Bradford Diocesan Academies Trust (BDAT), an education Trust which employs staff across 18 schools in the region, has this week launched its wellbeing charter following its annual staff conference.
The Trust is dedicated to providing the best possible education for its students and to do that, the Trust is committed to recruiting and retaining fulfilled, empowered and expert staff to ensure its schools provide high quality and effective learning environments for its students.
As part of this mission, this year’s annual staff conference was focused on “Developing a Well Workforce.” The day was aimed at helping its people to prioritise their health and wellbeing to ensure they are in the best possible place to deliver high-quality education to their students.
Throughout the all-day event, the Trust explored various wellbeing-at-work topics and discussed the support available across the academies and Trust. This included its professional development service, BDAT People, and the use of the Department for Education’s workload reduction tool.
The Trust was also delighted to welcome two keynote speakers, the first of which was Andy Wolfe, Executive Director of Education for The Church of England, who discussed the key ingredients to building a flourishing family of schools. The second speaker was Jonny Uttley, CEO of The Education Alliance, who spoke about developing a thriving workforce. Both speakers inspired colleagues to come together to support one another and prioritise their wellbeing so that their peers, school and students can thrive and reach their potential.
During the conference, The Trust created and committed to its own wellbeing charter. The charter sets out eleven commitments to wellbeing, mental health, professional development, workload, communication, responsibility and culture. The Trust has said it is dedicated to ensuring wellbeing remains a key pillar of its work to continue to foster a positive learning environment for all its staff and students and enhance the education and wellbeing of their young people.
To read more about the BDAT Family Wellbeing Charter please visit our Staff Wellbeing page
Carol Dewhurst, CEO of Bradford Diocesan Academies Trust, said:
“At BDAT we know we cannot run great schools without great staff to support the learning, progress and wellbeing of our students. We want to recruit, retain and develop staff who are fulfilled in their role and school and enjoy their work. Today’s conference was a fantastic opportunity to bring our BDAT family together to discuss, reflect and enhance our wellbeing provision.
“We are proud to share our new wellbeing charter which sets out the commitment from the Trust, each of our schools and from each of our employees to put wellbeing high on our to do list.
“We believe promoting our own wellbeing and supporting the wellbeing of our colleagues is an individual and collective BDAT responsibility. Taking time out together to discuss what a well and happy workforce means to each of us has been time well spent in making sure, together, we look after ourselves. Wellbeing plays a vital role in ensuring we are each able to provide the very best for our students every day.”