Capacity for Improvement
We will always seek collaboration with external partners and agencies in our pursuit of excellence for all our children and young
people: however, we also believe that our children and families are best served by having school staff being the best they can
be, something which comes as a direct result of the value and investment we put into workforce development, enabled by a
learning culture which recognises the fundamental importance of research-led interventions to deliver continual improvement.
Our MAT Central Team (MCT) draws on the wide range of expertise we have across our Trust and reflects the extensive MAT capacity we have to drive system-wide improvement, in conjunction with the expertise we commission from external agencies and through strategic partnerships.
Our MCT operate under the guiding principles of:
Inspire: Inspire our school workforce and external partners through professionalism, being research-led and always going the extra mile.
Enable: Facilitate the requirements of our headteachers and school workforce to enable real school improvement thus achieving their vision.
Achieve: Reflect and evaluate how we can further support headteachers and their staff to achieve their strategic vision.
Trustwide Solutions
Collaborative: Sharing of teachers, expertise and best practices.
Quality Core Services: Access to high quality shared services, e.g. catering, premises, finance and ICT
Delivery: Rapid dissemination of best-practice across the group – sharing of policies and procedures
Development: Excellent professional development opportunities, which support the recruitment and retention of staff.
Innovation: Innovative staffing arrangements – for example, staff working across more than one Amethyst Academy and working from home.
High Calibre CPD: Training days in common, facilitating high quality CPD.
Cutting Edge: Bespoke software for pupil tracking, reporting, safeguarding, rewards and conduct management are consistent across the academies.
our central support services
Sarah Walker
MAT Clerk
I have just joined the Trust as MAT Clerk. I will be clerking for the Curriculum, Progress and Standards Sub-Committee, Attendance, Exclusions and Safeguarding Sub-Committee meetings, together with the Local Governing Board meetings of Aldersley, Moreton and Penn Hall schools. I have many years’ experience of working as a clerk for first and secondary schools in Staffordshire and Walsall. My last role in education was as a Business Manager in a secondary academy. I hold the Certificate of School Business Management through the NCSL. My interests include reading, walking and learning Spanish.
John Ince
Chief Finance Manager
John has over 2 decades of school finance experience from the early days of Local Management of Schools to Academy Status via Grant Maintained Status and Foundation School Status. As the delegation of financial control has been awarded to schools in ever increasing measure and complexity over the years, so John has evolved and adapted to meet the challenges. Having been with the Academy since its inception in January 2013,
John is now suitably experienced and knowledgeable to over see the Multi Academy Trust’s finances working alongside Laura Armato, Business Manager, and the schools’ Finance Teams, all working together to support the Trusts’ aims and objectives.
Ian Henry
Network Manager
Ian brings a wealth of experience to ICT support. Originally joining the ICT Support team in 2006, he covered a wide range of roles before becoming Network Manager of Aldersley High School in 2013. Leading the school’s ICT Support department, he was responsible for the IT input to the Building Schools for the Future project, which reshaped ICT for the school going forward and has been instrumental in the school’s support during the interim leadership of additional schools.
Whilst also continuing his work for Aldersley, Ian was appointed as Network Manager for the Amethyst Academies Trust, leading the other ICT Support departments in continuing to provide a great IT service throughout the Trust.
Paul martin
Director of Marketing
Paul’s background in IT and media at Moreton School since 2009 made him the ideal choice to market the trust and it’s schools. Paul is as happy behind a camera as a computer and actively supports the technical aspects of the Photography A Level course in the Amethyst Sixth Form.
Paul has been the lead designer on our websites since joining the trust and transitioned the Moreton website over to a CMS in 2015 to make it more accessible to the growing mobile market. Paul led the social media rollout at Moreton School to show off all the fantastic work that happens in school that might otherwise have gone unnoticed.
Paul is also our “Go to” designer and is skilled in all aspects of design from a simple poster all the way up to promotional videos for the trust.