Palladian welcome Westbury Leigh Primary School!

Donna Tandy, CEO, formally welcomed Westbury Leigh Primary School to our group of schools as of 1st December 2024. Pictured here at an assembly with pupils to celebrate becoming part of the Palladian family. The Trust has been working closely with school leaders and wider colleagues since July 2023 and is looking forward to developing the partnership.

“We are really excited to be part of Palladian Academy Trust, this is a new era for our school and offers an opportunity to work in partnership as a family of schools within a strong network of support. Our children look forward to the richer educational experiences on offer, such as sporting competitions and residentials overseas. We feel being part of the Trust can only enhance further the provision for our school community enabling everyone to flourish.” Debbie Grimsey, Headteacher.

“We are committed to the ongoing improvement journey the school is on and in partnership with Headteacher Debbie Grimsey, the wider colleague team, families and their children, we strive to live out our Trust vision of ‘excellent and equitable opportunities for all so everyone can flourish. 

Westbury Leigh are joining us at an exciting time. One of our ‘bold moves’ for 2024-25 is to develop our ‘Parent and Family Offer’ to ensure everyone feels part of our family and that we are united in ensuring we provide the very best for the children in our care.  

As an organisation, Palladian are committed to working in partnership with our schools and the communities they serve. While we recognise that schools are not unique as they all educate children, they are distinctive. I know that one of the worries when a school joins a Trust is that they will lose their identity. We feel we have a good balance of standardisation and autonomy. Where we do things across the Trust, there is a clear rationale that this is to the benefit of pupils and colleagues, be that financially or impacting on workload and mental health and wellbeing. Where we have Trust wide initiatives, these are mostly co-constructed with colleagues from all schools, and we are committed to having Local Governance Committees in all schools with at least two parent representatives. We also have parent representatives on the Trust Board.  

I had the privilege of coming into school on Tues 3rd Dec to deliver an assembly to pupils about what being part of our Trust Family means for them. This included introducing our Palladian Promise; our core pupil offer for all our pupils. One of the key principles that underpins how we work is that of collective efficacy and a shared responsibility for all pupils, whichever school they are in.  

We will be inviting families to an official ‘launch event’ early next term when they can come into school and meet some of the wider team as well as spend time with the wonderful pupils at Westbury Leigh. 

I look forward to meeting some of you then and working in partnership together.”  Donna Tandy, CEO