2023: Our year in review
At Star Academies, we pride ourselves on making a positive difference to society. Our mission is to improve the life chances of young people in areas of economic deprivation and to help them succeed at the highest levels of education, employment and the professions.
Throughout 2023, Star Academies has remained focused on delivering educational excellence, supporting pupils’ wellbeing, developing their character and nurturing young people to achieve their goals.
Shining brightly
In 2023, Star Academies celebrated a decade of exceptional achievement. Since the founding of its first free school ten years ago, the trust has developed and expanded to establish its position as one of the country’s leading multi-academy trusts. In its first decade, Star has achieved incredible milestones and has consistently ranked amongst the top-performing multi-academy trusts in national performance tables.
Double Olympic champion rower James Cracknell OBE was guest of honour at our annual Star Awards ceremony. His stirring personal story of triumph over adversity provided an inspirational backdrop as we recognised the outstanding achievements of our pupils, staff and governors.
Celebrating success
Thousands of pupils in Star schools were on cloud nine this summer as they received their GCSE, BTec and A level results. This year’s exam cohorts demonstrated steadfast determination and resilience to overcome several years of disruption to excel in their assessments. Their exceptional results placed five Star schools in the top 10 in England for their GCSE performance.
Ofsted inspected seven Star schools in 2023. It was the first time that two of the schools had been inspected since opening or joining the Star family. All seven improved or retained their previous grading, with one of our sponsored academies securing a ‘good’ judgement for the first time in the school’s history. 15 Star schools are currently judged to be ‘outstanding’. These positive outcomes reinforce our unwavering commitment to educational excellence and are testament to the dedication and talent of our employees.
Championing educational excellence
Star continues to lead pioneering work that makes a positive difference to the education ecosystem and society more generally. As a fervent advocate of civic leadership, the trust champions the immense power of education, not only in transforming the lives of children and young people but in tackling inequality and acting as a catalyst for communities, towns and cities to flourish.
In September, two secondary schools were the latest to join Star Academies’ growing national network of primary and secondary schools. The new schools, which are located in Salford and Rossendale, expanded the number of Star schools nationally to 33 across five Star Partnership areas.
The trust will continue to extend its national presence, with a further two free schools set to open in September 2024, Furthermore, in August, the Department for Education granted approval to open an additional four schools – three sixth-form colleges in educational cold spots to be established in partnership with Eton College and a secondary school in Liverpool.
The correlation between pupil attendance and educational attainment is stark. To improve pupil attendance and drive higher attainment, Star has opened one of nine Attendance Hubs established nationally as part of the government’s strategy to tackle poor attendance. The Star Attendance Hub supports around 60 secondary schools to tackle barriers to attendance and enhance operational processes by sharing best practice and practical resources.
Making a positive difference
Civic leadership and philanthropy are key tenets of Star’s philosophy to nurture and inspire young people to develop the character to become future leaders.
In May, Star schools marked the momentous occasion of the Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III and the Queen Consort by completing 10,000 hours of voluntary service in their communities and hosting Star Big Lunch parties to strengthen their community bonds further.
In a year which has seen the most devastating of humanitarian crises across the globe, Star’s social action activities have remained in sharp focus. The trust and its schools raised an incredible £460,000 for charity and good causes in 2022-23 to support victims of international emergencies and vulnerable people in the UK, and to extend the reach and impact of our Star Community Hubs.
Added By: Star Academies | Date Added: 21st Dec 2023 | Posted In: Latest News