Appleyard is currently chief executive of Pontefract Academies Trust<\/a>, a nine-school cross-phase trust in West Yorkshire. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Since joining in 2018, a press release announcing the move said Appleyward had undertaken a “significant transformation” across both primary and secondary phases. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Before that, Appleyard was founding principal of Rochdale Sixth Form College, the first sixth form nationally to be rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted at first inspection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He was awarded the OBE in the Queen\u2019s Birthday Honours in 2016 for services to education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Burns, who was CEO for five years, announced he was stepping down in February<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Appleyard said he is \u201cso pleased to be joining a trust which shared the same high expectations and ambitions for pupils\u201d as his current employer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFrom getting to know the DRET team, it\u2019s clear that there are very strong foundations in place and from which we can build further in this next chapter,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n DRET runs 36 schools in total, making it one of the largest trusts in England. Burns’ departure also follows several among the biggest MATs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Earlier this month, Sir Paul Tarn announced he will be retiring from Delta Academies Trust<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, Russell Hobby is due to take over 45-school The Kemnal Academies Trust in August<\/a>, after Dr Karen Roberts retires, and GLF Schools is looking for a permanent CEO after Julian Drinkall left suddenly in May<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n David Ross, chair of the David Ross Education Trust said Appleyard had \u201cbuilt an impressive track record\u201d and is \u201cpassionate about our mission to broaden horizons and to provide our pupils with a world-class education\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ross said the trust is in a \u201cstrong position\u201d with nearly all schools rated ‘good’ or better by Ofsted and the strongest SATs results in its primary schools this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cJulian is extremely well placed to build on this platform to deliver excellence across the board. We are confident that under his leadership the trust will continue to go from strength to strength,\u201d Ross added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" He will take over from Stuart Burns at one of England’s biggest MATs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":315335,"featured_media":232568,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[32],"post-theme":[3304],"class_list":["post-232569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-academies","post-theme-movers-and-shakers"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t‘Strong foundations in place’<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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