‘Former QEGS head entrusted to help struggling city school overcome ‘serious weaknesses’

Ashbourne News Telegraph 9 Sep 2020

Anne Martin, former head teacher at Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School and now chief executive of its Academy Trust, is providing strategic leadership to the team tasked with improving Chellaston Academy in Derby

Anne Martin in the Ashbourne News Telegraph

QUEEN Elizabeth Grammar School’s former head teacher Anne Martin has been enlisted onto a team that will help to turn around a struggling school in Derby.

A follow-up monitoring inspection in February this year at Chellaston Academy concluded that leaders and managers were “not taking effective action towards the removal of the serious weaknesses designation” and “senior leaders’ oversight and monitoring of safeguarding is not rigorous enough”.

A warning notice issued almost 14 months ago will mean the Secretary of State can terminate the Peak Multi Academy Trust’s funding in relation to Chellaston Academy, leading the school to be moved to another trust, if swift improvements are not made.

Carol Gray, interim East Midlands regional schools commissioner, who issued the warning notice, said: “Given the issues raised in the Ofsted inspection and monitoring reports, I have significant concerns about the ability of the trust to deliver the required improvements in a rapid and sustained manner.”

This has now led to a shakeup in personnel, both at trust and school levels, including a new trust board chair and Anne Martin, in her position as a new interim trust chief executive.

Mrs Martin, who led Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School following the retirement of Dr Roger Wilkes, is already chief executive of the Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School Multi Academy Trust in Ashbourne.

Chellaston Academy had previously announced in May that Ryan Metters would become head teacher from this month, replacing Cara Walker, who had been interim head of school since last September. New trust chair Ann Witheford said: “Anne will be on site providing strategic leadership and school level improvement in all our schools, with an immediate focus on Chellaston Academy.

“She is already working with the new head teacher Ryan Metters, who has senior and executive leadership experience and is working with both new senior members of his team alongside leaders who have been at the school for some time and all are truly committed to the young people in our community.

“This is about our young people - they have just one chance in education and we have to make sure that it is the very best it can possibly be.

“We are committed to rapidly improving the school and trust and will be regularly communicating our progress with members of our community.”

Mrs Martin is taking over from previous school head teacher since 2015 and more recently trust chief executive Kevin Gaiderman, “who has been off (school) for some time”, according to Ms Witheford.

In 2019, the 1,700 pupil school reported a strong set of GCSE results which put the school at the top of the Derby performance tables for its Progress 8 score and in second place for the percentage of pupils gaining a grade five or above in English and maths.

The Peak Multi Academy Trust was formed in April 2019 and includes three other Chellaston schools in addition to Chellaston Academy.

These are Homefields Primary, Chellaston Junior and Chellaston Infant schools.