Central England Academy Trust (CEAT) provides high-quality education to learners in Nuneaton and surrounding areas through its three schools: Oak Wood Primary, Oak Wood Secondary, and Higham Lane School. The Trust serves students from ages 4 to 19 across mainstream and Special Educational Needs (SEN) settings. With a strong focus on collaboration, inclusivity, and support for individual learning needs, CEAT aims to foster academic achievement and personal growth for all students. Their guiding principle, “Serving the Heart of England,” highlights their dedication to family engagement and partnerships with multi-agency professionals, which ensures optimal outcomes for learners.
The Trust’s highly diverse student body includes mainstream students and those with profound, severe, and complex learning needs. The Trust provides both academic education and essential support for students with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), working closely with the Local Authority to ensure that all learners have equitable access to high-quality education.
CEAT’s vision is centred around creating an inclusive learning environment where high aspirations meet individualised support. They aim to empower students to reach their full potential and succeed beyond expectations. Their core values: Collaboration, Equity, Achievement, and Trust guide the Trust’s mission of fairness, inclusivity, and respect for the individual needs of all learners.
CEAT is a growing organisation with ambitions for expansion. The Trust has maintained Ofsted ratings of ‘Good’ and ‘Outstanding’ across its schools, and plans are in place for the opening of a new secondary school in Nuneaton by September 2025. Both special schools under CEAT have approved growth plans, furthering the Trust’s outreach and educational impact in the local community.
Context.
Following the retirement of CEO George Smith, CEAT was seeking a new leader who could guide the Trust into its next phase of growth. The new CEO has a task to provide strategic leadership across the Trust, ensuring sustained educational excellence, financial stability, and effective governance. They play a pivotal role in overseeing the Trust’s development, particularly with the upcoming expansion and ongoing efforts to improve educational outcomes for students with SEND.
The CEO will also be responsible for fostering a collaborative culture within the Trust, ensuring that school leaders are supported in their roles while driving continuous improvement across all schools.
Brief.
Peridot Partners had a brief to source a candidate with a range of skills and experiences. The incoming CEO needed to be a collaborative and dynamic leader with demonstrable stakeholder management expertise that would be used both internally and externally. They needed to drive growth whilst not compromising on the quality of education across CEAT. More than that, this incoming CEO had to have a passion and appreciation for education both in mainstream and SEND settings, being able to demonstrate a clear understanding of how to drive outcomes and enhance quality.
Process.
Peridot mapped a national search with a particular focus on the Midlands and ‘M6 corridor’. The team focused on sourcing education leaders in SEND settings and mainstream academy trusts where the learner demography included high SEND.
We approached over 80 individuals for this role, both within the multi-academy trust sector and beyond it in independent education, local authority, regulatory bodies, and, in some cases, local and national businesses. Peridot secured 16 applications for the role from a range of backgrounds and designed a rigorous, relevant series of assessments for the five shortlisted candidates.
Following the assessment days, which involved various stakeholder groups, a finance task, a strategy task, an interview, and a presentation, the panel was faced with the decision of who to appoint from a high-quality field.
Outcome.
The incoming CEO has leadership experience in academy trusts, taking one through growth, with an understanding of SEND and secondary education in areas of higher disadvantage. Furthermore, they come with a commitment to quality of education both within and beyond the classroom for each and every learner in CEAT’s schools.
“It was really helpful to have Eddie guide us through the process and relieve us of a lot of the administration such as devising activities and questions for the selection days. He gathered a lot of information from us so that he had an excellent understanding of what we needed and the quality of candidates was outstanding. He also took the burden of informing candidates of the outcome and giving tailored feedback. The whole process was so much easier with Peridot’s support and professional guidance.”
Chair of Trustees, Central England Academy Trust
Eddie Caveziel Cox is Peridot’s Managing Consultant for school and academy trust appointments. Having delivered hundreds of senior leadership and non-executive appointments into education providers, Eddie is an expert in finding leaders who make a tangible impact on communities. You can connect with him on Linkedin or email him to learn more.
