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Welcome

Welcome From The CEO

Welcome to the Great Schools Trust, we are a family of non-selective state schools serving children primarily across the Northwest of England.

Our Purpose

The Great Schools Trust was founded on international research and traditional values with a huge focus on character and leadership development.

Our vision is “To develop in each of our student the academic knowledge, intellectual habits, qualities of character and leadership traits necessary to succeed at all levels and become successful citizens in tomorrow’s world”.

We Believe

At the Great Schools Trust we believe every child can succeed and that great teaching is the key to that success. This sentiment is reflected in the motto of our academies, ‘Credimus’, which from the Latin means, “We believe”.

At the Great Schools Trust the following beliefs are fundamental to our philosophy:

We believe that all students have the ability to reach their potential and it is the job of all who work for the Trust to help this happen. We want our students, parents and communities to share our belief that anything is possible.

We believe that our curriculum should be based firmly on essential knowledge and traditional values, with a focus on outstanding learning. Our students have access to a wide variety of enrichment activities and extended school day to ensure that none fall behind.

We believe in appointing the very best teachers, leaders and staff who are committed to serving the students and parents in our communities.

We believe in having the highest expectations of ourselves and our students, to support this we have developed a culture of problem solving where challenges are replaced by solutions.

We believe that our academies exist to shape the life chances of all our students in order that they can attend the best Universities or places of employment in the years to come.

We believe in fully supporting our students throughout their education. The support systems in our academies ensures that both students and staff feel welcome and included as equal partners in the learning process.

We believe that the best way to prepare individuals for the future is through ‘Leadership’. By adopting this specialism, we provide opportunities for our students and staff to develop the character and skills required to contribute positively to their wider communities.

Shane Ierston portrait

Shane Ierston
CEO

About us

About the Great School Trust

The Great Schools Trust is a values led Multi Academy Trust.

Our Motto

‘Credimus’, underpins our collective belief that a ‘great’ education must serve as a cornerstone for enhanced social and geographical mobility. We offer the same aspirational, social and cultural advantages, including the academic performance standards, of an independent education, but do so for free and without selection, and most critically, serve some of our most disadvantaged communities.

Our Specialism

It places considerable emphasis on ensuring an ethical ethos and a strong values system permeates everything it does.

Each of its schools prioritises character education, which is taught through a structured programme of character and leadership development.

Each school holds a number of core beliefs that are central to its practice, including that all students must learn to be resilient on their educational journey in order to achieve these ambitions; and they must become confident contributing citizens able to develop a passion for both learning and character development.

The first academy of the Great Schools Trust, King’s Leadership Academy Warrington, opened in 2012. It became the National School of Character in 2015 and is recognised globally as a leader in the field of student and adult character and leadership development and innovation.

Our Vision

The Great Schools Trust seeks to:

  • Develop, through the application of its ‘character through leadership’ philosophy, a family of excellent ‘world class’ academies that allow all pupils, irrespective of their starting point or background, to access university or a career of their choice and succeed in life
  • Serve as a catalyst and model for system-wide reform that will allow more children to access high-quality education and gain greater success in life

Our Ethos

The founders of the Great Schools Trust firmly believe that if young people attend a school where they feel valued, safe and that teachers have their best interests at heart then they will commit themselves; they will work harder; suffer fewer distractions; become more motivated and achieve more.

Why Character through Leadership?

Research shows that by pursuing a character driven approach to education based on a firm set of values could be the lever that produces such an ethos. Consideration was also given as to how our young people could be advantaged in developing a career path in their early years of employment or Higher Education.

Amongst the skills they will need to be successful are those of upwardly managing and positively influencing those around them. To assist our young people develop such influencing skills ‘leadership’ has been chosen as the trust’s specialism.

Our Schools

Locations