Celebrating Christina Kenna, Founder and CEO of the HEART Education Trust on her retirement

Richard Nobes • December 20, 2022

Celebrating Christina Kenna, Founder and CEO of the HEART Education Trust on her retirement

Last week, the four academies comprising the HEART Education Trust celebrated the legacy of former Head of Heartsease Primary Academy and Founder and CEO of the Trust, Christina Kenna.


Celebrations started on Wednesday evening, when Christina was invited by the staff and pupils of Lingwood Primary Academy to attend their Christmas celebration. Head of Lingwood Primary, Stuart Walker, led a tribute to close the evening.


On Thursday morning, Christina joined the community at Henderson Green Primary Academy for their Key Stage 2 Christmas show, where she was wowed by their selection of festive songs. Closing the morning, Co-Head of Henderson Primary, Clair Gribble , thanked Christina for her dedication to all of the Trust academies.


After spending lunch with colleagues from across the Trust’s business support teams, Christina finished her Thursday with a fantastic Christmas bonanza at Valley Primary Academy. The pupils filled the tiered stage, sang their hearts out, played violin and ukulele recitals and got plenty of laughs with some festive jokes. Head of Valley Primary, Sara Bush (above), closed the event with a thoughtful tribute to Christina.


Finally, on Friday morning Christina returned to Heartsease Primary Academy to join their celebration assembly – the academy where she joined as Head and launched the HEART Education Trust. Academy Head, Neil Campbell (below) invited Christina to sit at the front of the assembly throughout – a tradition she had brought in for all leavers when she was Headteacher there. 


Mr Campbell told the pupils how important Christina had been to the academy, including how she had overseen the building of the academy, achieved an Outstanding Ofsted in May 2016 and brought three fantastic schools into the HEART family.


Outside of her numerous achievements, Neil said, “Christina instilled aspiration within the academy and throughout the local community. She was always at the end of the phone, to listen, advise and guide – and is an outstanding source of educational wisdom who will be sorely missed.”


Closing the assembly, Christina shared “I started here at Heartsease over 18 years ago as Head, when it was an old-fashioned, unattractive school – I have put a lot of my life into this school and am so proud of where it has come today. I’d like to say a very big thank you to the whole community, staff, pupils – everyone – for being on this journey with me.”   


Interim CEO Hazel Cubbage commented “It has been a privilege to work with Christina, as Chief Operating Officer, and recently stepping into her shoes as Interim CEO. She has been an invaluable mentor to me and many members of staff across the Trust and I wish her the very best during her well-earned retirement. 



“While Christina is formally retiring, I am thrilled that she will continue to support our family of academies in the new year, sharing her expertise in school improvement and her wealth of educational insight on a consultancy basis.”

Lingwood Primary Academy Newsletter 14th February 2025

By ashley.coley • February 14, 2025
Headteacher's Update Dear parents / carers, As we head towards half-term, I wanted to say a big thank you for all your support over these past few weeks. I have thoroughly enjoyed working at this lovely school. I must admit having a broken wrist has been challenging, and I have seen a little too much of trains and Premier Inns, but it hasn’t stopped me feeling very much at home at Lingwood. I will continue to lead the school until Miss Laycock is well enough to return. It’s good to see that class dojo is being used with parents now but as I explained last week we are not currently using it for contact between home and school. Please contact staff through office@lingwoodprimary.org.uk. As I mentioned in a previous message, we are working on ensuring there is consistency in what both staff and children do. You will be sent a document that we are calling the ‘Lingwood Way’. Please have a look at our expectations for the school day. Attendance hit a record high last week with our weekly school attendance hitting an impressive 97%. Well-done to everyone for this fantastic achievement. Have a wonderful half-term break with your amazing children and we will see you back at school on Monday 24th February. Regards, Ben Jeffery Interim Headteacher Lingwood Primary Academy

