We work all over the north to help neighbourhoods thrive, shine and be truly great places to live.

We build and look after some of the best affordable housing around and provide all sorts of community support, always with passion, imagination and dedication.

Great Places strives to be an all-round a force for good, whether regenerating an area, commissioning outstanding architecture, advising residents on how to be ‘green’ and save money, helping to kickstart training and jobs, organising community events or helping new homeowners onto the property ladder.

Great Places looks at the bigger picture with one ultimate aim – to improve the lives of everyone who lives in our communities.

Forward Education Trust is a non-profit making group of Academies and Services currently based in Birmingham and working across Birmingham and neighbouring Local Authorities.

Our collaborative practice and shared vision of ‘moving forward together’ has given us a strong sense of identity and all our Academies support our commitment that we are all one team. As such, we establish consistency in our approaches, support each other to improve, and always remain firmly focused on the challenges ahead. Improving both the personal and academic achievements of our children is what drives our work.

Currently our Trust has the following schools within it
• One primary day special school (4-11 years) –The Bridge
• One primary day special school (2-11 years) - Brays
• One all through day special school with sixth form (4-19 years) – Hallmoor

The Trust also offers a range of other services to schools and Local Authorities
• Forward Education Services

This is the Trust’s own school improvement team supporting schools and organisations within and beyond our Trust schools. The team is made up of a group of advisors with recognised experience and qualifications – National Leaders of Education, serving Ofsted inspectors, senior school improvement advisors.

Through a range of school improvement contracts the Trust supports non- Trust schools locally, regionally and nationally to improve their educational performance.

The Trust also works with Local Authorities on quality assurance work for special provision and alternative education

The Trust can be contracted to offer a range of work including school reviews, pupil premium reviews as well as a range of training packages for senior leaders, governors and school staff.

Independent Non-Executive Director challenging the business in the right way as an advisory figure. In my 1st quarter, I have given advice that was well received by the executive team on Business Plan which was largely adopted and then accepted by the shareholders. Suggestions for ensuring business continuity have been taken on board and used as a basis for ensuring there is resilience around within the senior team.

As an Area Director, I developed and implemented a strategy to ensure that by Q1 2019, there was a management team in place that would stabilise the business ready for sustainable growth. Rebuilt, developed and empowered management teams and improved team efficiency. Achieved 105% on like for like sales in 2019 vs. 2018. Productivity improvement 156.8 to 173.4 year on year.
Opened a new merchant branch in August 2018 and by April 2019 it achieved 93% of sales budget and Improved customer service score by 28% year on year for a standalone hub branch.

As the Regional Director, I led the turnaround of a failing factory (£5m revenue c.125 employees). Improved customer retention by 7.1% to 91.8%. The service delivery model used at this and one other factory was then adopted as the UK best practice template for the new Customer Service Model 2015. Key individuals from those factories were used in the development and implementation of the new Customer Service Model nationwide. Assessed the effectiveness of depot and closed it saving £85k, helping to improve EBIT from 3.7% to 16.1% in 18 months.
Regional EBIT, 2011 to 2013 improved by 22%, and between 2013 to 2015, improved by 10%.
Productivity, 2012 to 2015 improved by 12% with minimal investment.
Distribution cost reduced 2011 to 2015 by 16.4%.