CEO Thought for the Week

Hi Everyone!

I hope you've had a good week and are counting the days to the summer holidays. A bit of a serious one from me this week.

I wanted to take a moment to talk openly about something many of you will be feeling in different ways across our schools – the pressure around staffing levels.

Whether you are a teacher, teaching assistant, midday supervisor, administrator or part of our wider team, this is something that affects all of us. You may have found yourself wondering whether we have enough people, whether things could be organised differently, or whether more could be done to ease workload. These are important and valid questions.

I want to reassure you of two things.

Firstly, decisions about staffing are never taken lightly – either in your school or across Infinity. Headteachers are working incredibly hard to build teams that best support children, whilst also caring for colleagues and remaining within the resources available. There is a great deal of thought, care and professional judgement behind the structures you see.

Secondly, the pressures we are facing are not unique to your school, or even to our Trust. Across the education sector, and indeed across public services such as the NHS, organisations are having to respond to rising costs and tighter financial conditions. This means that many are having to rethink how they organise teams and deliver services. Schools are no exception.

I know that can feel frustrating. All of us come to work wanting to give children the very best, and to feel that we have the time and support to do our roles well. Holding that alongside financial realities is not easy.

However, what I continue to see – and what gives me real hope – is the way colleagues across Infinity are responding. There is a growing sense of curiosity and creativity in how we work together.

This includes things like:

• Reviewing how we deploy staff so that time is focused where it makes the biggest difference for pupils
• Finding ways to work more closely as teams, supporting one another and sharing responsibility
• Simplifying routines and systems so that we reduce unnecessary workload
• Trying new approaches that better fit the needs of children and the resources we have

In truth, we are in a period where we cannot always do things in the way they have historically been done. But that does not mean we cannot continue to provide a high-quality, caring and ambitious education for our pupils. It simply means we need to think differently about how we achieve it.

Throughout this, our values matter more than ever.

• Love – in how we care for one another and our children
• Unity – in how we support each other as one Trust
• Curiosity – in being open to new ways of working
• Hope – in believing that we can navigate these challenges together
• Integrity – in being honest about the context we face

Thank you for everything you do each day. Your work, in all its forms, makes a real difference to children and families. Please know that the challenges we are navigating are shared, and that we will continue to work together, openly and thoughtfully, to find the best way forward.

Best Wishes

Gavin