Leigh Academies Trust

Leigh Academies Trust is a non-profit making charitable company limited by guarantee, based in Dartford, Kent. The Trust exists to support and assist schools to build upon their existing strengths and to help them achieve rapid educational transformation. It has significant experience in running schools, and today includes both sponsored academies and schools which have chosen to convert to Academy status.

The Trust was formed in 2008 with the linking of the Leigh Technology Academy and Longfield Academy under one governing body. It encompasses 9,000 students between the ages of 3 and 19 in 13 primary, secondary and special academies.

The Leigh Academies Trust Motto is Shaping Lives, Transforming Communities.

Leigh Academies Trust Values

  • Removing barriers and providing opportunities to achieve academic excellence for all.
  • A ‘can-do’ attitude.
  • Creating successful, independent and respectful young adults with high levels of integrity.
  • Developing resilience throughout all members of the organisation.
  • Community focused and outward facing.
  • Continuous improvement and innovation.

Our Distinctive Features

  • Small-school, ‘human scale’ education.
  • An enterprising culture.
  • Close partnerships with industry and other educators.
  • Mixed age learning and a powerful model of all-through education.
  • Transferring information and ideas across academies and building internal capacity to enhance best practice.
  • Forensic analysis of data to personalise educational experiences.

Trust Advantages

  • Expert central services for finance, HR, IT, facilities and business functions.
  • Innovative approaches to teacher recruitment and retention.
  • Fast track development of leaders for internal promotion opportunities.
  • Central reserves protect individual school budgets.
  • Substantial investment in cross-Trust initiatives to improve teaching and learning.
  • Close collaboration between senior leaders across the Trust.
  • Integration of primary and secondary approaches into all-through education.
  • Adequate scale to design and test new delivery models as government policies, rules and measures change.
  • High quality strategic governance with wide business and professional experience.