Mark shares this latest news on behalf of Ormiston Academies Trust, academy sponsor for Cowes Enterprise College. Ed
Ormiston Academies Trust (OAT), one of the country’s leading Multi-Academy Trusts, has today welcomed Robert Pritchard as its new Regional Director South.
Robert will be responsible for the six academies within the Trust’s Southern region, helping to drive continued improvement and providing high-level support and guidance – sharing the benefit of his considerable expertise and experience.
Serving 26,000+ young people
The Trust, which has been sponsoring primary and secondary academies across the country since 2008, champions the excellent academic achievement and all-round development of the 26,000+ young people it serves. In the South region, its academies are:
- Cowes Enterprise College, An Ormiston Academy, on the Isle of Wight
- Ormiston Bushfield Academy in Peterborough
- Ormiston Meadows Academy in Peterborough
- Ormiston Park Academy in Aveley, Essex
- Ormiston Rivers Academy in Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex
- Ormiston Six Villages Academy in Chichester
Regional hubs
With a central office in Birmingham, the Trust works closely with its 34 academies, which are clustered into North, East, South and West regions across England. The new regional ‘hubs’ reflect the changing geographical spread of the OAT network as it continues to grow and expand its reach.
Achievement is always locally-led but regionally and nationally governed, encouraged and supported, and the OAT approach seeks to combine a highly specialised central hub with inspirational regional and institutional leadership.
Part-time role
Robert takes on the role as Regional Director for OAT on a part-time basis and will continue to serve as Executive Head Teacher at St John Fisher Catholic High School in Harrogate, as well as at Graham School in Scarborough.
With over twelve years’ experience as a head teacher, Robert has a proven track record of developing teams to drive success in both the secondary and primary sectors. He has also worked as an Ofsted Inspector across the North of England.
National Leader of Education
Robert is also a National Leader of Education (NLE) recognised for his work supporting schools in challenging circumstances and helping them to improve. He is also the Yorkshire Teaching School Alliance’s lead for ‘School to School Support’ – a programme which seeks to utilise the best practitioners and school leaders to share best practice and to lend capacity to schools across the region who need it the most.
Through this work, Robert has supported numerous schools to deliver rapid school improvement and raise academic outcomes.
Another successful summer
This appointment sees OAT further bolstering its strong central team after another successful summer for the Trust, with students across the network celebrating excellent GCSE and A Level results.
At GCSE, despite the introduction of the tougher exams, high standards were maintained in English with more than half of students achieving at least a Grade 4 or above, and with improved outcomes in maths, up by three percentage points from 2016 across the Trust. There was also high attainment at A Level, with more students than ever before across the OAT network securing top university places.
Pritchard: “Look forward supporting academies”
Robert Pritchard, Regional Director South at Ormiston Academies Trust, said:
“I am delighted to be joining Ormiston Academies Trust as Regional Director South. OAT has a strong track record in delivering significant school improvement and never shying away from a challenge, and I am excited to be part of this and to further the Trust’s excellent work and achievement to date.
“I look forward supporting academies in the region to go from strength to strength – giving all students access to the highest academic, social and practical skills needed to succeed.”
Extremely experienced addition
Nick Hudson, Interim Chief Executive Officer at Ormiston Academies Trust, commented:
“We are really excited to have Robert Pritchard joining us this academic year, he is a fantastic and extremely experienced addition to the OAT team, with proven track record of supporting schools to deliver far-reaching school improvement.
“I look forward to working closely with Robert and the other regional directors to ensure that more children and young people can benefit from the high quality of education that OAT offers across our network and achieve their full potential.”
