Chorus Education Trust

Who are Chorus and what are their values?

Chorus Education Trust was founded by Silverdale, a secondary comprehensive school in the southwest of Sheffield which, in 2020, was named the Sunday Times Top State Secondary School in the North of the Decade, in recognition of its continued success.

Like many other schools, Silverdale wanted to ensure that they were part of a local, collaborative group of schools - rather than joining one of the national chains with a limited understanding of their local area. That’s why they decided to create their own Trust.

Chorus believes that every child in our region deserves the best education possible. They also believe that there is outstanding expertise across our region that can be harnessed to make this happen. Collaboration is a key part of their ethos.

Chorus includes the Sheffield Teacher Training Alliance (STTA) which allows them to work with over 60 schools in South Yorkshire and North Derbyshire. This spirit of collaboration helps ensure that we are not limited by being part of a Trust. For instance, STTA is running a literacy project across 14 primary and 9 secondary schools locally. It also means we have access to a wide range of both new and more
experienced teachers.

The Chorus ethos is ‘Outstanding Achievement for All'. This means ensuring that every student has the chance to reach their potential. This is achieved through excellent teaching and learning, a broad and balanced curriculum, and by running an efficient organisation that has a secure financial footing.

Hope Valley officially joined Chorus Education Trust on 1 September 2019.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Chorus, Chris James, says:

"As the CEO of the Chorus Education Trust, I immediately realised that Hope Valley College is a very special community. There is a caring, supportive and positive atmosphere already in place in the school. However, the school has had some challenging times recently and we were delighted to recruit Mrs Jones as the new Principal. She has a proven track record of success as the Head of the Sheffield Teacher Training Alliance and she brings her experience in embedding transformational leadership and developing great teaching.

I know that Hope Valley College will benefit from working closely with Chorus Education Trust. However, we strongly believe that schools belong to the communities they serve. The school will retain its identity at the heart of the community, whilst at the same time developing a culture of success.

I look forward to developing opportunities for further collaboration as staff and students from Westfield, Silverdale and Hope Valley College work together for the benefit of all."

How do staff and students benefit from being part of Chorus?

Being part of a Trust provides lots of opportunities that aren’t available as a stand-alone school. These include:

Priority access to the best new teachers, via our Teaching School.
The ability to provide courses in subjects that might not usually be viable due to low student uptake, eg arts and creative subjects.
Access to teachers who are subject specialists and can help support other teachers and share subject resources.
The potential to run more trips and activities for students across the schools, including sporting activities, debating competitions and, as is already happening, a joint choir.
Increased staff CPD opportunities, including working with colleagues across the Trust, eg the joint INSET training in September.
Access to grants and funding that are only available to Multi-Academy Trusts.
Priority access for students to Silverdale Sixth Form - consistently in the top 10% nationally for student progress and performance.
A new website, and a commitment to improve communications with parents and carers.
Improvements to the school building.
The chance for schools to share their facilities, eg outdoor pursuits, performance, and sporting facilities etc.
Financial savings and efficiencies, due to bulk purchasing and shared resources across the Trust.

Chorus Education Trust is an exempt charity regulated by the Secretary of State for Education. It is a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales (company number 8289609) at Chorus Education Trust, Unit 4 Acres Hill Business Park, Acres Hill Lane, Sheffield, S9 4LR.