St Benet’s MAT News

The three schools joined together as the Swallowtail Federation over ten years ago and in the last decade have grown and flourished as one family, ensuring that their pupils get the very best education and experiences, and that staff and families feel valued and part of their community.

Mrs Natalie Butcher, Executive Headteacher of Swallowtail Federation, said: “We have always been outward-looking, recognising the strength of working together as three schools and how this could extend further to a larger group.  We are very pleased to become part of the St Benet’s MAT family.”

She explained: “The initial work with St Benet’s MAT included the Governors inviting the Trust to present to them at a meeting about their approach to school improvement. We could quickly see how closely our way of working aligned with their values. In September 2022, we joined the St Benet’s North group which was funded through the Department for Education’s Trust School Improvement Offer. This gave us a real insight into what being part of St Benet’s trust would be like, with fantastic networking opportunities and high-quality Continual Professional Development.”

She added: “In addition to this, that warm family feel that we enjoy through being part of the Federation is echoed in St Benet’s and that led us to make the decision to join their Trust.  We are so proud of all we have achieved and knew that St Benet’s would allow us to keep going from strength to strength. We still get to keep our unique school characteristics, which are so precious to our communities, but have the support of being part of a group of likeminded people who, through working together, can achieve great things.”

Richard Cranmer, CEO of St Benet’s MAT, said: “We are delighted to welcome these three new schools into St Benet’s MAT.  The Swallowtail Federation is a great example of the way in which small rural schools work collaboratively to provide a really good education for their children and we look forward to enhancing those experiences even further through being part of St Benet’s.”