DET Dispatch - May 2024

Dear Colleagues,

Danes Educational Trust’s vision is to develop hubs of excellence comprising primary and secondary schools, focused around their local community. We equip our learners with the skills they need to become curious, creative and courageous and ensure that our school environments are places where their talents are nurtured, so that they become happy and confident 21st century global citizens.

We are now a Trust of twelve schools, 8,500 learners and 1,200 staff. This has allowed us to further invest in our central education support team to work together with schools in realising our vision. In addition to our existing Directors of Education; Chris Marks and Rachel Brindley, below are some of the exciting new roles that will be in place from September 2024.

With best wishes

Josephine Valentine, CEO
Danes Educational Trust

Making the difference together

Director of Inclusion
Sara Crute-Mussell

The Director of Inclusion is an exciting new role within the Trust and of significant importance in realising our aims of a world-class educational experience for all learners. Sara joins us from Wren Academies Trust where she is currently an Assistant Principal and SENCO at Wren Finchley and is also the Trust Inclusion Lead. Prior to the expansion of Wren, Sara led on safeguarding for Wren Academy, was Lead Teacher for Looked After Children and led on special educational needs in the primary phase in their first three years of opening. Sara is passionate about inclusion and is looking forward to working alongside schools in creating an outstanding culture of inclusion.

Directors of Primary Education
Sarah King & Aaron Wanford

As our trust has grown we are excited to expand our education leadership team to include a second Director of Education (Primary) to lead on aspects of school improvement across our six primary schools. The two Directors of Primary Education will co-develop and implement exciting approaches to curriculum development and school improvement, working alongside school and trust leaders in providing the vision and effective leadership for primary education that creates a culture of high performance, and continuous improvement for all. Sarah King currently serves as the Co-Headteacher at De Havilland Primary School, which proudly stands as the first primary school to join Danes Educational Trust. Guided by Sarah's leadership, De Havilland School has flourished, highlighting remarkable improvements and commendable outcomes, particularly evident at KS2 level. Since January, Sarah has extended her expertise, undertaking a seconded role providing invaluable support to other primary schools within the Trust. Her passion lies in extending her impact to a broader spectrum of pupils, ensuring that every child receives an equitable and inclusive education. Aaron joins us from REAch2 Academy Trust, the UK’s largest primary-only trust in the country where he is currently the Executive Headteacher of Green Ridge Primary Academy and is also a Trust Improvement partner working with underperforming schools in their trust. Prior to this post he was Headteacher of St Mary’s C of E Primary School in Rickmansworth. Aaron is excited to work with the wider education team and primary leaders to ensure all learners have equality of opportunity.

Trust Learning Leads

In addition to our Director positions, we are increasing the number of Trust Learning Leads within our Trust. These colleagues work as a collaborative group led by the Directors of Education with a clear emphasis on sharing and developing consistently good practice in their field of expertise. TLLs seek to address Trust-wide initiatives and priorities, as determined at the beginning of each academic year. TLLs offer creativity and imagination with the ability to motivate, challenge and inspire staff and learners, combining professional integrity with high expectations of themselves and others. From September we will have new Trust Learning Leads in secondary English, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Humanities, Languages and Learner Leadership. These are in addition to our existing Learning Lead for Maths and for Early Years.

Director of InclusionSara Crute-Mussell

Directors of Primary EducationSarah King & Aaron Wanford

Trust Learning Leads

Director of Inclusion
Sara Crute-Mussell

Directors of Primary Education
Sarah King & Aaron Wanford