It has been one month since Archbishop John Sherrington launched his vision for the future of Catholic education under the strapline “A family in Christ, our future together” to all headteachers and chair of governors from every Catholic school across the archdiocese.

Since the launch, it’s been an incredibly busy time for the Education Department and the St Joseph and Pope Francis Catholic Multi-Academy Trusts - here’s an overview of the progress so far.

Reflecting on the launch event

Joan McCarthy, Director of Education at the archdiocese said: “The launch event went incredibly well, both the Education Department and the trusts were very pleased about how they went and the positive engagement we received from schools on the day.”

Frequently asked questions

During the events, attendees were able to submit any questions they had about the strategy, all questions have been answered, and can be found here.

The Q&A will remain open, and questions can be submitted here. The document will be updated as and when new questions are received.

Joan added, “One of the most frequently asked questions was from parents that if their child wants to go to a secondary school in a different trust to their primary school, will this be impacted. I want to be clear that admission arrangements will not change.”

Meetings with wave one schools

During the launch, schools were assigned to waves for joining the trusts. These allocations remain flexible, recognising that individual schools may feel a different timeline better suits their circumstances.

Joan added: “We had several schools talking to us at the event or getting in touch with us afterwards asking if they could change waves – we will absolutely work with the schools on this and accommodate it if we can.”

Since the launch, Joan, members of her team and the trusts have begun meeting the senior leadership team and governors of all wave one schools – these meetings will continue until the end of June.

Media coverage

Following the launch, Archbishop John, Joan, and trust CEOs Andrew Dawson and Andrew Truby took part in a range of proactive media interviews.

The media coverage can be found here:

·       Liverpool Echo

·       BBC

·       Schools Week

Behind the scenes

Joan added: “As you can imagine for a project of this scale, there’s a significant amount of work happening behind the scenes. We’ve been holding weekly meetings with the trusts to plan the onboarding of new schools and how we prepare for the future.

“We’ve also been developing the hub model and ensuring both trusts are well-prepared for growth so that the process is as smooth and efficient as possible.”

Next steps

Whilst planning and meetings are happening behind the scenes, there are some key milestones that are upcoming.

The third trust, Our Lady of Lourdes the CEO and CFO of the new trust will begin.

The archdiocese will also recruit a project manager to oversee the project going forward.