Schools North East would like to extend their congratulations to a number of NE Trusts recognised in national awards.
Bishop Wilkinson Catholic Education Trust was recognised as a ‘highly commended’ MAT Finance Team of the Year at The MAT Finance Awards 2021, this week. The Trust achieved a status of ‘highly commended runner up’ after being shortlisted along with seven other MAT Finance Teams from across the country, which is a great achievement for the growing North East Trust.
Chief Operating Officer of the Trust, Louise Levy, wanted to recognise the amazing work of the Central Finance Team, and nominated them for the national award of MAT Finance Team of the Year. Ms Levy said “Throughout the conversion process, the work of the Finance team has been exceptional. They have shown how effective their Due Diligence processes have been, how they have built excellent working relationships with the teams in the individual 37 schools and continued to monitor the financial capacity, income and expenditure of the Trust throughout the expansion. However the point that makes me most proud, is the way the team have worked tirelessly together, built an exemplary team spirit and had fun simultaneously. I am immensely proud of all of our Essential Services teams and they are an absolute pleasure to work with.
It is an absolutely amazing achievement to not only be shortlisted for the MAT Finance Team of the Year, but then to be recognised as the ‘Highly Commended Runner Up’ – something else for our team to celebrate, as they go from strength to strength.”
LIsa Smith, Chief Finance Officer of the Trust added “I would just like to add that I’m incredibly proud of the whole finance team and especially the way everyone works together and supports each other. We have dealt with such massive changes over the past two years and everyone has worked so hard, the team really deserves this recognition.”
Schools North East would also like to congratulate Katrina Morley and Julia Armstrong, CEOs of Tees Valley Education and Prince Regent Street Trust, respectively, who were both nominated as MAT Finance Champion of the Year. Tees Valley Education was also shortlisted in the MAT Finance Education or Community Impact of the Year category for their project ‘Hot food for learning’ led by Karen Gleave, Head Teacher at Brambles Primary Academy.
All of the Trusts mentioned above are also Schools North East Partner School MATs. It’s great to see some of the region’s Trusts recognised in this way at such prestigious national awards. The aim of the The MAT Finance Awards is to “provide a unique platform for MAT-Finance Professionals to celebrate their hard work, share best practices, and showcase their incredible impact.” All of the Trusts involved have certainly done that.
Schools North East would like to congratulate the winners and all those shortlisted. They all do a tremendous job of ensuring that children are given the best possible starts in life.
