Headteacher of The Trinity Catholic Primary School, said:- "This is a very exciting opportunity for our whole School community and we are really looking forward to working collaboratively with the other Schools in the Trust."

Andrew Truby, the 1st substantive Chief Executive Officer of the Trust, said:- "I'm very excited that a further 5 Schools have joined St Joseph, creating real scale. This provides excellent opportunities for staff across the 6 Schools to collaborate, share best practice and learn from 1 another to offer our children an even better education. In my career I have been committed to transforming children's lives through a world class education and this underpins all my work. This aligns perfectly with St Joseph's mission. We are providing a Catholic home for Schools whose children and young people are nurtured and challenged to reach their potential. I'm looking forward to seeing all 6 of the St Joseph academies flourish as part of the trust."

For more information about St Joseph Catholic Multi Academy Trust, please visit:- STJosephMAT.Org.UK.

Teenager's tale an inspiration for young people

A Lancashire teenager is encouraging more young people to explore life at University, after a careers advice programme helped her make steps towards her dream job.

Jahnaya Alexander, 18, from Skelmersdale is set to start at Edge Hill University later this year, after support from Future U's mentoring scheme helped her decide on her next steps after leaving college.

Jahnaya took part in a Future U mentoring scheme back in 2019 when she was at Up Holland High School, which encouraged her to think about her future after leaving School and the education routes to get the qualifications needed for her dream job as PE teacher.

Jahnaya admits she lacked focus before starting the Future U mentoring programme, where peers who have started University worked with her on an 8 week programme designed to help her think about a future career and the steps that she would need to start towards her dream role.

Jahnaya says:- "I hadn't really thought about my future before the mentoring scheme. If anything, I was just planning on going straight into work as soon as I could, however after hearing about the sessions everything changed for me. I was teaching some dance at the time, but I never saw it as a career and would have laughed if you'd told me I could go to University back then."

The mentoring sessions included team building activities, future mapping and hearing about the different pathways to work, including the benefits of a University degree. Future U works across Lancashire to encourage more people to consider higher education, particularly within communities and families where young people are less likely to think about University. As well as offering support, it can also offer advice on schemes such as apprenticeships, as well as information on life at University and handling student finance.

For Jahnaya, the sessions not only helped her to clarify her future aspirations, but with a goal of qualifying for college and then University her Schoolwork improved too. Teachers found that Jahnaya's was more driven as she completed her work and exam revision to get the results she needed to start a Level 3 Extended Diploma in Sports, Fitness and Personal Training at West Lancashire College.

Jahnaya continues:- "Over the mentoring sessions, I began to realise I could be successful at what I wanted to do and decided working towards becoming a qualified PE teacher would let me help people and inspire others."

3 years after the mentoring, Jahnaya now has a conditional offer to study Sport and Physical Education at Edge Hill University in September. In addition to finding her own career path, Jahnaya is now looking to give back to the community, hoping to become a Future U mentor for similar students who are unsure of their next steps. She hopes her story will help inspire more young people who are unsure of their career plans to find a purpose in life so they can work hard towards it.

Jahnaya added:- "I've already done some mentoring with young people, and friends from my School will keep in touch with me as their mentor, with some recently ringing to tell me about their mock exam results. Mentoring developed me as a person and as I see the best in every child, I want to bring that out in other young people who are unsure of their next steps."

Since the start of the project in 2017, Future U has delivered over 1,100 careers activities across 70 Schools and colleges in the area, in addition to creating a range of educational and careers resources available to download from its website:- LancashireFutureU.Org.UK.

Oliver Norris, Senior Outreach Officer at Future U, said:- "Jahnaya's story should be an inspiration for any young person who is unsure of what they want to do with their future. Each young person has a passion that could lead to a future career or qualification which they are passionate about and our mentoring scheme allows young people who have similar backgrounds and can offer important advice on the next steps. Jahnaya will be a fantastic student mentor this year and I'm sure she will inspire plenty of others to focus on possibilities for them when they finish School or college."

Future U is part of the national Uni Connect Programme, funded by the Office for Students, and involves institutions and organisations across the county including:- University of Central Lancashire, Lancaster University, Edge Hill University and the University of Cumbria. Its list of partners also include:- Blackburn College, The Blackpool 6th Form College, Blackpool and the Fylde College, Burnley College, Kendal College, Lancashire County Council, Lancashire Enterprise Partnership, Myerscough College, Nelson and Colne College Group, Preston College, STEM1st, Runshaw College, The Lancashire Colleges, West Lancashire College.