A letter from Mr Bellamy, Headteacher:

As part of the work of our Board of Trustees, they asked me to undertake research into the possibility of Hilbre High School either establishing its own Multi-Academy Trust (MAT), or joining an existing, well-established one. I have led this process over the last few months and at this week’s (6th December 2022) meeting of the full board, I presented the research I had gathered to the Board.

After careful consideration of our exploratory fact-finding work into joining a Multi-Academy Trust during this autumn term, the Trustees at Hilbre have agreed that it would be in the best interests of our students, staff and our wider community to now work with Oak Trees MAT with a view to opening a formal consultation on the proposal for Hilbre High School to join Oak Trees’ family of schools. Subject to the feedback of this consultation, it is our Trustees' intention that we would support an application to the Regional Director for consent to join Oak Trees MAT.
Oak Trees MAT has been selected, as it closely matches our criteria in terms of what we as a school are looking for, with regard to our drive for continuous school improvement. We wish to work with a Trust with a strong local presence, one that understands the context of the Wirral and one that serves families of Wirral children. Hilbre and Oak Trees MAT share a common vision, have values that align and a supporting and caring ethos. Oak Trees MAT is ambitious and allows for individual school autonomy. Oak Trees is led by like-minded individuals who wish for our school to be part of their Trust, as much as we wish to be part of theirs.

As an organisation, Oak Trees focus on staff well-being, workload, professional growth and values and the continuing professional development for its staff. Critically, the shared values and ethos will provide endless opportunities for staff and students; way more than any individual school could provide by itself.

We are very excited at the prospect of moving forwards with Oak Trees MAT to ensure that Hilbre students receive the very best education possible, both in terms of the Quality of Education received and the Personal Development opportunities afforded by this joint venture.
I will be in contact with you all again soon, as we begin to look at the next stage of this process. Please feel free to take a look at the Oak Trees website to give you a better insight into their organisation.
https://www.oaktreesmat.co.uk/

Yours faithfully

Mark Bellamy

Headteacher