Louise Burgess

Odyssey Trust for Education

Welcome to The Odyssey Trust for Education. This is an innovative and exciting development in education. We have brought together a high performing girls' grammar school with a local secondary modern school to collaborate, support and share. Between us we have over 3,000 students and cater for a diverse community. Our Vision for the Trust The MAT derives its name from the classical poem by Homer, referenced in the Tennyson poem "Ulysses" which describes the journey home of Odysseus after the Trojan War. He and his crew overcame many difficulties and challenges and the motto of the proposed MAT is taken from the poem: "one equal temper of heroic hearts" We believe that a high performing grammar school can have a positive influence on students in the wider area. By supporting the education of able students in a non-selective setting as well as applying successful professional development, training and recruitment procedures, we can have a lasting and sustainable impact on the lives and life chances of young people in Bexley and potentially beyond. Townley Grammar School has been successful in supporting social mobility for its students and aspires to extend this to a wider group of disadvantaged young people through providing rich learning experiences, extensive extra-curricular opportunities and aspirational goals for the students of both schools. Together we can successfully overcome the challenges that all schools face and our students' educational journeys can be the foundation for life long and life wide achievement. We are ambitious for our students and believe that ambition is best served by collaboration and mutual endeavour. Our vision for the future has to be ever evolving. The changing political landscape for schools and public services, the increasing competitive market place in which parents demand greater choice, and the impact of continued measures of austerity requires us to be ever focused on ensuring we are ahead of the game in our response.