Portico Second Birthday
Dear Parent/Carer,
Our five school Multi-Academy Trust is celebrating its second birthday on 1st September 2018. The
Trustees and I are very pleased with the collaborative work we have achieved, resulting in better
outcomes and more fun for all of our children. Our recent national results in phonics, end of KS1
(Year 2) and KS2 (Year 6) all show improvements, a result of dedicated teacher input and huge effort
from the children.
Our Trustee Board meets every six weeks to discuss our financial viability in these difficult times
since it is solely accountable and to receive data reports from the Heads. The Board also lends
strategic leadership to Portico Academy Trust. It also takes ultimate responsibility for safeguarding
and health and safety. We have worked continuously to monitor our spending in the last two years
and purchased resources and contracts through our group to make savings.
All of our governors, across our 5 schools, have met together to discuss our procedures and to learn
together from join training.
The Heads of all of our schools, Richard Queenborough, our Director of Learning as well as myself,
meet together monthly as a Steering Group to plan activities and to discuss the educational issues of
the moment. It has become a strong group with our children at its heart. We have made far reaching
decisions on the organisation of learning and teaching, the outcomes we expect, the policies we
adopt and we have shared our collective knowledge and expertise.
Our teachers have met together in phases, in year groups and in subject groups. Each and every
meeting is designed to create ideas to enhance the children’s learning. Our year group teachers
meet moderate the standard of work in the children’s books to ensure consistency as we all strive
for outstanding results.
Last February saw our first Portico Conference for all teachers, hosted by Hamstel Schools. We were
treated to a wonderful and uplifting day all about Growth Mindset. Hopefully, we will see the tenets
of perseverance, resilience and focus grow within all of our children following the teacher input and
the subsequent professional dialogue in each school.
Our children have met together in football festivals and an athletic festival to celebrate participation
in sport. Years 2 and 3, across the Trust, have made a music video which you can access via any of
the school websites. We held a Spelling Bee competition for each year group to promote interest in
accurate spelling which will become an annual event. As a result of our Design and Technology
group, most of our schools entered the Essex competition and brought medals back to school. We
are looking forward to an even greater programme of collaborative events throughout next year.
As we move into the next academic year we will be creating more opportunities for our children and
staff to collaborate together.
I thank you for your support to your individual school and to the wider Portico Trust.
I wish you and your family a really pleasant and safe summer break.
Yours sincerely,
Cheryl Woolf
Chief Executive Officer
