Women in Engineering Day
To celebrate Women in Engineering Day on 23rd June 2018, Scottish Power launched a ‘No Waste World!’ education challenge. In teams, students were invited to investigate the sources of waste from their home or school and design a plan to reduce, reuse and recycle to achieve zero waste by 2020.
We are proud to announce that students Aviha, Kara, Katie and Kara from Ipswich Academy won the challenge! They were awarded £500 for the Academy’s science faculty. The Judges were impressed with their enthusiasm and the level of detail in their presentation.
Assistant Principal, Abbie Thorrington, featured in East Anglia Daily Times
Click to read the article: http://www.eadt.co.uk/sport/nino-severino-column-1-5559590
Ipswich Star news story
Please click the link below to read a story in the Ipswich Star:
Paradigm Trust eyes Ipswich Academy, Piper’s Vale and Murrayfield school as destinations of choice
Vacancy for Accounts Payable Clerks – closing date Monday 23rd April at 1pm
Due to the relocation of our finance function, Paradigm Trust is looking to build an Accounts Payable team responsible for all aspects of end to end Accounts Payable. We are seeking to appoint a number of Accounts Payable Clerks to be based at Ipswich Academy.
Please click to access:
Teacher Training Opportunities – Open Evening (Drop in)
We are holding an open evening on a drop in basis for people interested in teacher training opportunities in our Ipswich academies on March 22nd (6.30 – 8.00pm) at Ipswich Academy. Please come along to find out more about the opportunities we offer.
Paradigm Trust appoints new Chief Executive Officer
The Board of Directors of Paradigm Trust today announced the appointment of Bill Holledge as the new Chief Executive Officer of the Trust. Bill has been Chief Operating Officer and acting CEO for the last nine months.
David Willis, Chairman of the Board, said, “The Trust has undertaken a thorough search for our new Chief Executive, and we are delighted to be appointing Bill to the role. In a field of strong candidates, his vision for the future of the Trust and how we should get there was a compelling proposition. This, combined with the contribution that he has made while in the interim role, made him the unanimous choice for the position.”
Bill Holledge commented “I am delighted to have been asked to take on the CEO role on a permanent basis. I am a passionate advocate of Paradigm Trust’s vision of giving children the educational opportunities they deserve, and a firm believer that the key to improving standards is great teaching. Everything we do is about improving outcomes for our students and I am very much looking forward to working with students, staff, parents/carers and our local communities to continue doing just that.”
Media enquiries
For further enquiries, please contact the Paradigm Trust media team on 020 7618 9194, or email paradigmtrust@luther.co.uk.
Ipswich Academy delivers best ever GCSE results
With today’s news full of GCSE results, I am delighted to be able to tell you that the students at Ipswich Academy have delivered really great results. Of the 106 students who entered, 50.9% have achieved at least a grade four or above (the old A*-C) in English and mathematics – up from 48.6% last year.
The new exam formats and marking scheme make comparison with previous years difficult, but the general consensus is that the absence of course work and the exams themselves were significantly harder than before which makes these results even more impressive.
I know that I speak for everyone across the Trust when I say how pleased I am that the students’ hard work has paid off. The investment made by Helen and her team is clear evidence of the progress the school has been making since it came out of special measures earlier this year.
Bill Holledge
Chief Operating Officer
Memorial Event for Amanda Phillips CBE
Paradigm Trust would like to invite you to attend a Memorial Event to celebrate the professional life and achievements of Amanda Phillips CBE (invitation link below).
In planning the date and time, we have tried to accommodate the needs of people who have professional and family commitments and may be travelling some distance to attend. We have chosen a venue in Tower Hamlets since this is where Amanda spent the majority of her working life.
The memorial event has been confirmed for Saturday 9th September 2017.
Please extend this invitation to friends, colleagues and associates who would like to attend.
To confirm your attendance please RSVP by 11th August 2017 to emma.vehit@paradigmtrust.org.
Message from David Willis
I wanted to take this is opportunity to update you all on some of the decisions that have been taken during this difficult period to ensure our schools have the right support in place.
I am pleased to be able to tell you that Neil Winn has been appointed interim principal of Murrayfield Primary Academy and his appointment will run until December 2018.
Bill Holledge will continue to provide continuity and support but he has been promoted to the new role of Chief Operating Officer for Paradigm Trust. Bill has worked as a key part of the trust’s senior team since 2015, helping in many aspects of its management. His knowledge and experience will be of tremendous value during this time of transition.
This is the first time that the trust has had a chief operating officer. The creation of the role was something Amanda, Bill and I were working towards and, following Amanda’s tragic death, the board decided to accelerate this process.
Working closely with the board and the principals, Bill will assume responsibility for much of the trust’s day-to-day management while we go through the process of appointing a new CEO.
A number of Paradigm colleagues have also agreed to take on new/broader roles:
- Claire Brunning, systems and data support across the Trust
- Emma Vehit, interim company secretary
- Ian Arnold, premises support across the Trust
- Polly Jones, finance management across both Murrayfield and Ipswich Academy.
The Paradigm Board has also reflected carefully on the plans for Piper’s Vale Community Primary (Ipswich) to join the Trust as an academy. Paradigm’s strategy in Ipswich is to build a cluster of primary schools which will feed into Ipswich Academy. The regional schools commissioner/Department for Education asked Paradigm to take on Piper’s Vale some time ago and, since then, we have been working through the legal and other steps to enable Piper’s Vale Primary Academy to join Paradigm on 1 September 2017. The Board met last week and has agreed to proceed, notwithstanding Amanda passing away, in the light of a clear recommendation from Bill and the principals. We anticipate that Piper’s Vale will have its current headteacher, Paul Arch, in post when it joins the trust. The Board has asked Ben Carter to take on the role of executive principal over Piper’s Vale, working alongside Paul to ensure rapid improvements in outcomes and the quality of teaching. Ben will continue in his role as principal at Culloden, with members of his leadership team providing operational management on days when he is at Piper’s Vale.
Please join me in welcoming all the above staff to their new roles.
David Willis
Chair, Paradigm Trust