CET News

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CET News

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

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Collaboration is key!

10th February 2025

Written by Sue Newstead, Director of Learning Provision Cumbria Education Trust has always believed that collaboration is the gateway to school improvement. Learning from each other, choosing all the best bits from schools and creating a framework of excellence together, brings about rich conversations and a better understanding of why we choose the practices and areas to develop as one Trust. As our theme suggests, Creating Excellence Together! We are proud of our past achievements, such as the creation of the Quality First Teacher toolkit, the fair and robust assessment processes which accurately identify a SEND need, our strong safeguarding practices, curriculum developments and lots, lots more. This year, we celebrate the introduction of the Learning Provision Practitioner roles. These

School Trust’s Attendance Strategy Delivers ‘Huge’ Learning Gains Amid National Crisis

10th February 2025

School Trust’s Attendance Strategy Delivers ‘Huge’ Learning Gains Amid National Crisis Written by Des Bird, Director of Secondary Improvement The success of an innovative attendance strategy by Cumbria Education Trust (CET) shows how schools can effectively tackle attendance challenges at a time when national figures are causing serious concern for Ofsted. According to Ofsted’s annual report, around 158,000 children missed at least half of their classes in the autumn and spring terms of the last academic year. In some areas, the situation is particularly acute in schools serving disadvantaged communities. CET’s Impactful Approach Against this challenging backdrop, CET’s approach has yielded impressive results, with attendance figures rising to 0.8% above the national average in 2023-2024 in secondary schools. This improvement

Safe Spaces: The Importance of Dedicated Rooms for Children

5th February 2025

Across Cumbria Education Trust, many primary schools have embraced their newly implemented Safe Spaces. These rooms are designed to offer a secure, nurturing environment for children affected by Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and for those who just need a safe space temporarily while they learn strategies to self regulate their emotions. This initiative is central to CET’s commitment to tailoring educational experiences for children, focusing on emotional wellbeing and supporting their success. Already, schools are seeing notable improvements in attendance, classroom behaviour, self-regulation, and overall wellbeing, along with fewer escalations and reduced need for parental intervention throughout the day. Why Safe Spaces Matter ACEs, such as abuse, neglect, parent separation or other traumatic events can have significant and lasting effects

West Coast Sixth Form Celebrates Dream Placement Success

10th January 2025

Nine students from West Coast Sixth Form (WCSF) are celebrating after successfully securing a place on the Dream Placement programme. Dream Placement is a 6 month leadership development programme, led by the Centre for Leadership Performance, for all 16-18 year olds across Cumbria, which for some young people will result in a week’s Dream Placement. West Coast Sixth Form, a collaboration between The Whitehaven Academy (TWA) and Workington Academy (WA), aims to drive ambition and encourage high performance for all sixth form students. Four TWA students and five WA students now look forward to their week-long Dream Placement, which takes place in February Half Term. Nigel Youngman, Headteacher at TWA, commented: “Congratulations to Maddie, Lauren, Jorja, Tilly and Kayden for

Welcome QKS!

8th January 2025

Joint statement from Cumbria Education Trust and The Queen Katherine School Cumbria Education Trust (CET) has further expanded their Trust, welcoming The Queen Katherine School (QKS), a secondary school based in Kendal. QKS is a strong school, with a Good Ofsted rating in 2022 and close-knit community links within the area. They become the fifth secondary school to join the Trust, along with ten existing primary schools and a joint sixth form. This continues the creation of CET’s Southern Hub model, which consists of a network of schools within the Westmorland and Furness area. This hub joins the Western Hub and Northern Hub to create a large collaborative network of schools within Cumbria. Each hub receives dedicated support from CET’s

CET Hosts Senior Education Leaders from Australia

17th December 2024

Cumbria Education Trust (CET) proudly welcomed senior Victorian and Tasmanian educational leaders for a knowledge-sharing visit focused on the operation and impact of groups of schools working together as a Trust. The Australian delegation came to learn from CET’s successful model and discover how a strong trust structure benefits both staff and children. The group was led by The Hon Jo Palmer MLC who is the education minister for Tasmania. The visitors also included senior officials from the Department for Education and staff from the Susan McKinnon Foundation and the Grattan Institute. The visit began at the North Lakes Hotel, with a welcome from Lorrayne Hughes OBE, CET Chief Executive and Matt Hood OBE, CET Trustee. They introduced CET and

TWA Eighth Most Improved School In UK

17th December 2024

The incredible improvement trajectory at The Whitehaven Academy (TWA) continues, with the latest data showing that the academy is the 8th most improved mainstream school in the UK. According to the recently released 2024 Key Stage 4 results from the Department for Education, TWA’s Progress 8 scores place it among the top ten schools nationwide for improvement. What is Progress 8? Progress 8 is a key value-added measure used to evaluate a secondary school’s performance by assessing how much progress its pupils make from the end of Key Stage 2 (Year 6) to their GCSEs. Unlike traditional measures such as the percentage of top grades in English and maths, Progress 8 offers a more comprehensive view by focusing on the

CET Southern Hub Science Christmas Event

16th December 2024

The Queen Katherine School (QKS) was proud to host around 100 primary students from local schools for a CET Southern Hub Science Christmas event. Students had the chance to carry out lots of different Christmas themed activities including making chemical baubles, LED Christmas trees, creating Christmas cactus cuttings and investigating party poppers. All of our visiting primary students demonstrated some excellent scientific skills. The Year 10 QKS senior students did a brilliant job of supporting them with all of the activities.

CET Schools Shine Again with FFT Attendance Recognition

13th December 2024

Once again, we are thrilled to announce that several CET schools have been recognised by FFT for their outstanding attendance achievements. This recognition highlights the commitment of our students, families, and staff with engagement and dedication demonstrated within our schools. It is a testament to the collaborative efforts across our Trust to ensure that every child attends, achieves, and thrives. Primary Schools Castle Carrock Primary School Top 10% of all primary schools Top 10% of similar primary schools Caldew Lea Primary School Top 25% of similar primary schools Newtown Primary School Top 25% of similar primary schools Tebay Primary School Top 25% of all primary schools Secondary Schools Kirkby Stephen Grammar School Top 10% of all secondary schools Top 25%

KSGS Joins CET

2nd December 2024

Joint statement from Kirkby Stephen Grammar School and Cumbria Education Trust Cumbria Education Trust (CET) is thrilled to announce its official partnership with Kirkby Stephen Grammar School (KSGS). This exciting development marks a new chapter for KSGS, with a focus on enhancing student outcomes, investing in staff development, and expanding resources for the entire school community. This transition also signals the start of a new Southern Hub for CET, which will consist of a network of schools within Westmorland and Furness Council. KSGS is the first of four schools set to join CET this academic year. By expanding into southern Cumbria, CET aims to further its vision of providing an inspiring and enriching education for all young people across the