FEATURE FOCUS: ALTERNATIVE PROVISION
Maximising our students’ life chances
Kirklees: Engage Academy (KS1 & 2), Reach Academy (KS3) and Ethos College (KS4), one in Wakefield: Evolve Academy (KS2/3 and a Special Free School based in Rotherham). Together, this family of schools that make up EAT, provides wide ranging support and educational opportunities for pupils with social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) and wider special education needs and disabilities (SEND) that can’t be met in mainstream schools.
What inspired you to be a teacher and then a SEHM/SEND specialist?
As a teenager/young adult, I enjoyed spending time with children and seeing them learn and develop new skills. I chose to teach as I wanted to be able to contribute to, and support, the development of children. I had some amazing teachers at school, and I recognised the difference a good teacher can make in terms of inspiring and motivating pupils. I wanted to make learning engaging, relevant and fun for all.
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n our final look this month at alternative provision, we were delighted to catch up recently with Jayne Foster, CEO of Ethos Academy Trust (EAT) in West Yorkshire, to discuss the Trust’s vision of creating nurturing and inclusive learning communities.
Tell us about Ethos Academy Trust The Trust comprises four Alternative Provision academies for children aged 5-16 - three based in
Where did your career begin?
I trained to be a primary teacher at Bretton Hall College from 1990-1994. My first teaching job was in a primary school in Thurnscoe, South Yorkshire in September 1994. I remained in primary teaching until 2005 (including six years teaching at a British Forces Primary School in Cyprus).
After about ten years of teaching, and a number of years as a middle leader, my next
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natural career step would have been deputy head in a primary school. However, at that time I had two young children and wanted to maintain a work-life balance, uncertain whether I was ready for (or wanted) more responsibility. I therefore took a sideways step into alternative provision at Ethos College to broaden my professional experience - and have never looked back. I immediately fell in love with everything that alternative provision enabled me to do. The higher staff to pupil ratios provided the opportunity to have a greater impact on the pupils who needed it the most. The sense of reward from developing close working relationships with pupils and their families, understanding their needs and being able to support and empower them to make positive changes and improve their life chances, was something that I had not fully experienced previously.
How did you become CEO?
I was extremely fortunate to be given a wide range of career progression opportunities in the schools that are now academies within Ethos Academy Trust. Having arrived at Ethos College to undertake a main scale teaching role, I quickly took on leadership responsibilities (at that time, the school was in special measures, and it was essential that improvement at pace was secured, so I couldn’t help but roll my sleeves up and get stuck in) progressing to deputy head within a couple of years. From there I took on my first
January 2023
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