We care for every
child, so wellbeing and
safety always come first
The best schools have inspirational leaders, excellent teachers, and are responsive to their communities.
Welcome to the Leading Learning Trust. We are a group of schools who work together to ensure that all our pupils get the highest quality education and experiences whilst maintaining our unique individual school identities. We hold a strong belief that all children can achieve their fullest potential through a rich and engaging curriculum alongside the right care, guidance and support. We have the highest expectations of each and every child; we aim to instil a love of learning and a drive to succeed so that all children are ready to start the next phase of their lives confident, happy and independent.
Working in partnership is key to how we operate as a trust. For us, this means working with our children, our parents, our staff, our school leaders, our governors, trust board, communities and others educating children in our Borough, to develop and grow a broader learning community in Newham.
To find out more about our schools, please visit our school websites: Selwyn Primary School and Portway Primary School.
Emma Nicholls
CEO, the Leading Learning Trust
The Leading Learning Trust is an education charity, that exists in order to advance education, for public benefit. We are a charitable company limited by guarantee, funded and regulated by the Department for Education.
The Leading Learning Trust is an education charity that exists in order to advance education, for public benefit. Our Trust came into being on the 1st May 2016, and is a charitable company limited by guarantee, registered with Companies House. As an academy trust, we are principally regulated by the Department for Education and are exempt from registration with the Charity Commission - we do not have a charity number, and do not appear on the charity register.
Each of our schools has a separate Funding Agreement with the Secretary of State for Education, which sets out how our schools operate. We have a robust set of governance arrangements in place to ensure that our Trust and our schools deliver an excellent education for all, for the public benefit. All arrangements regarding our governance are detailed on the trust documents page of our website.
Our trust consists of two schools: Selwyn Primary School (which is also the trust’s sponsor) and Portway Primary School, both located in Plaistow, in the London Borough of Newham. Both our schools received Outstanding judgements from Ofsted further to our March 2019 inspections. We are at the heart of a wonderfully rich and culturally diverse community that represents over 20 cultural groups and nearly 40 different languages. Our schools are fully inclusive; Selwyn Primary School is also Newham's resourced provision for deaf and hearing impaired pupils.
Our CEO, Emma Nicholls (previously Executive Head teacher at Selwyn) leads the trust and reports to a board of trustees. However, our schools are rooted in their communities and as such, each has a Head teacher and a local governing body. Our Head teachers - Helen Mawer, who is based at Selwyn Primary School, and Scott Chudley, who is based at Portway Primary School - work closely with Emma and with their respective local governing bodies. Our chair of trustees is Steve Loganathan.
The Leading Learning Trust believes that every child's life can become something extraordinary: the Trust provides the environment, education and expertise to fulfil our vision of Transforming Lives.
Our vision - why we exist
Pupils receive the highest quality education and life experiences through a rich and engaging curriculum. We inspire a love of learning and a drive to succeed. Children are nurtured, encouraged and supported to reach their full potential.
Each school has its own identity, rooted in its neighbourhood, committed to the community. Our dedicated, highly skilled staff put pupils at the centre of all that they do, and are supported by the Trust to achieve their own professional development goals across our schools, borough and beyond.
Transforming Lives means that each and every child leaves our primary schools with the education, life-skills and ambition they need to confidently take their next step in life.
Our values - how we work across our trust
Heart - our children's learning is always at the heart of everything we do
Nurture - we support and nurture our learning community
Grow - we learn, grow and succeed together
Respect - we respect each other
Succeed - we support our children to succeed in their learning
#LeadingLearning #LeadingLives - see our school websites for access to our social media pages
#LeadingLearningLeadingLives - find us on LinkedIn
Our schools - our vision, values and strategy in action
Further details re our vision, our values and our strategic objectives can be found on the trust documentation page; an overview of what we do at school to support these values is available on the behaviour page of the Selwyn website and the behaviour page of the Portway website.
For more information regarding any aspect of our trust or our schools, please don't hesitate to get in touch.
Please follow these links to Selwyn Primary School’s contact page, and Portway Primary School’s contact page should you have a general enquiry about our schools. Our school office number is also available on these pages. All our trustees can be contacted via the school office at Selwyn Primary School.
In addition, our school websites provide all the information required under the Information Commissioner's Model Publication Scheme. A listing of information that is available on request is available on the trust documentation page, in the document entitled Our School Information Guide.
Should you have any cause for complaint, our Complaints Policies are published on this page of the Selwyn Primary School website, and on this page of the Portway Primary School website.
In case you have any requirement to contact our appointed auditors, Wilkins Kennedy Chartered Accountants can be contacted via their website.