Marie Adams, Principal of Hope Academy in St Helens, leads a joint denominational academy serving the Archdiocese and Diocese of Liverpool. The academy opened in 2011 and currently educates around 1,350 young people aged 11-16. Around 32% of their students are from disadvantaged backgrounds (Pupil Premium), 22% have special educational needs and 56 students have EHCPs (Education Health and Care Plans to support their special needs). Hope Academy joined Challenge Partners in 2024 alongside all other schools in All Saints Multi-Academy Trust. They hosted their first Quality Assurance Review in summer 2025.
The QA Review was genuinely developmental for staff at every level. The coaching style mattered. There were no judgments, only professional dialogue that affirmed strengths, probed thinking and clarified next steps. Crucially, it strengthened our existing plans rather than adding new initiatives, and we now have clear actions for next year.
One tangible change was from discussing assessment for pupils with higher needs. We have since introduced learning ladders for SEND students with higher needs from a model shared on the review. It means we can report and celebrate incremental progress more meaningfully. It is now part of our assessment approach from September 2025.
Serving as a reviewer elsewhere has been powerful CPD (continuing professional development). Working with a team of professionals you have not met before, allocating responsibilities, agreeing areas of focus and holding high-quality conversations builds a different set of leadership muscles.
The benefits have spread well beyond the senior team. Through QA Reviews and Aspire Hub activity, colleagues have brought back ideas that are already improving practice. A standout was Feversham High School in Bradford, whose annotated seating plans we have adopted trust-wide, strengthening inclusive pedagogy and student progress. We often say we have been magpies, spotting golden nuggets and adapting them to our context.
Our engagement with the Aspire Hub has also been valuable. We have broadened our networks, arranging several follow-up visits after hub meetings. We visited Hillside High in Bootle, a best practice school for reading, which gave us a clear sense of what excellent looks like and how to accelerate our own journey.
Challenge Partners has even shaped our internal systems. We have aligned our QA model with theirs because it is robust, humane and improvement-focused.
In short, Challenge Partners has given us clarity, confidence and pace. It has affirmed where we are strong, sharpened our focus on SEND, improved classroom practice and broadened professional learning across the academy. I am very glad we joined.