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Annie Wiles is the CEO of Aquila The Diocese of Canterbury Academies Trust, which has 16 primary schools across Kent.

Wiles started her career as a classroom teacher, working her way up to become headteacher of a primary school for 10 years.

She became CEO of the trust when it was set up in 2014, and has led its growth over the past decade. Aquila was set up by the Diocese of Canterbury as a way of improving some of Kent’s schools.

The trust includes community schools as well as church ones, and has eight sponsored academies.

Wiles spoke to Tes about a typical week in her role, including how she manages her central team and the work that goes into establishing a school-based nursery provision.

1. Managing central teams

As the trust has grown, our central team has grown, and now we’ve got heads of department for estates, finance, HR and payroll.

We’ve now got a really strong special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) department with an educational psychologist, an assistant educational psychologist, a lead Sendco, and a speech and language therapist.

So my week is spent predominantly managing those teams. Specifically, that’s about focusing on the areas of key need within each school.

I am in the office every Monday. We have what my team jokingly calls my “Monday list” for anything that needs my input, and then we meet formally as departments.

2. Strategic school improvement meetings

In our monthly meetings, we “red, amber, green” (RAG) rate our schools across a whole set of criteria. We use those ratings to make sure we are focusing the support from the central team where it is most needed.

One of the things we look for in those meetings is whether our schools are in the window for Ofsted and Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools (SIAMS) inspections and how they’re being supported to prepare for them.

When we’ve had a draft inspection report, we look at what is in it to make sure we can work on any issues as quickly as possible.

We have collaborative networks of subject leaders. For example, our RE leaders are using their network to monitor and develop their teaching and our maths leaders are using their network to develop our approach to the Maths Mastery programme.

3. Ensuring 51���� processes are robust

We’ve got 4,000 pupils across our 16 schools and I spend a lot of time making sure our 51���� processes are really robust. For example, I look at safer recruitment and make sure the single central record is up to date.

We have been running further 51���� training for staff and have a designated 51���� lead (DSL) forum to look at common themes in all our schools.

Every week, we review specific 51���� issues and chase external agencies, where necessary.

4. Improving teacher training and CPD

We can only get the outcomes we need for our children if we’ve got strong, well-prepared staff so I spend a lot of time making sure that the continuing professional development (CPD) we put on meets the needs of our staff and develops them as much as possible.

As a trust, we work closely with Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU) teaching trainees. We also run a cohort of the employment-based route into teaching and train postgraduate teacher apprentices.

I’ve been enjoying working with CCCU as part of a steering group to develop an undergraduate teacher apprenticeship route for primary schools.

5. Exploring options for school nursery provision

I have been working hard to expand our nursery provision.

The school-based nursery grant was a catalyst for this, although not the only driver. It’s something we’ve been developing for a couple of years, but it’s moving much faster now.

I have met with proprietors of outstanding nursery provisions in our areas and have found one that is very keen to work with us and our schools.

We’ve currently got two school-based nurseries - one from age 2 and the other from age 3, but dropping to age 2 in September.

I’m looking at how we might adapt some of our current school buildings to have nurseries.

What would I like to do more or less of?

Ideally, I would love to spend more time doing what I did this morning, which was visiting an outstanding nursery.

When I was a headteacher, if there was something stressful going on, I would wander down the corridor and play in the sand with the Reception pupils for a few moments.

Spending time with our pupils and our inspirational staff is something I’d like to do more of.

All schools and trusts sometimes receive complaints and we are no exception. On the rare occasion that we do, it can seem very personal to those involved. It’s right that people should be able to complain, but very often the complaints are more about the wider school system and, in an ideal world, I’d rather be spending less time on these.

Annie Wiles was talking to Jasmine Norden

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