Why should our school join SHINE?

"We will take every step of your school improvement journey alongside you, supporting and challenging as appropriate to your context and circumstance. We will utilise best practice and expertise from across the Trust, to develop your school and its community, whilst celebrating your uniqueness and drawing on your own best practice to strengthen our Trust."

How will SHINE support our school?

Our model for school improvement at 'new' schools joining the Trust is detailed in the below document:

Our annual cycle of school improvement support is detailed in the below document:

Who will be able to support our school?

Judi O'Leary - Chief Executive Officer

Previous to becoming CEO of SHINE Multi Academy Trust, Judi was an experienced Headteacher - working in two different local authorities during her time leading Birklands Primary School in Warsop, then Whitemoor Academy in Nottingham City. Additionally, she worked as a leadership consultant at Riverside Primary School and, before that, was employed by Nottinghamshire Local Authority as part of their school improvement team. In both occasions, Judi was asked to support settings which were judged as being in 'special measures.' This was based on her proven track record of achieving a 'good' Ofsted rating within a year, through the highly effective school improvement programmes which she implemented.

Kate Hall - School Improvement Lead

Kate completed her undergraduate degree in Chemistry and Administrative Science in 1990. This was followed by a PGCE (Primary).

During her career, she has been lucky enough to have worked in many different areas of the country - including Morayshire, Tower Hamlets, Lincolnshire and Nottingham City. Kate worked as a deputy headteacher at a City primary school before arriving at Scotholme - first as the deputy and then as the headteacher.

She completed the National Professional Qualification for Headship in 2004 and the National Professional Qualification for Executive Leadership in 2021.  

Scotholme successfully introduced an innovative mastery approach to Maths several years ago which has been rolled out across the Trust with equal success - as validated during recent Ofsted Inspections. 

Kate forms part of the Central Team as School Improvement Lead. She works closely with the CEO and Curriculum Director to coordinate school improvement work across the Trust and has particular responsibility for supporting schools, previously in an Ofsted category, leading up to their first Ofsted as part of SHINE.

Common questions which Headteachers and their Local Governing Bodies asked before joining SHINE have been compiled in the document below: