Wayne Norrie, CEO, Greenwood Academies Trust
Some of these include:
1. ‘Be yourself, accept who you are, you’ve got no one else to be.’
2. ‘Be flamboyant, it’s who you are and always have been. Don’t try to adapt yourself to someone else’s view of normal.’
3. ‘Whatever you do, always give it a good go. Don’t be afraid of failure and disappointment. Disappointment is temporary, regret is forever.’
4. ‘Appreciate beauty, take pictures and make memories. Capture it – you never know when it’ll be gone.’
5. ‘Love with all your heart. In the end love is the only thing that matters.’
It was these 11 life lessons I kept front of mind earlier this year when pulling together with other Trust leaders to secure rapid transformation for a school in desperate need of it.
It was six lessons in particular that enabled me to keep up the resilience needed to tackle this challenge.
6. ‘Be generous and kind because you can’t take it with you. When you’ve got something to give, give it without hesitation.’
The Department for Education asked me in January 2022 to talk to the board of another Trust, The Evolve Trust, about the potential of becoming their Interim CEO at short notice. I was grateful for the opportunity as I have always learnt so much from others and never cease to be amazed by the professional generosity across our sector. So, I have always been keen to share what we have learned at GAT and now we had the chance to give something back to our sector.
The Ofsted report for a special school in Mansfield made for very difficult reading:
- The lack of staff leaves pupils at imminent risk of harm.
- Pupils are not safe in this school.
- Pupils’ basic needs are unmet. They communicate their distress. Some are neglected because staff are busy dealing with other pupils’ urgent care needs.
- Pupils do not receive an acceptable standard of education. Some parents and carers are worried that their children are falling further behind. Not all staff have had the right training to teach pupils well.
When I understood the true extent of the task at hand, I knew I could not do this alone. I needed to enlist support from across the sector to make it right for these children, families and staff as quickly as possible. That old proverb about how it takes a village to raise a child was not entirely accurate in this case - I needed the largest of cities!
Thankfully, there were lots of people who came forward to give without hesitation. Our GAT board of Trustees agreed immediately to a part-time secondment. The DfE enlisted Nexus Multi Academy Trust, experts in special schools. Their Chair of Trustees, Andy Child, agreed to Chair the new Interim Board at the Trust in need. His expertise in excellent governance was crucial to the improvements we made. We also had to recruit an entirely new board, and my CEO colleagues Cathy Anwar from Summit Learning Trust and Jon Challoner from GLF, among others, were so generous with their time and answered my call to join the board.
Nexus also provided invaluable leadership thanks to CEO, Warren Carratt, who offered massive support, and Luci Windle, who joined as Executive Headteacher. We also secured rapid support for safeguarding from Archway Learning Trust and Eden Academy Trust.
7. ‘Laugh. There’s humour to be found everywhere, even your darkest days there’s something to have a joke about.’
The challenge we faced at the academy was, without a doubt, the most difficult of my career both personally and professionally. We knew we needed to open the school to some of the most vulnerable children in the country as soon as possible but, given their complex needs, we needed to recruit and train 30 staff to make this achievable. We also had to support colleagues who had stayed at the school, supporting the children under the most difficult of circumstances.
However, the most upsetting time for me was listening to the parents and carers share stories about how their children had been treated. Their stories will stay with me forever.
This is where the fabulous Luci was simply amazing. She was incredibly supportive of the families and staff. We were in contact every day and there wasn’t a single phone call, teams or face-to-face meeting where we didn’t laugh together. We had to. This was an emotionally draining experience unlike any we had faced before. Nobody did more to keep my spirits up during this time than Luci; I will be eternally grateful to her.
8. ‘Get angry. It’s ok to lose your temper now and then. If anger stays in, it turns to poison and makes you bitter and sad. Get angry, say your piece and let it go.’
There were days when I did get angry on behalf of the children and parents for the experience they had endured. I felt angry that our wonderful children hadn’t been kept safe or cared for as they should have been.
This is where I needed my CEO ‘buddies’ to listen to me rant and let it all out! I don’t know what I would have done without Rowena Hackwood from Astrea Academy Trust, Carol Dewhurst from Bradford Diocesan Academies Trust and Anita Ghidotti-Gibson from Pendle Education Trust. I am sure their hearts must have sunk when their mobiles rang and my number came up! They helped me to say my piece and let it go.
9. ‘Don’t take yourself too seriously. People who take themselves too seriously are boring.’
It was a massive challenge, but we managed to secure much-welcomed changes and put into place the support children, families and staff needed. We then worked together to ensure the most sustainable future not just for the academy, but for the other three academies in the Trust. The two special schools officially joined Nexus recently, and the two mainstream schools will be joining GAT in December.
Any time anyone thanked me for my support, I shifted that right back to the big team effort that made it happen. Trust sector colleagues came together to help in an instant. Everyone rolled up their sleeves and pitched in– an inspiring bunch who don’t take themselves too seriously. We got through it all together.
10. ‘Don’t worry about other people’s opinions. Everyone’s a critic, but ultimately what they say only matters if you let it.’
Some critics of the academy sector tried to put that academy’s failure as a failure of the academy system. It wasn’t being an academy that led to it being inadequate, it was a failure of leadership. It was however a case of the academy sector ‘stepping in’ to help when children needed it the most.
It was a privilege to work with so many dedicated and talented colleagues at the academy and across the Trust, and more widely across the sector to help them stabilise and recover from a difficult time. I will never forget how lucky I have been to be involved with such a wonderful academy. Those children and their families will live with me forever.
In education, we have been dealing with challenging, unprecedented times since the start of the pandemic – years now – and those challenges don’t seem to be stopping any time soon. So I will leave you with my favourite of Bob Hoskins’ 11 life lessons, the one that kept me going throughout this recent experience; the one I think about on those days when everything (and everybody) feels against you:
11. ‘Never, ever, ever, ever give up. Keep on punching no matter what you’re up against. You’re only defeated if you give up,so don’t give up.’
The CST Blog welcomes perspectives from a diverse range of guest contributors. The opinions expressed in blogs are the views of the author(s), and should not be read as CST guidance or CST’s position.
