Dr Clare Keating-Roberts has been with Meridian Trust as Vice Principal at Sharnbrook Academy since September 2022. An experienced leader, she also holds a PhD in Education from University of Cambridge. As she reflects on her first year with us, we had a chat to find out about her experience so far…
Clare, what were you doing before this role?
I was at a large upper school in Bedfordshire for fifteen years in a variety of roles before joining Sharnbrook Academy in September. I trained as a music teacher, where I went on to lead the department and then the performing arts faculty. I have a real passion for arts education and believe the Arts is are the heart of a school.
After that role, I moved into the Senior Leadership Team where I had responsibility for teaching and learning, focussing mainly on shaping the quality assurance process and guiding the school and leaders through the new Ofsted framework.
Latterly, I took a side-step into the welfare and wellbeing side of education from an unexpected opportunity that arose. During this time, I was responsible for standards, conduct and safeguarding; all things pastoral! It was a huge learning curve, but challenge is something I enjoy.
I had the exciting opportunity to complete my doctorate (a real labour of love!) which centred around understanding leadership in multi-academy trusts.
What attracted you to this role?
During my doctorate research, I encountered participants who asserted that “Meridian Trust is the gold standard of trusts” due to its moral purpose and its focus on valuing people. For me, it’s really important that any school or trust that I work for has values that align with my own – which primarily are about valuing people.
Sharnbrook Academy is such a family-first, community-centred school that has such an interesting history. In fact, Sharnbrook pioneered the vertical tutoring system many years ago so seeing it thriving again, across trust, has been brilliant.
What has struck you about your experience so far?
Across the trust, I’ve found that there’s a huge amount of support for leaders in terms of sharing best practice and having a broad network of experience and contexts. This diverse range of perspectives undoubtedly gives richer opportunities to shape my own work.
It has been a busy year and I have really reflected on the challenges that new members of staff face with they join a new school. All good learning points to adapt for the new year and new colleagues.
What have your focus areas been in your first year?
The team have been working hard on embedding consistent pastoral systems and processes. These have been centred around behaviour, conduct and standards. My priority this year was to work with our community to agree our explicit expectations in terms of conduct, particularly shaping our school values and articulating to all stakeholders what they should look and sound like. I’m proud to say we have our pastoral vision clear and the coming year is about consistent implementation
Sharnbrook Academy has gone through a period of change, having moved from an upper school to a secondary school closely followed by COVID so it has been important to us to re-shape what we believe to be important to us.
How have you brought aspects of your PhD into your role?
My EdD was about senior leaders’ perceptions of working in a Multi Academy Trust. It was a longitudinal case study that documented changing views on how leadership is enacted at different points of joining a trust. Conclusions suggested that, as a leader in an academy, joining a Trust can be challenging and exciting. Most challenges came from unknown change and a need for clarity when sharing the balance of Trust-centred vs autonomous activities.
It taught me that there are many different approaches to leading in an academy as part of a Multi Academy Trusts. MATs are varied and I am of the firm belief that that is a good thing, but it’s important to work in an organisation that aligns with one’s own values.
Tell us a bit about Sharnbrook Academy…
Sharnbrook Academy is one of the largest schools in the Trust. In September, we moved to the house system following a horizontal structure to supporting bubbling during COVID. We’ve been re-instating this model post-COVID and I’ve been really impressed by the family feel that this brings to the academy. The staff house ‘Strictly’ competition at Christmas was a real highlight!
Our school values are talked about and enacted all the time. Responsibility, Aspiration, Determination, Respect, Pride and Community are incorporated into our assemblies and tutor time. Students are proud to be involved in what the values meant to them. They shaped their meaning and what they should look like; it’s a very real aspect of our school identity.
We have a lot of fun at school. There’s our rock-climbing wall, our house competitions and every Friday (during tutor time) we have ‘the Broadcast’ where presenters use a green screen to share images, music and notices in an engaging way. We use this broadcast to celebrate achievements from the preceding week. It’s a lovely tradition that has happened for many, many year!
What advice would you give to any teachers who are wanting to develop their careers at Meridian Trust?
I would urge any aspiring leaders to seek out opportunities to understand aspects of the school that you might not be aware of. Try not to discount some areas as you feel they are not currently your strengths… you never know, you may find a hidden passion.
There are unglamorous sides to leadership, so take up any shadowing opportunities that come your way, to get a real sense of what the role is like day-to-day.
Are there a few highlights you can share from this first year?
We have some really lovely traditions at Sharnbrook.
On the last day of each term, we always have a range of fun activities to celebrate students being brilliant. For example, at Christmas, all staff members line up alongside the busses on the last day of term and sing to the students. As a music teacher, I absolutely love this tradition!
Wider community support and awareness is huge at Sharnbrook. It was heart-warming to see over 100 Christmas boxes being made up to be distributed in the community. They were hugely appreciated. It really was something to see, as each tutor group carried their heavy boxes from their tutor base to the sports hall, ready for collection.
Also, at Easter, we had an Egg Hunt, which was a lovely way to bring our school community together and show students how valued they are.
Any Hobbies outside of work?
I have a daughter, Nancy (6) and a son, Henry (2), so there isn’t a lot of spare time outside of work and family life, however I do play netball twice a week and it’s something that I really enjoy.
It’s so important to have time to ‘switch off’ during the week. Even when I’m really busy at work, I always prioritise netball, to ensure that I have a chance to exercise my body and give my brain a rest!