Date: 07/04/22
By Alan Hardie, CEO at NCEAT.

One of the key parts of our Trust Development Plan is the pledge that we will fulfil our vision and values by “working with hope and aspiration”. A key part of the Easter message is a reminder that hope should not be lost. I think that this is probably the point in my lifetime where perhaps hope seems very far away for many people.

After two years of the impacts of Covid-19, which hasn’t gone away, the terrible war in Ukraine and its innocent victims, price rises virtually every week and new taxes to pay, it feels like it is a huge challenge to stay hopeful about our future.

Yet amongst all of this, we can see the great impact of those who work with hope. We can see this in the incredible bravery of the Ukrainian people, in their belief that they can defeat an invading army many times the size of its own. We can see it through the magnificent work of our NHS and our scientists in coping with the overwhelming challenge of Covid, caring for those who have suffered most from it and developing vaccines and anti-viral medicines. We can see it in all of those who work so hard to support those who need help to cope with the continuing impact of austerity and rising prices, from the Wansbeck and Alnwick food banks to charities such as Children North East.

Most importantly for our parents and carers, we see the hope in the children in our schools. Our children aren’t immune from the problems I’ve described or from more individual ones either. However, our children come to school hopeful; about their learning, about extra-curricular activities and about being with their friends after so much disruption. Our pupils who have external exams next term are working incredibly hard so that they can do their best and all year groups are working hard to make up for lost time when their education was disrupted. They’ve also shown great hope with the efforts with fundraising this term, from the amazing collections for Ukraine to the other well established events such as Red Nose Day.

I hope that all of our community across our Trust schools, our pupils, staff, parents, carers, governors and trustees have a happy and hopeful Easter.

‘May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.’ [Romans 15:13]