The Central Team

We have a skilled central team which provides specialist support to our schools, enabling them to have a greater focus on teaching and learning and leadership development so that our schools can support all children to have the best educational experiences and to achieve their potential. At Owlcotes, we evaluate our central services to ensure they suit the needs of our schools, staff and pupils.

The Chief Executive Officer

Owlcotes Multi-Academy Trust It is led by Lesley West, the CEO, who leads all aspects of the Trust’s strategic and operational direction. Lesley has extensive experience of school improvement and has worked for many years in a range of Leeds primary schools, teaching across the age groups and holding leadership roles. She has a keen interest in inclusion and for a number of years was a SENCo, Lesley is also a National Leader of Education (NLE). 

In our Trust, the CEO takes a lead in school improvement, supporting school leadership teams across the Trust to ensure that each school provides an excellent educational experience for everyone and secures great outcomes for pupils.

CEO: Lesley West

School Improvement

We have a strong school improvement team, led by the CEO. This comprises Specialist Leaders for Education, leading practitioners and trained coaches. We provide peer support for schools and scheduled and supportive reviews of teaching and learning as part of the offer to any schools in our Trust. This team also offers bespoke school improvement support to schools not in our Trust.

We run a number of successful network groups within our Trust, where staff from across the Trust get together to share best practice and provide valuable support when leading future developments. These include Headteacher networks, subject leader networks, SENCo networks and office manager networks. We encourage staff across all roles to collaborate where possible and share best practice and knowledge across the Trust.

School Improvement Leader: Lesley West
 

Finance Team

Our Central Finance Team provides support to our schools in the areas of budgeting, financial reporting, purchasing, and invoicing. The team works closely with office staff within our schools and organisations to ensure that we maximise the resources available for teaching and learning - whilst maintaining strict compliance with statutory and best practice regulatory guidance.

The Finance Team also provides regular reporting to individual schools and to the Board of Trustees and manages all regulatory financial returns. 

Gemma Ferris - Senior Finance Officer

Victoria Shpiliak - Chief Finance Officer

Sarah Hezelgrave - Finance Assistant

Premises and Estate Management

All schools within the Owlcotes Trust have their own Site Superintendent who works closely with the Headteacher and Senior Leaders on the day-to-day security, maintenance and management of the school site.

The Trust's Facilities and Estates Manager supports the School Leadership Team and site staff to provide strategic oversight and project delivery in the areas of health and safety compliance, contract management, repairs and maintenance and building improvements. 

The Facilities and Estates Manager also leads on Trust-wide estate development and maintenance to seek out funding streams and develop individualised five year premises for the schools. We use a central compliance system to ensure that our estates are maintained to the highest standard and so that our site teams can quickly respond to and resolve any challenges that occur during the school day. 

Team Leader: Mark Dobson - Facilities and Estates Manager

Communication and Information

Each school in the Trust has its own school office administration teams who manage day-to-day school communications alongside school leaders. Our Chief Information Officer works closely with the CEO, Trustees, school leaders and office managers to provide support and advice as and when required. The CIO works with governing boards and across all of our schools to support the local governance. The team is focused on developing effective internal and external communications to enhance the reputation of the trust as an employer of choice and provides Trust-wide support, ensuring compliance and best practice in a variety of areas, including:

• Policies and procedures

• Governance

• Marketing and Communications

• Recruitment and Training

• Risk Management

• Internal Scrutiny and compliance

• New starter onboarding and contracts 

Team Leader: Joe Wilson - Chief Information Officer