About us

As a National Leader of Education I draw upon 30 year’s experience in education and 17 years of headship. I have taught in Lewisham, Southwark and Bromley and supported schools in Norfolk, Medway, Croydon, Bromley and Bexley.

Chancery Education Trust was formed in 2015 and consists of a group of passionate and proven outstanding leaders both at operational level and Board level who share the vision of excellence for all.

We see the Trust as an opportunity for schools to do more than any single school can; to develop more professional practice; attract a wide range of candidates to vacancies by offering opportunities to work across the Trust; retain and develop leadership and strengthen succession planning; benefit from economies of scale; develop and sustain strong governance and standardise processes.

Excellence in governance forms the bedrock of our activities, Trustees are from public, private and government sectors, and have a wealth of experience in charitable and voluntary organisations.

All stakeholders share a relentless drive for excellence in everything we do; all our schools and academies are outstanding or have capacity to rapidly achieve outstanding. Through the implementation of effective appraisal measures for staff and the monitoring of standards of attainment, all learners succeed.

Schools in the Trust have their own budgets and some financial resources are pooled centrally to ensure the aims and vision of the Trust are met effectively. The CET Board works closely with local governance to identify key issues so that spending can be prioritised within each school.

At Chancery Education Trust we are passionate about creating a world class education system. We pride ourselves on having a unique perspective on the process of collaborating with like-minded people who share our values-aspiration, challenge and empowerment, valuing the individual and collaborative partnerships.

We are a Multi Academy Trust with high aspirations for our schools and academies and a proven track record of exceptional school improvement. We have the credibility and capacity to support schools and help them take the next step in the new educational landscape and seek to help them benefit from the autonomy and freedoms from academisation.

We recognise that each school in our MAT has a set of strengths and things they do well. Schools belong to their local community and we encourage schools to retain identity and recognise heritage.

We aim to build on strengths and empower schools to specialise in their area of expertise and help them achieve greatness from whatever point of their journey they start. The aim is always for schools to flourish within a supportive and collaborative structure.

Building senior leader capacity across the Trust helps give teachers the opportunity to develop their careers in different settings and benefits the Trust’s recruitment and retention strategy.

At the heart of what we do is staff development and we are very proud of our Investors in People Gold accreditation, which is awarded to only 2% of institutions, nationally. We grow teachers and help them develop their careers.

As a national support school Pickhurst Academy operates as a hub and trains colleagues in ‘challenge the gap’ which aims to close the attainment gap between ‘free school meal children’s’ results and their peers. It also offers the Outstanding Teaching Programme, Growing Middle Leaders, Outstanding Teaching Assistant Programme, our own cross borough NQT induction programme, Outstanding Leadership in Education and professional coaching programmes. Our training feedback is always excellent.

Over the years we have worked with some excellent service providers and have built beneficial relationships that are efficient and cost effective. For example, in the areas of finance, personnel, health and safety compliance, catering and IT technical support amongst other areas.

Our legal team are experts in compliance and ensure that the academy is well versed in legal perimeters to reduce risk and vulnerability.

One of the biggest changes post conversion is the rigorous accountability of the academy’s finances that are audited by the accountants. We have lots of experienced and highly trained staff on hand to manage the auditing process and ensure that the new academy achieves a clean bill of health.

Matt Rampton
CEO Chancery Education Trust