As the new academic year dawns, Outwood Grange Academies Trust is celebrating a major milestone.

This September sees the Outwood Family of Schools turn ten years old.

In 2009, Outwood was one of the first multi-academy trusts to sponsor other academies when Outwood Academy Adwick joined the Outwood Family. Prior to this Outwood Grange Academy, the birthplace of the Outwood Family, had a number of years’ experience in running and supporting schools under National Leaders of Education (NLE) contracts.

Now, as we approach Outwood’s tenth academic year, the Outwood Family of Schools has grown to over thirty schools.

Martyn Oliver, Chief Executive of Outwood Grange Academies Trust, said: “It is fantastic to be celebrating our tenth anniversary. It provides us with an opportunity to take stock of our growth and achievements so far. 

“As a high-performing trust, I am proud of how we have embraced the challenge and opportunity to ensure that all children, irrespective of their starting point, receive an excellent education.

“Currently all but one of our inspected academies are rated as Good or Outstanding by Ofsted even though almost all of them started with us as schools which were inadequate or requiring improvement. This is an achievement that I think all colleagues that have been a part of the Trust should be immensely proud of.”

At present, the Outwood Family consists of 22 secondary academies, nine primary academies and one junior academy spread across the north of England, with plans for the Family to grow.

In September 2019,  Outwood Academy Normanby opened in the North-East, replacing Hillsview Academy. It is hoped that in the following years a new free-school, Outwood Academy Riverside, will also open in the region. 

Martyn added: “We will never be content with being satisfactory. At Outwood we always want to be pushing ourselves to ensure we are doing all we can to fulfil our vision of students first, raise standards and transform lives.

“Our tenth anniversary gives us the chance to further evaluate our practices to ensure we keep on improving our approach to educating children and students to the best of our ability: making sure we support every child to fulfil their potential and delivering a great school in the heart of its community.”