Agenda item

Election of Deputy Chairman in line with Standing Order 30.

An election of Deputy Chairman was conducted in line with Standing Order 30. Ann Holmes, being the only Member indicating a willingness to serve, was elected Deputy Chairman for the ensuing year.

VOTE OF THANKS

Proposed by Deputy John Bennett;

Seconded by Stuart Fraser;

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY:

THAT the Members of the Education Board wish to place on record their sincere appreciation to 

Catherine Sidony McGuinness 

for her outstanding service as Chairman of this Board from June 2014 to May 2017.

The City of London Corporation has a long heritage in providing education, both through its independent and associated schools, and more recently the City Academies. This heritage, combined with the ‘soft power’ inherent within the City’s open spaces and wider cultural assets, has always had the potential to transform the educational opportunities available to thousands of young Londoners if it were harnessed and applied, and the whole made greater than the sum of its parts.

Catherine, during her tenure as Chairman of this Board, has overseen the implementation of the City of London Corporation’s Education Strategy, which has sought to do just that – to bring all of the City’s educational and cultural assets to bear on giving young Londoners the best possible start in life – just one example of this approach being the School Visits Fund, which in its first year brought over 4000 children from disadvantaged backgrounds into the City to learn from iconic cultural assets such as Tower Bridge and the Museum of London. 

Furthermore, under Catherine’s chairmanship, the concept of a City Family of Schools has crystallised, bringing to the fore excellent examples of collaboration and support between our independent schools and academies, ranging from preparing both independent school and academy students for Oxbridge interviews, to the now annual City Schools Concert, a fantastic showcase of the diverse range of talent across all of our schools, and all ages of City pupils.

Members also wish to note the instrumental role Catherine has played in the transition of the City of London Academies (Southwark) into the City of London Academies Trust, a body that under her Chairmanship has expanded from two academies in Southwark to five, soon to be eight, primary and secondary academies over four London boroughs. Catherine’s vision for, and oversight of, this expansion in academies has been crucial in securing the City’s acknowledged reputation as the best sponsor of academy schools in the whole of the United Kingdom in 2016. In harnessing the City’s strengths and its heritage to give young Londoners an excellent standard of education, Catherine has also helped to ensure that they are better equipped for the route from education into stimulating and fulfilling employment.

As Catherine turns her attention to the chairmanship of the City of London Corporation’s Policy and Resources Committee, Members of the Board wish her their wholehearted best wishes, confident that the vision, leadership and even-handedness she has shown in chairing this Board will ensure that the City of London Corporation will continue to thrive as a force for good in the Square Mile, across our capital, and across the wider United Kingdom.