The end of an academic year naturally prompts reflection. It provides an opportunity not only to celebrate achievements, but also to consider what those achievements tell us about the effectiveness of our strategy, the strength of our partnerships, and the opportunities that lie ahead.
Across Sussex Learning Trust, 2025-26 has reinforced an important belief: sustainable school improvement is rarely the result of a single initiative. It is the product of clear priorities, strong leadership, and collective effort sustained over time.
As we reflect on the past year, there are several reasons to be proud. But perhaps more importantly, there are clear lessons we will take forward into the next phase of our journey.
Validation of Our Approach
One of the most encouraging aspects of this year has been the external validation of the work taking place across our academies.
At Woodgate Primary Academy and Warden Park Secondary Academy, recent Ofsted inspections recognised cultures where pupils are known, valued, and supported to succeed. While each school has its own unique context and character, both reports highlighted themes that resonate across our Trust: strong leadership, high expectations, inclusive practice, and a commitment to ensuring every child can thrive.
Inspectors praised the nurturing and highly inclusive culture at Woodgate Primary Academy, where personal development and wellbeing sit at the heart of school life. At Warden Park Secondary Academy, the personal development programme was identified as a notable strength, alongside an extensive enrichment offer that provides pupils with a genuine “world of opportunity”.
These outcomes matter not simply because they recognise success, but because they affirm the values and approaches that underpin our work across the Trust.
Collaboration That Improves Outcomes
If there is one theme that has characterised this academic year, it is the growing impact of collaboration.
Our Trust-wide networks for leaders, teachers, and specialist staff have continued to strengthen. These create opportunities to share expertise, challenge thinking, and learn from one another. Increasingly, practice across our academies is being shaped by shared priorities and a collective commitment to improvement.
This has been particularly evident in our work around early years, writing, and mathematics.
A sustained focus on high-quality interactions in the Early Years Foundation Stage, coupled with rigorous approaches to assessment and pupil progress, has contributed to significant improvements in outcomes, particularly for disadvantaged pupils. Our writing leaders have worked together to implement the Department for Education’s Writing Framework. Meanwhile, mathematics teams have collaborated to strengthen fluency and consistency of practice across schools.
Perhaps most importantly, these developments have not been driven by top-down direction, but by professionals learning alongside one another and sharing what works.
As one colleague reflected:
“We share expertise, we support one another, and we work as a team. The Trust values are always evident. When excellent practice is identified, it is shared with us and becomes part of our professional development”.
For us as a Trust, this captures the essence of what effective collaboration should look like.
The Impact Can Be Seen in Outcomes
While collaboration is valuable in itself, its true purpose is to improve outcomes for children.
This year, we have seen particularly encouraging progress across our primary academies.
The proportion of pupils achieving a Good Level of Development in the Early Years Foundation Stage increased by 10 percentage points to 76%. Our Trust-wide Year 1 Phonics Screening Check pass rate rose to 85%, representing an increase of 8 percentage points. We also saw strong improvements in the Year 4 Multiplication Tables Check, with the proportion of pupils achieving full marks increasing by 10 percentage points to 50%.
Importantly, these outcomes place our Trust above the provisional national averages across all three measures.
Behind every percentage point is a child whose opportunities have been expanded, whose confidence has grown, and whose future prospects have been strengthened. That is what makes these outcomes worth celebrating.
We now look forward to analysing our Key Stage 2 and 4 outcomes, not simply as a measure of performance, but as another opportunity to understand what is working well and where we can continue to improve.
Stronger Together
One statistic from this year stands out above all others.
In a recent survey, 100% of our Headteachers agreed that we are stronger together as a Trust than we would be as individual academies.
That level of consensus is significant.
Headteachers cited the value of professional networks, access to expertise, collaborative problem-solving, and a culture where support and challenge coexist productively.
This is particularly important at a time when schools continue to face significant challenges, from workforce pressures to attendance, inclusion, and funding. No school leader should feel they must navigate those challenges alone.
Our ambition has always been that membership of Sussex Learning Trust adds tangible value to the work of our staff and improves outcomes for our children. Feedback such as this gives us confidence that we are moving in the right direction.
Looking Ahead
While there is much to celebrate, our focus remains firmly on the future.
Next year, we will continue to refine our quality assurance processes, ensuring they remain aligned while reflecting the distinct context of each academy. We also want to increase opportunities for leaders to participate in peer review activity, strengthening professional dialogue, shared learning, and constructive challenge.
Like schools across the country, we remain focused on addressing some of education’s most pressing challenges, particularly improving attendance and closing the attainment gap for disadvantaged pupils.
September will also mark an important milestone as The Burgess Hill Academy formally joins Sussex Learning Trust.
Growth has never been an objective in itself. However, when schools share a commitment to collaboration, school improvement, and serving their communities, there is real value in working together. We look forward to welcoming colleagues from The Burgess Hill Academy and supporting them as part of our wider Trust community.
A Final Word of Thanks
As we look ahead, it is also important to recognise those whose contributions have shaped our success this year.
I would like to thank Yasmin Maskatiya for her outstanding contribution as Senior Education Consultant. Yasmin has played a pivotal role in supporting school improvement across our academies, and her expertise, wisdom, and unwavering commitment have had a lasting impact on colleagues and pupils alike. We wish her every success in the future.
We also extend our sincere thanks to Mark Sears, who steps down after ten years of dedicated service as Headteacher of Northlands Wood Primary Academy. Mark leaves with our gratitude and best wishes as he begins his new role as the Outdoor Education Officer at West Sussex County Council. We are delighted to welcome Jeremy Way as Headteacher from September.
Alongside these changes, we also welcome new leaders across the Trust and look forward to the fresh perspectives and expertise they will bring.
Education is, ultimately, a people profession. The progress we celebrate today is the result of talented and committed colleagues working tirelessly on behalf of children.
For that, we remain enormously grateful.
