Dear Colleagues, 

With the summer break now within sight and the final weeks of term unfolding, it's a fitting time to pause and appreciate all that we’ve accomplished together. These last teaching days are full of energy - wrapping up final lessons, completing assessments, engaging in transition and celebrating milestones. It’s also a chance to reflect on what has been a remarkable year and to look ahead to the opportunities that the new academic year will bring.

First and foremost, I’m delighted to share the outcomes of this year’s Phonics Screening Check (PSC) for our Year 1 pupils across WeST. This assessment is a key measure of early reading development, testing pupils’ ability to decode words using phonics skills. I’m proud to report that our children have performed exceptionally well, with 90.3% of the cohort meeting the expected standard - significantly exceeding the national average from last year, which stood at 80%. This is an outstanding result and speaks volumes about the hard work of our children, the skill and commitment of our teachers, and the support from parents and carers. These results reflect the strong foundations we are building in early literacy across the Trust.

As we look ahead to 2025–26, we are setting out a clear and focused agenda for school improvement. I am pleased to confirm that our Trust-wide priorities for next year are:

· Attendance

· Literacy

· English and Maths outcomes at Key Stage 2 and 4

· Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)

· Outcomes for disadvantaged pupils

These priorities reflect our shared commitment to raising standards, closing attainment gaps, and ensuring every child - regardless of background - has the chance to thrive and in doing so will impact positively on society. They will form the backbone of each school’s improvement plan, guide the design of professional development, and be tracked through the rhythm of our Trust-wide monitoring cycle.

In professional development, this week saw the conclusion of our year-long Deputy Headteacher and Vice Principal Development Programme - delivered in collaboration with Cornwall Education Learning Trust and the Blackdown Education Partnership. Fifteen aspiring

Senior leaders from across the three Trusts took part in this rich and rigorous programme, which included six full-day conferences hosted in high-performing schools across the region. The programme covered leadership essentials such as curriculum design, behaviour, culture, raising standards, and implementation strategies. The final session, hosted at Coombe Dean School, was both a moment of reflection and a celebration of the journey. We are proud to have supported the development of such a talented group, who are now better prepared than ever to step into senior leadership roles.

Last week also marked the final SENDCo Network Meeting of the year, bringing together inclusion leaders from across the Trust. The session provided space to reflect on progress made this year, share impactful practice, and prepare for the year ahead. It also offered time to engage with updates to statutory guidance and explore the professional development priorities for 2025–26. Thank you to all SENDCos for the vital role you play in making our schools inclusive, supportive, and responsive to the needs of every learner.

Meanwhile, Thursday’s Primary History and Geography Leads meeting was a welcome opportunity for subject leaders to come together and reflect on curriculum development in the humanities. These sessions are vital in supporting collaboration across schools, fostering consistency, and driving high-quality subject leadership. Thank you to all those involved for your continued dedication and thoughtful contributions.

Wishing you all a great weekend.

Best wishes, 

Rob Haring

CEO

Quality of Education Development Programme

Huge congratulations to Cohort 1 on successfully completing the Deputy Headteacher (Quality of Education) Development Programme, delivered in partnership with Cornwall Education Learning Trust (CELT) and Blackdown Education Partnership (BEP). Your dedication, leadership, and passion for driving educational excellence have been truly inspiring. We’re incredibly proud to have supported your journey - here’s to the continued impact you’ll make in your schools and communities!

Sexual Harassment – ‘WeST’s speak-up culture’

At WeST we want everyone to feel safe in the work environment by having a zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Sexual harassment includes any unwanted conduct of a sexual nature that violates a person's dignity or creates an intimidating environment for them, whether intended or not.

We follow the EHRC’s Guidance on sexual harassment and employer’s liability including for third parties:

• Everyone should act if they witness or have evidence of sexual harassment at work, including during remote work, travel, off-site activities or work-related social events.
• WeST does not tolerate any form of sexual harassment and will respond to all reported incidents seriously and promptly, ensuring that all allegations are thoroughly investigated.
• Nobody will be victimised for making a complaint of sexual harassment or for helping another person to make such a complaint.

Please click the link to the policy below for more information:

WeST Sexual Harassment Policy May 2025.docx

Important Data Protection information - Action needed by all staff

From January 2026, no email will be stored in Microsoft Outlook for longer than 2 years. This means that:

• All emails of 2 years old or more will be automatically deleted from Outlook on 6 January 2026.

• From then onwards, all emails will be automatically deleted from Outlook 2 years after you receive them. 

(For now, Callington and Chaddlewood staff using Google Mail rather than Microsoft are exempt, to help keep guidance as simple as possible. If you use Google Email the following does not apply for now. However, all staff should avoid using email as a long-term storage area, so this is a good opportunity to get a head start!)

All staff using Microsoft email need to back up any essential email and/or attachments that are needed long-term to an appropriate storage area. The deadline to complete this before the Christmas holiday is therefore 18 December 2025. Any emails not backed-up outside of Outlook by then will be lost permanently.

Please click here for the Guidance Document.

Please start thinking and acting on this as soon as possible. Numerous support sessions will be arranged to help any staff with issues, across a variety of dates and times between now and Christmas, but the sooner you start, the sooner you finish! Support sessions will start with limited target audiences to help gauge levels of support and attendance. Dates and times will be sent out separately. 

No Purchase Order (PO), no pay policy

From 1^st September 2025, the Trust will be implementing a strict 'No PO no pay' policy whereby all invoices must quote a valid Trust purchase order number to be eligible for processing. It is therefore extremely important that ALL staff are aware of this change and if your role involves any form of ordering, please make sure that you are familiar with the purchase ordering system. We are in the process of communicating this to suppliers. Finance teams will be circulating the letter that is going out to suppliers in the next few weeks which will provide more details. 

Thank you!

Jump Back Up July!