Senior bank staff set to help management of academy chains in Yorkshire

A MAJOR BANK has launched a new programme aimed at getting its staff involved in the effort to raise standards in schools in Yorkshire.
Russell Galley, managing director of Halifax Bank.   Photo: Bruce Rollinson.Russell Galley, managing director of Halifax Bank.   Photo: Bruce Rollinson.
Russell Galley, managing director of Halifax Bank. Photo: Bruce Rollinson.

Lloyds Banking Group has chosen to work in the region because school performance in Yorkshire lags behind the rest of the country.

Its programme StandingOut aims to help people within its 13,000 strong workforce in Yorkshire to make a difference in local schools.

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It is hoped that top bank staff will improve the management of academies in Yorkshire.

The bank is looking for employees to become school governors and for senior members of staff to take on non-executive director roles at multi-academy trusts.

Lloyds will also support mentoring and volunteering opportunities in schools; and provide free financial effectiveness training to school business managers.

Its plan has been welcomed by an academy chief executive who has been tasked with producing a strategy to raise school standards in the North of England.

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Sir Nick Weller, who is leading the Government’s Northern Schools Powerhouse strategy said: “The focus on improving governance is important because it will improve the capacity of academies in the region.”

He said that good governance can ensure that academies do not grow too quickly and that public money is spent properly.

Sir Nick, who is the chief executive of Bradford-based Dixons Academies chain was chosen to lead the Northern Powerhouse Schools Strategy by the former Chancellor George Osborne.

It was announced at this year’s Budget.

He was tasked with producing a report on how schools in the North could replicate the success seen in London’s state schools.

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Lloyds StandingOut scheme was launched at a roundtable discussion on how to raise school standards in Yorkshire with Sir Nick and the Institute for Public Policy Research (North).

The event was hosted by Lloyds Banking Group’s regional ambassador and managing director of Halifax Community Bank, Russell Galley. It took place at Farnley Academy in Leeds.

Mr Galley said the bank was committed to the Yorkshire region and wanted to improve the skills of its future workforce

He said the bank had decided to pull together its support for schools into one strategy and had chosen Yorkshire to launch it in because of the challenge faced by the region’s schools.

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Mr Galley said: “Lloyds Banking Group knows that education is a key driver for helping people, businesses and communities thrive.

“It is one of the core pillars of our Helping Britain Prosper Plan through which we have committed to invest in and help stimulate social mobility.”

He told the Yorkshire Post that senior Lloyds staff would be able to provide leadership skills and experience of managing “culture change” to multi-academy trusts which are expanding.

Across all nine regions in England, Yorkshire has the lowest number of pupils in good or outstanding schools, according to Ofsted report judgements and the lowest number of pupils achieving five or more GCSEs at above grade C level.

A recent report on schools in the North of England from IPPR North identified building capacity through multi-academy trusts as one area which needed addressing.