Our schools are at the heart of their communities; they know their parents, carers and children best and it is only right they have the opportunity and freedom to respond to their needs. Each of our schools is different as the community they serve is different - we celebrate this uniqueness across the Trust.

Inspiring Primaries Academy Trust begins with the principle that all schools will have a local governing body to which a wide range of decisions is delegated. Each school publishes information about its local governing body on its website. 

As a Trust, our role is to set expectations, offer support and provide leadership to ensure that each school provides a great learning experience for all children in their care.

The Board of Trustees is the accountable body for the performance of all schools within Inspiring Primaries Academy Trust. It ensures clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction; holds the executive to account and oversees the financial performance of the Trust.

OUR TRUSTEES ARE:

Elisabeth Baines

Elisabeth has been in various operational and strategic leadership roles in education for 30 years. She works for the Department for Education in policy development and implementation for 16-19 provision. Prior to that she lived in Norfolk and worked for the education department of the Local Authority developing programmes to upskill the early years and childcare sector. She has been involved in school governance as a governor and chair of governors across primary and secondary education in Lutterworth, since moving into the area when her children joined primary education in Lutterworth.

Katherine Campbell, Counsel

Katherine is a solicitor specialising in property litigation for an international law firm in London, dealing with commercial property disputes of all kinds.   She is also a specialist in insolvency related matters. She is an experienced governor of a Church of England primary school and her husband is the CEO of a cross phase multi academy trust. Katherine lives in the community served by Inspiring Primaries Academy Trust and is a strong advocate for education in local communities. 

Vicki Evans

Vicki is a HR professional with more than 25 years experience. In her current role, Vicki operates as a member of the businesses leadership team, working closely with the Managing Director and the senior leadership team. Whilst she works within the HR specialism, her strengths lie in her natural desire to see the big picture, what the future might look like and shaping the aspiration and then creatively finding the practical paths to deliver the here and now, with a clear path to a future state. Vicki operates business first to ensure that she can support the team in translating what that means for people in the organisation and ensure that as the business develops their plans; those plans are accelerated by having the right people considerations, involvement and interventions. She believes there are huge gains to be had in enabling the skills, experience, expertise and potential in an organisation. A future state is much more achievable with the power of the whole than the words of a few. Looking at the whole system, the realities of today and the desire for the future then enables change to feel like evolution and being part of building a sustainable future rather than grappling with small changes and how they are used to interpret ‘where are we going?’ Whilst Vicki deals with the full range of functional activities: pay & reward, employee relations, talent management, engagement, wellbeing, diversity, equality & inclusion, organisational, efficiency, effective & design and training & development, all of these activities can become performance levers for the future if the organisational and people strategy are developed and deployed hand in hand. Vicki has a BSc in Business Studies and a MSc in Strategic Human Resource Management.

Alana Field

Following a successful career as National Account Manager with a print and stationery supplier, Alana has 17 years’ experience working with children and young people which started with youth work for Leicestershire County Council.  She developed initiatives to support and inform young people regarding sexual health, drug awareness, self-esteem, self-harm and mental health and subsequently joined Lutterworth College working with a looked after child.  She assisted with the creation of the Student Support Centre (SSC) at the college, supporting vulnerable students across years 7 to 11 and eventually taking the lead role. Responsibilities included increasing student wellbeing, their resilience and academic performance and utilising data to inform strategies.  Outcomes were continuously monitored so the approach could be altered until progress was made. This was particularly effective in engaging students who had extended periods of absence due to illness or trauma.  As a result the Attendance Improvement Officer role for key stage 3 and 4 was added to her remit resulting in increased attendance year on year.  Alana worked on the innovative Outreach programme liaising with parents and agencies to provide supportive interventions to primary school children including their transition from primary to secondary education settings. Further to the success of the SSC, she was asked to create a post 16 Study Area at the college. A particular area of interest is child and student mental health and wellbeing and the particular impact on attendance and academic outcomes.  As part of this, Alana became a mental health advocate creating close ties with CAMHS.  This resulted in coordinated mental health training and regular CAMHS representation within school.  This work gained county recognition for this provision at the time.  Support for students, their families and communities is of paramount importance, however Alana is also aware of challenges affecting school staff. 

Graham Read, JP (Chair)

Graham has served as a governor at Gilmorton Chandler for a number of years; both he and his son were pupils at the School. He worked for Leicestershire County Council for 42 years and recently retired from his role as Corporate Facilities and Operational Property Manager, responsible for all of the County Council’s property portfolio. He holds a degree in Facilities and Property Management, with a diploma in Health and Safety.  Graham has served as a magistrate for 22 years. He is a former board member For East Midlands Property Alliance.

Andrew Riches, CEO

Andrew has a successful track record of leading schools and a multi academy trust. His educational philosophy is based on a deeply held conviction that all children matter and deserve the best whatever their background or circumstances. As a leader, Andrew's aim is to lead organisations where teaching is creative and engaging, where colleagues feel they belong and flourish professionally, enabling pupils to feel valued and supported to make the best possible progress whilst developing as individuals.

Jane Robson

Jane has over 50 years of experience in state education working as a teacher, as a headteacher, as a senior officer for a Local Authority and as a consultant and trainer.  She has also held a number of roles focusing on the development of high quality leadership in schools, including that of Director of the East Midlands Leadership Centre.  As an independent consultant Jane has worked on the development and delivery of regional leadership projects and on the development and delivery of national leadership programmes for the National College for Teaching and Learning.  She is accredited by the National College as a coach and facilitator.  Currently she designs and delivers training programmes for maintained school governors, local governing bodies and independent school governors for Leicestershire County Council.  She is chair of her local Parish Council and a primary school governor.

The Members ensure the Trust’s charitable object is carried out. The Members of the Company comprise the Diocese of Leicester Educational Trust (Carolyn Lewis, Diocesan Director of Education), two appointees of the Diocese of Leicester Educational Trust (Bishop Martyn Snow and Archdeacon Richard Worsfold), the chairperson of the Trustees (Graham Read JP) and any person appointed under Article 16 (Helen Christie). 

The Diocesan Board of Education website can be accessed here: Leicester DBE