Evolve Church Academy Trust

As an educational trust, made up entirely of Church of England Schools, our vision is firmly grounded in our Christian values, principles and core behaviours. We aim to support and nurture all children within the community of our schools to achieve their very best, academically, and to prepare them for life, in its entirety, beyond primary education. Our board of trustees, directors and school leaders have created the following mission statement that encapsulates all that we strive for as a collective across Evolve. In other words, we exist for the spiritual and academic fulfilment of all the children within our care.

A Welcome Message from our Executive Headteacher

I’d like to wish you a warm welcome to Evolve Church Academy Trust and to our four wonderful schools. As a trust of small, rural church schools, we pride ourselves upon the strong, values based experience that we provide for all of our children.

Our mission is to enable all in our schools to achieve the best that they can by working together. We embrace differences and the wide range of strengths and passions that our children have. Through our curriculum, we aim to nurture and enable these passions to blossom.

It is our long term goal to simply create a trust that provides an excellent education for our children. Our school teams value the togetherness that we encourage and through working together, as a community of children, parents and teaching professionals we believe we provide the very best platform to achieve this.

Oliver Johnson
Executive Head/CEO

Meet our Team of Trustees

Ian Ascroft

Trustee

Ian has been a director at iMAT for 18 months. Ian is a Governance manager and has extensive experience in Risk Management. In addition to sitting on the board of iMAT, he is vice chair of a maintained primary school in Warwickshire.

Oliver Johnson

Executive Head/CEO

To me the most important thing is family. I’m married to my wife Jen and have 2 beautiful daughters, one of whom has just started primary school! The other is 1 so not quite there yet! I have been in primary education for 18 years now and I consider the school environment to be at its best when its an extension of the family for children and adults. Since qualifying as a teacher in 2004, I have worked in all phases of primary education and held various posts leading to my current role of CEO of Evolve Church Academy Trust. I really believe in the power of small schools and the way in which they provide the perfect platform for children to flourish in the next stages of their education and lives.

Pecuniary Interests (PDF)

Lindsay Evans

Vice Chair

I am the CEO of a six primary school Multi Academy Trust in Northamptonshire. I have extensive experience of governance as staff governor and ex-officio. In addition, I have served as a Parent Governor at a Warwickshire Sixth Form College and am currently a community governor for Bilton Community Federation, serving a group of three schools. Over the last ten years, I have successfully led and managed a number of primary schools as headteacher/ Executive Headteacher. During my leadership tenure, including support as a school improvement advisor, I have led schools through a number of Ofsted inspections. An advocate of lifelong learning, I have engaged in continuous professional development and hold NPQH and am currently working towards NPQEL. Last year, after two years of part time study, I secured a MBA in Education Management through the University of Buckingham, achieving a distinction. Furthermore, I hold a certificate as a Chartered Manager following the completion of a Level 7 apprenticeship with the Chartered Management Institute. I would relish the opportunity to offer my service to the local community as a Director for ECAT and keen to support the team at Evolve flourish and achieve the strong outcomes its children deserve.

Karen Falvey

Chair

Karen has been a Trustee of IMAT since September 2016, and is currently Chair of The Hawksmoor Learning Trust in Towcester and Brackley. Karen was also made a National Leader of Governance in 2016, and has carried out several External Reviews of Governance for local schools either at their request, or when required by Ofsted. Karen is from a scientific background, with a degree in Pharmacology. She worked for several years for Esso Petroleum in a variety of roles including marketing, airport operations, refinery planning and as section head of the laboratory where all products going to market were tested. Whilst in this role, Karen worked with schools in the Southampton area to encourage girls to get more involved in science.

Lucy Flavell

Trustee

Lucy is CIMA qualified and has a commercial finance background previously working for GAP inc and Jewsons Ltd mainly in senior cost management roles. Lucy joined iMAT in September 2016 to strengthen the trust finance structure and is involved in strategic planning, CIF applications, as well as ensuring routine finance and audit duties are performed. Lucy has extensive knowledge of governance through her roles on two governing bodies, the most recent of which is in the capacity of joint chair for Boughton Leigh Junior School in Rugby. Lucy enjoys playing netball and spending her spare time with her husband and 2 young children.

Dr. Annabel Kay

Acting AO

Ricky Emms

Acting CEO