Following a recruitment process in the summer of 2023, Claire Gaskin was appointed to the position of Interim CEO for Shropshire Church of England Academies Trust with the task of progressing a joint project between the Diocese of Lichfield and the Diocese of Hereford to realise the creation of the new Trust. This saw Claire combining the iCEO role with her position as Executive Headteacher of The Trinity Federation; a formal federation of three Church of England primary schools located across Lichfield Diocese and Hereford Diocese who were to form part of the founding group of schools in the Trust. Claire is also Executive Headteacher of Morville Primary Academy which is part of the Diocese of Hereford Multi Academy Trust. All the schools have a ‘good’ judgement from Ofsted and are effective church schools.

Claire first took on the challenges of headship in 2009 and, under her leadership, Worfield School quickly moved from its then Ofsted Grade 3 status, to being a good school. In 2013 Shropshire LA, in partnership with Hereford Diocesan Board of Education, approached Claire to support a neighbouring school that was in challenging circumstances. The school improved quickly and in 2014, the two schools formally federated to create The Trinity Federation. In September 2015 Beckbury School joined the federation.

Simultaneously working across Church of England primary schools in both the maintained and academy sectors has afforded Claire the opportunities to develop competence and confidence in the legalities of academisation as well as ensuring knowledge of governance structures, scheme of delegation, financial regulations and processes. Claire previously sat on a local governing body for a secondary academy within another Trust.

Claire is passionate about working in collaborative partnerships to share resources (financial, physical or human) to ensure children have the very best educational experiences and opportunities. Developing others as part of a school-led improvement system is an important feature of Claire’s work. Claire’s strong and ethical leadership has been recognised by Ofsted and in SIAMS inspections.

Claire has a wealth of experience in managing change and shaping the future of schools through previously supporting the development of federations in Shropshire, designing bespoke leadership structures to support schools in driving improvements and raising standards, and working closely with governors, ensuring roles and responsibilities are understood and that systems are in place to enable governors to carry out their duties effectively.

Innovation and creativity are a central feature of Claire’s work. Under Claire’s leadership, The Trinity Federation established a professional clerking service to support a significant number of other governing bodies in Shropshire schools. This thriving and popular service continues to be offered through Shropshire Church of England Academies Trust. There is also a well-used outreach offer of support from St. Mary's Bluecoat Primary School's SEND hub. The LA often commission this support to other schools, particularly in respect of SEND, inclusion and behaviour.

Claire served as a member of the Hereford Diocesan Board of Education for over a decade and was also vice-chair of governors for Shropshire’s Virtual School until July 2024. Claire co-chairs the Shropshire Education Partnership Board - Education sub group. Claire sits on the Strategic Partnership Board for SEND, and the Local Area Admissions Forum.

Sandra has worked at Meole Brace Primary School since 2002 and for the last 15+ years as the School Business Manager.  She holds an Association of Accounting Technician Level 4 Diploma in Professional Accounting and gained a Level 6 diploma in School Business Management, which she completed in 2016.  More recently, Sandra has completed a Level 3 qualification in the Clerking of School and Academy Governing Boards.  She has also attended training in ‘Advanced Level Academy Finance’ and ‘Taxation for Academies’. Sandra's knowledge and experience enables her to work closely with the iCEO to lead and manage the delivery of the Trust’s strategic objectives sustainably.  She directs the operational financial management systems of the MAT, ensuring compliance with all relevant statutory procedures.

Sandra has extensive knowledge of school funding and has been a member of Shropshire Schools Forum as a Governor representative for over 15 years. This role allows Sandra to understand the challenges that all schools face in Shropshire. 

Lizzie has over 18 years' experience working in primary schools across Shropshire. She joined The Trinity Federation in September 2015 as a Lead Teacher and quickly progressed to the Head of School position at Beckbury. In 2020, Lizzie also took on the challenges of providing the day-to-day leadership of Morville academy under a bespoke SLA agreement with the Diocese of Hereford Multi Academy Trust. Under Lizzie’s strategic leadership, Morville Academy quickly moved from a rapidly declining position to achieving a good Ofsted judgment in every aspect.

