Pontefract Academies Trust appoints two new senior leaders

Pontefract Academies Trust has appointed two senior leaders to drive improvement across all eight of its schools in the the town.

James Franklin-Smith has joined the trust as Executive Director of Secondary Education. James has a first-class track record in improving student outcomes to outstanding and experience in working in Oftsed rated outstanding institutions.

Tom Fay joins Executive Director of Teaching and Learning and is working across all primary and secondary schools in the trust. Tom has significant experience in working in outstanding rated institutions. He also has significant experience as an Oftsed inspector having led on on teaching, learning and assessment inspections in the North West. His brief is to drive teaching and learning and classroom practice so that the trust has strong model of teaching and learning that is formally aligned across all schools.

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James will be responsible for the work of the heads of the two secondary schools, namely The King’s School and Carleton High School. He will be based on a daily basis in both secondary schools and since his appointment has already celebrated GCSE success with both schools attaining a record number of grade 9s, which are the highest grades possible under the new GCSE framework.

Both James and Tom will report directly Julian Appleyard, CEO of the trust.

He said: “I am delighted that these two high calibre appointments have joined the trust. It is an exciting time for the trust as we have to raise the bar in school standards across our eight schools. James and Tom will add energy, pace and come with highly successful track records in education. I look forward to working closely with them both and in unison with all our school leaders.”

The King’s School and Carleton High School are part of the Pontefract Academies Trust, a multi academy trust that educates around 3,500 young people in Pontefract and includes the following schools: Orchard Head Primary, Carleton Park Primary, Halfpenny Lane Primary, The Rookeries Primary Carleton, De Lacy Primary School, Larks Hill Primary , Carleton High School and and The King’s School.

For more information, visit www.pontefractacademiestrust.org.uk