CET News

Celebrating our successes

CET News

You will find all of CET’s latest news stories below.

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University of Cumbria Graduation Ceremony 2023

24th November 2023

This week, several Cumbria Education Trust (CET) schools were invited to perform at the University of Cumbria Graduation Ceremonies, hosted at Carlisle Cathedral. Held on 21st to 23rd November, more than 1000 graduands attended the ceremony to celebrate their success in this grand venue. More than 100 students from Castle Carrock Primary School, Longtown Primary School, William Howard School and Workington Academy represented CET at these events, opening the ceremonies with high-quality singing performances, dedicated to the cohort of 2022/2023. On Tuesday, Workington Academy joined the celebration, with their rendition of ‘The Climb’ by Miley Cyrus. You can watch it below, starting at 23.21: https://www.youtube.com/live/bCm–Raqd3o?si=lGMv7SYWJp4a6D0h On Wednesday, Castle Carrock Primary School attended the event, with a fantastic performance of ‘When

Leaders unite for inspiring Leadership and Culture event

22nd November 2023

Yesterday, Tuesday 21st November, we held our second Quality Leadership And Organisational Culture Event at the Castle Inn Hotel in Bassenthwaite. Over 40 leaders from across our Trust schools and our Central Services Team attended the event, to explore what it means to be an excellent leader and how we can create a powerful leadership culture throughout the Trust. The event started with a warm welcome from Lorrayne Hughes, Chief Executive, followed by a presentation from Matt Butler, Director of Primary Improvement and Professional Development, titled ‘Good to Great’, which delved into the mechanics of being a great leader to enhance the development of every school, improve student outcomes and support all staff within our Trust. This was followed by

Schools Come Second in Cash For Kids Fundraiser Challenge

1st November 2023

Four of our primary schools took part in the Cash For Kids Sports Challenge this year. Caldew Lea Primary School, Newtown Primary School, Petteril Bank School and Yewdale Primary School got creative whilst coming up with innovative and exciting ways to raise as much money as they could for their school. The Cash For Kids Challenge runs across participating schools in Cumbria for one month, from 16th September to 16th October, to raise as much money as possible. Each school retains all the money they have raised, plus they get a chance to win one of five cash prizes. The school that raises the most money wins £5,000, with second place taking the £2,500 cash prize and the third-place finalist

24-hour Danceathon at Workington Academy

23rd October 2023

Students at Workington Academy successfully completed a 24-hour Danceathon to raise money for the school. The Workington Academy Performing Arts department is fundraising so that they can improve the facilities within the performance space. The event started on Friday 20th October at 7pm and finished on Saturday 21st October at 7pm. The students took part in a series of dance workshops over the 24-hour period, learning a series of dances along the way. They ended with a dance showcase to family, friends and staff at 6pm on Saturday evening. The event was a huge success, thanks to Miss Houghton who organised the event and was in attendance for the whole 24 hours. Several other staff members attended throughout to support

Outstanding Teacher Intervention Programme success

19th October 2023

Three teachers from Yewdale Primary School have successfully completed the Outstanding Teacher Intervention (OTI) programme. Claire Hodgson, Susan Ingledow and Kate Mains worked with The Osiris Teaching Intervention, a school-based professional learning programme for teachers, which accelerates the quality of learning and teaching by ensuring immediate and sustained changes in classroom practice. OTI builds on what is already working well, and helps individual teachers identify their next steps towards increasing their impact in the classroom by combining the latest research, instructional coaching, deliberate practice, video work and reflection. Claire commented, “Although the idea of being filmed was daunting to begin with, once I had done it I saw the benefits. The power of being able to watch yourself teach was amazing, I

Triumph at the Golden Apple Awards 2023

19th October 2023

On Thursday 12th October, the Newsquest Golden Apple Awards were held at the Greenhill Hotel in Wigton. The coveted awards ceremony recognises talent, resilience and achievements in the education sector, as well as its inspiring people. This event brings together the best leaders, teachers, support staff and schools from across the Cumbrian education sector. We were delighted to have had a number of nominees from schools across the Trust, as well as sponsoring the Best Student award. We could not have been prouder to have two members of staff win an award. Joanna Daulby, Assistant Headteacher at Workington Academy, won the Best Education and Learning Leader award. Her nominator said: “Jo is a positive role model within the school for

Expansion on the cards for CET

17th October 2023

As the largest Trust in Cumbria, we are looking to grow again and launch a new education hub in the county. We have been in talks to partner with Kendal’s The Queen Katherine School (QKS) to start a new southern hub for our Multi-Academy Trust, just how we have established similar school groups in the north and west of the county. The 950-student school approached the Trust to formally explore the possibility of joining CET, joining our three secondary schools – The Whitehaven Academy, William Howard School and Workington Academy. Since 2015, we have grown to cover 13 schools and we are responsible for the education of more than 4,500 young people. We have developed a strong track record on

Yewdale Ofsted Inspection – September 2023

13th October 2023

Following on from Yewdale Primary School’s last Ofsted inspection in July 2018, in which they were rated Good, they received another inspection from Ofsted on 19th and 20th September, in what is called an ungraded inspection. This inspection is carried out around once every four years to ensure that, as a school, they are still providing excellent standards of education to our children. We are delighted to inform you that Yewdale Primary School continue to be a Good school and we are happy to share Ofsted’s official report with you – you can read it here. As the first primary school to join Cumbria Education Trust in 2015, we have continued to deliver on our School Improvement Plan, and it

CET’s Big Coffee Morning

4th October 2023

Last Friday, numerous cakes, biscuits, buns and hot drinks were devoured across all of our Trust schools for CET’s Big Coffee Morning, in an effort to raise money for the Macmillan Cancer Support charity. Castle Carrock Primary School held a Grandparents Coffee Afternoon, followed by a celebration assembly whilst Caldew Lea Primary School had a ‘Book and a Bun’ for their Early Years children and a fundraising breakfast morning. Hensingham Primary School, Longtown Primary School and Newtown Primary School all invited in parents for a coffee and cake morning. Northside Primary School and Petteril Bank School held a coffee and cake session for all parents whilst Tebay Primary School and Yanwath Primary School invited their local community for yummy treats.

New Starter Event 2023

29th September 2023

Yesterday, Cumbria Education Trust (CET) held a New Starters event, where they invited all new employees to meet their new colleagues across the Trust. Hosted at Yewdale School, guests had the opportunity to meet senior leaders and colleagues before Lorrayne Hughes, Chief Executive, opened with a welcome speech. Various members of the CET Team shared insights into what it means to work for CET, the vision and values held by all and what opportunities are available to all who work for the Trust. Kerry Rogerson, HR Manager, commented on the evening, “Across CET our aim is to ensure we create a workplace which enables our people to thrive and this begins from day one. We are a family of schools