This follows the decision of the existing CEO, Mary Jane Edwards, to step down at the end of the academic year.
The Trust is extremely pleased at the improvements that have been secured during Mary Jane’s time as CEO, particularly in relation to the number of academies now being judged as ‘good’ by Ofsted. This has risen from 53% in September 2017 to 76% in December 2018.
Over the last two years standards for 11 year olds have also improved, increasing by 14% – higher than the national rate of improvement.
Alongside this, Ofsted carried out a ‘focused review’ of the Trust in March 2018 and praised the leadership of the CEO recognising that she ‘sustained a relentless focus on improving the quality of education’ and had a ‘tenacious determination to improve outcomes for all pupil groups’.
Mary Jane Edwards said:
“I will be leaving the Trust in a very strong position to continue to improve, given the strengths and commitment of our school leaders as well as our central team. As Ofsted commented in our MAT review we will continue to endeavour to be an employer of choice and to offer not just ‘a post but a career development opportunity’ for staff who wish to join the Trust.”
Willie Crawshay, Chair of the DNEAT Board said:
“I want to thank Mary Jane for her outstanding leadership whilst CEO of DNEAT. She has overseen a significant improvement in results and established DNEAT as a very strong multi academy trust focused on serving its communities.”
A national recruitment campaign has begun to recruit an equally talented individual to this high profile and challenging post. For more information about The Diocese of Norwich Education and Academies Trust please visit www.dneat.org