Dr Rupert Evenett, MBE

I was pleased and proud to be newly appointed chair of governors of The John Wallis Church of England Academy.  I have spent much of the last 15 years in leadership roles in the voluntary and education sectors – with an increasing focus on education as an experienced governor and chair of governors at other schools as well as in the university sector – and I am looking forward to using my experience to support John Wallis and all of our students and my aim and objective is to use my experience to help The John Wallis Academy build on its foundations of success to get to the next level of outcomes and achievement for the benefit of all students and communities we serve.

I think part of what makes me a bit different is the range of different experience I’ve had – from advising companies for twenty years on their growth and investment plans and their finances, to working in government, to helping build up a social investment business, to supporting medical research and heritage charities, and working with communities looking after their local green spaces and with inner-city sixth-formers.  With that comes loads of humility.  Every situation and every organisation are different – what counts is the hard work of understanding the facts on the ground and achieving real change.

And I like being both a qualified accountant and a qualified philosopher!  (I think Plato would approve?). My own PhD research was on social justice and citizenship and I try to bring a social justice perspective as well as a practical perspective to everything I do.

Right now, here, social justice means what we say right on the front of our Academy vision and in the John Wallis prospectus – “Committed to Excellence”.  Excellence is giving our students, wherever they start from, the best learning each student can get from outstanding teaching, to give them the widest choices and opportunities when they leave John Wallis.  Excellence is about always trying to be better in a school which is a community that supports everyone always trying to be better.

The John Wallis is a multi-sponsor Academy with four great sponsors which each bring different strengths and perspectives.  And as a Church of England Academy what we do and what we are is grounded in our values.  I think what excites me most about John Wallis is the continuing clarity of ambition for our students.  Our job is to carry on making that deeds not words.