New Principal celebrates the strong community spirit at King’s Bolton

Asking Jason Roberts, the new Principal at King’s Bolton, what he found was the most impressive aspect of the school during his first term, he said: “The positive community spirit and family-like atmosphere; it’s proving to be a pleasure to come to work.”

He continued: “There is a strong relationship between staff, students and parents who are all working together intent on achieving success.” Jason came to King’s Bolton from a Beckfoot Trust school in Bradford, where he was Executive Head. Originally from Oldham, Jason began his career 25 years ago teaching sociology, psychology and religious studies before moving into leadership in 2008.

His first role in Oldham was as an Assistant Head responsible for attendance and safeguarding. One of his proudest achievements is at this school, where he led a team that successfully moved the school from an “Inadequate” Ofsted inspection to “Good” within 14 months.

In 2010, Jason was among the first cohorts to join the Future Leaders programme, which Great Schools Trust co-founder Sir Ian Hall was instrumental in establishing. After completing the programme, Jason then held leadership positions in schools in Yorkshire and Liverpool.

“I learned a great deal about the Great Schools Trust through Future Leaders, especially on its mission, vision, and values. They resonated with me when an opportunity came to sit as a member of the Trust in 2018, I grasped it. It saw me working closely with the Trustees to understand their role and that of the executive teams for a deep understanding of how a Trust works.

“When I saw the Bolton position advertised it came at the right time for me. With my experience, I felt ready to step up and become the principal of my own school. It was particularly attractive because of my affinity with the Trust and that it was a King’s Academy.”

Jason joins in what has been a busy year for the school. Towards the end of 2023, Ofsted awarded the school a “Good” rating in its first inspection. Shortly after, in January 2024, the move to the new school building and the strong GSCE performance by the first cohort to join when the school opened in 2019.

“There is a solid foundation here with a real can-do attitude that permeates the whole school. We are also lucky to have incredibly supportive parents, which is refreshing to see. It says a lot about the school community built here over the last five years. I have spent my first term reinforcing all these positives and looking to ways of supporting the incredibly committed staff.

“I’ve also taken the opportunity during this first term to understand the “why” behind the school’s practices and look at how we continue to help and support students attain educational excellence within the ASPIRE framework.”