What we do

We are driven by our vision to ensure all children under the care of St Ralph Sherwin Catholic Multi Academy Trust are provided with the knowledge, inspiration and guidance needed to fulfil their God-given potential.

A crucial part of achieving our vision involves giving teaching staff the opportunity to focus on raising standards for their school, while the Trust takes the pressure off of other areas, including compliance and operations.

We work collaboratively with our community, joining together to create the best learning experience possible for our children.

Chaplaincy

The St Ralph Sherwin CMAT is ‘Inspired by the life, message and example of Jesus Christ’. Our Catholic faith is central to the identity of each of our 25 schools and is the foundation of all that we do. Our full-time Lead Lay Chaplain coordinates the work of Chaplaincy across the Trust. It is our desire that all schools will have their own Lay Chaplain, and we are making great strides towards this.

The work of Chaplaincy in schools empowers pupils and staff to positively and creatively contribute to the Catholic life of the community; encounter Jesus Christ through daily prayer and worship, the celebration of the sacraments and the service of others; as well providing guidance and support to all members of our communities, regardless of where they are in their journey of faith.

Pupil engagement and leadership is key to all that we do.  Particularly in schools without a Lay Chaplain, we endeavour to create resources of a high quality to equip pupils to explore many different ways they can live out our faith and calling as missionary disciples.

School Improvement

We have a highly experienced School Improvement Team who work closely with our schools to develop educational excellence and ensure that our 8,000 pupils receive high quality Catholic education rooted in our gospel values.

Our pupil-centred approach is ambitious for all. We work with our staff collaboratively to develop expertise and provide evidence-based research approaches to the delivery of a curriculum that meets the needs of the pupils in our care.

Our team consists of a full-time Director of Performance and Standards (Secondary) and a team of three Directors of Performance and Standards (Primary). They regularly visit and support the schools to establish strengths and areas for development, and then work with staff using strategies for improvement that empower leaders to be the drivers for sustainable change.

Central Services

Being part of the St Ralph Sherwin Catholic Multi Academy Trust means that each school gets the support of our dedicated Finance and HR teams.

The Director of Finance oversees the budget of our Trust, ensuring that we use the resources entrusted to us to advance the opportunities of our pupils. The central finance team take the burden off schools to allow them to concentrate on constantly improving the standard of education provided for our pupils.

Our HR Manager and her team work closely with the HR teams in the other two Trusts in the Diocese and the HR Director of the three Trusts, so that we can recruit the best candidate to each vacancy, as well as providing dedicated and bespoke support to each school’s staffing needs.

Our Estates and Facilities Manager supports our academies with Health and Safety, Statutory Compliance, Contract Management, Building Projects and Procurement; ensuring best value is achieved.