As Head of School concurrently for both a maintained and an academy primary school, Lizzie’s proven track record as a highly effective leader of school improvement was rewarded in 2022 with her appointment to the executive leadership team of The Trinity Federation in the position of Director of Teaching and Learning, a role which extends to include Morville School. Her clarity of articulating the vision and strategies by which to achieve this is frequently recognised externally. Lizzie has a clear understanding of governance and is well-placed to support other schools and local governing bodies on their school improvement journey.

Additional responsibilities include Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader having completed the Level 4 Certificate in Mental Health Aware Leadership (Education) qualification. Lizzie is an experienced and diligent Designated Safeguarding Lead. An experienced SENDCO, Lizzie also holds the SENDco award. Lizzie is an NCETM Professional Development Lead in Early Years Maths Mastery for Salop and Herefordshire and has successfully led the development of the Early Years Mathematics curriculum across the federation.

As (interim) Director of Teaching and Learning for Shropshire Church of England Academies Trust, Lizzie provides strategic leadership of teaching and learning across multiple schools. Lizzie has made a substantial contribution to each of the schools’ sustainable improvements, including curriculum redesign and developments in teaching, learning and assessment, and has led each of the four schools through a number of successful Ofsted inspections. Through a continued commitment to personal research around educational theories, topics and research, Lizzie is able to make informed decisions about the education of all pupils and maintain, improve or change practice to improve the quality of education in our schools. Lizzie has coached senior leaders to enable them to effectively monitor and evaluate the quality of education in their own schools or subject areas. This has enabled them to reflect upon and develop their practice to become outstanding practitioners.

As an executive leader, Lizzie has facilitated the design and implementation of mixed year group curriculum planning as well as single year group plans which have been well-informed due to her experience of leading small CE primary schools. She has successfully improved the quality of education in multiple schools through a relentless focus on teaching and learning.

Lizzie is a well-respected colleague and her skill-set has been recognised externally during Ofsted inspections, independent reviews, and SIAMS as well as by LA school improvement advisors. 

SEND and inclusion has played a huge part in Dan's 18-year career to-date. Throughout which, he has fulfilled a number of leadership and specialist roles, taking in senior leadership within a specialist provision in Wolverhampton with an ASD designation and working at advisory level. Dan's advisory roles have included Sandwell’s inclusion support team as part of the complex, communication and autism team as a specialist teacher and then as a specialist learning advisory teacher for the Telford and Wrekin LSAT. In these roles, Dan advised and led on the SEND provision offered across primary and secondary schools, alternative provisions, specialist provisions and pupil referral units as well as writing and delivering training for ASD and complex needs support in schools.

Dan's role of Director of Inclusion and SEND with The Trinity Federation was to drive the federation’s strategic vision of inclusion across multiple schools and promote and lead the positive culture for SEND. Dan's strategic role has since extended to being (interim) Director of Inclusion and SEND for Shropshire Church of England Academies Trust.  Dan has led on developing behaviour regulation policy across multiple schools, and his expertise and experiences are often called upon by Shropshire’s Virtual School as a model of good practice.

Dan provides the strategic leadership of the SEND Hub at St. Mary's Bluecoat CE Primary School, having taken the lead in shaping and establishing the successful hub provision in 2019. The hub is a 12 place provision supporting children in receipt of an EHCP with SEMH as a primary designation. Some of our children are looked after and therefore present with complex attachment and trauma profiles.

Dan has written a Social, Emotional, Mental Health Framework as a tool for tracking the progress in SEMH aspects of individual children’s development. He has also produced a SEND Identification and Support document for our schools to help better unpick what SEND ‘looks like’ for colleagues to deliver quality first teaching and differentiation of support for pupils with SEND. This has supported schools beyond Shropshire's boundary.

Dan leads the highly successful learning support outreach offer for the Trust (originally from The Trinity Federation) which supports a number of local schools throughout the county, offering learning assessments, behaviour support and advice and more complex reports for supporting external agency referrals or EHCP applications. Dan sits on the local authority’s SEND Sufficiency and Funding Reference Group and works closely with Shropshire’s Virtual School.