Sheffield multi-academy education trust welcomes new leader

Chris James, 52, from Derbyshire, started his new role as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Chorus Education Trust, which was founded by Silverdale School in 2012, last month.

He has overall responsibility for Silverdale and Westfield schools in Sheffield as well as Hope Valley College in the Peak District.

The trust also includes the Sheffield Teaching School Alliance, which works with over 60 schools in the region to train teachers and provide professional development and school improvement services, and the National Modern Languages SCITT, a teacher training course which works with schools across England.

Mr James said: “I’ve received such a warm welcome from all three of the Chorus schools and am hugely impressed by students’ attitudes to learning, as well as the talent and commitment of the staff.

“My job is to make things as easy as possible for the schools – so that they can keep focused on what I believe is the most important thing: helping the students to achieve success.

“Chorus is a Trust that believes in empowering schools to do this in a way that works for them; there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach and we will certainly be avoiding the ‘franchise model’ that some multi-academy trusts adopt.

“Every parent knows what makes their child’s school special and we are committed to retaining that individuality. That’s why I chose to join Chorus and I’m committed to continuing that ethos.”

For the past four years Mr James has been senior executive headteacher at Nova Education Trust in the East Midlands and previous to this he was headteacher of The Garibaldi School where he led the school to a ‘good’ Ofsted rating in just nine months.

He also has family roots in Sheffield and studied Economic and Social History at the University of Sheffield, before training to be a teacher in Nottingham.

His appointment follows the departure of the trust’s founding executive headteacher, Roisin Paul, who is now leading an international school in Singapore.