Northern Education Trust appoints new chief executive officer

Jane Wilson will step up from deputy to replace Rob Tarn as the new chief executive officer at Northern Education Trust (NET).

Wilson will take over from Tarn from this April. NET has 30 academies in the north of England.

She first started working at NET in 2018 and is currently its deputy chief executive officer.

Previously, Wilson was a deputy director for the regional school’s commissioner, and has held other roles, such as executive headteacher, and more recently inspected for Ofsted.

“I feel tremendously honoured to be given the opportunity to lead the trust on the next stage of our journey,” Wilson said.

“There are so many talented individuals who work for us, and I know that together we can continue to achieve the very best for our students. 

“We have accomplished so much, but we will not become complacent and must maintain and build on our success by ensuring every decision we make is in the best interest of the children and young people we serve.”

Mark Sanders, NET board chair, said Wilson’s promotion “is testament to her hard work and commitment and is thoroughly deserved. I am certain that she will move the trust forward with the same enthusiasm that Rob has been able to.”

‘From NET to Dubai’

Tarn previously told Schools Week he will leave NET for a Dubai-based global education company, launched by one of the world’s biggest private school providers.

He will take up a senior position as managing director of education at First School Management. The company offers school management services to, among others, governments and investors.

Tarn took over the trust in 2017, after Ofsted had said the trust “failed to secure urgent and necessary improvements in too many of its schools”.

At the time, many of the trust’s “schools were judged as requires improvement or inadequate”.

But in an evaluation published two years ago, the inspectorate said leaders and trustees had since “transformed how the trust operates. This has transformed the schools in the trust and the experiences and life chances of the pupils who attend them.”  

Oxford trust also gets new boss

Meanwhile, Oxford Diocesan Schools Trust (ODST) has appointed Sharon Mullins as its new chief executive. She will take on the role this September from Anne Dellar, who founded the trust in 2012 and will retire this summer.

Mullins previously worked as a principal schools adviser at ODST from 2017 to 2021, before leading the Embrace MAT in Leicestershire.

The trust has 43 schools, one of the country’s largest.

“Leading schools is a real privilege and being able to take up the leadership of schools I already have a good understanding and knowledge of will enable me to further strengthen ODST on the next stage of its journey,” Mullins said.