Lingwood Primary Academy Newsletter 10th February 2025

By ashley.coley • February 9, 2025
Headteacher's Update Dear parents / carers, It has been really useful speaking to children, staff and parents about how we can improve our behaviour systems and communication at our lovely school. I believe it is so important to praise, recognise and reward excellent effort and behaviour. At Lingwood, we award ‘dojos’ when a child has worked hard and/or demonstrated one of the values of the school. We would like parents to see this recognition and therefore we need you to be set up on class dojo. Today, your child should have come home with a login sheet with simple instructions on how to set this up. If you have not received this, please speak to the class teacher or Mrs Tubby. We are resetting children’s dojo scores at half term. When they earn 100 dojos, they will receive a silver badge to wear on their school jumper. This will be celebrated and awarded on a Friday assembly. If a child reaches 200 dojos they will be given a gold badge. Some schools use class dojo to communicate between the teacher and parents. For now, we are not going to use this facility. To speak to the teacher, please do one of the following: Catch them at the start or end of the day for a quick chat. This can’t be a long conversation because the teacher will need to have eyes on the rest of the class. Ring Mrs Tubby in the office on 01638 to arrange a meeting Email the office ( office@lingwoodprimary.org.uk ) and your email will be forwarded to the teacher We will continue to send out our weekly newsletter on a Monday with an update from me and your class teacher as I know this is appreciated. However, this week, we will send the final newsletter for the half term out Friday. Regards, Ben Jeffery Interim Headteacher Lingwood Primary Academy

Lingwood Primary Academy Newsletter 3rd February 2025

By ashley.coley • February 2, 2025
Headteacher's Update Dear parents and carers, We seem to have had four seasons of weather in one week at Lingwood, but our children are hardy souls and don’t seem to be bothered by a bit of wind or rain. We had our first school council meeting of 2025 on Tuesday. It is always good to hear from our pupils. They were particularly keen to get some more equipment to use outside and had interesting ideas about our reward systems. As a staff, we have been working on having tight routines, so children are able to be ‘ready, respectful and safe’. We are striving for consistency and our focus for next week is the start and end of the day. Except for our Nursery pupils, children will be dismissed at the end of the day when they are sat down at their desk or on their carpet space. The teacher will call them up one at a time. Please be patient next week as this may take a bit of time to get right. In the winter months, the grassy areas around our paths and playgrounds become muddy and slippery. Please try and keep to the paved and concreted areas for your own safety. Please can you take a few minutes to complete the SEND survey for Norfolk County Council as this will give you a voice in SEND provision in Norfolk. Please follow this link. SEND survey 2025 - Norfolk County Council - Citizen Space Have a great week Regards,  Ben Jeffery Interim Headteacher Lingwood Primary Academy

Lingwood Primary Academy Newsletter 27th January 2025

By ashley.coley • January 27, 2025
Headteacher's Update Dear parents and carers, Another week flies by. The children have behaved brilliantly at break and lunch. We have given the children more equipment to use at break and lunchtimes and they have loved it. I have been particularly impressed with how they have put it way and taken responsibility for this.  We have an attendance review in a couple of weeks and have been speaking to the children about the importance of being in school. For the second week running Rabbit Class have won the attendance cup with a superb 99% - well done Rabbits. Have a nice week. Have a good week. Regards, Ben Jeffery Interim Headteacher

Lingwood Primary Academy Newsletter 20th January 2025

By lorraine.long • January 20, 2025
Headteacher's Update It has been a cracking week at Lingwood. One of the highlights was our new cricket coach (Aaron) coming in on Tuesday. The children loved the opportunity to bowl, bat and field, despite it not exactly being summer conditions. I was particularly impressed with how all of the children listened and responded to a new face. It has been useful for me to speak to several parents last week about things they think would make the school run more smoothly. Communication seems to be a key theme - as it is in most schools. We are working hard behind the scenes to make sure that parents are kept in the loop as much as possible. Please do come and grab me in the playground at the start and the end of the day if you want to give any feedback. We welcome back Miss Coley today, and she will start in her role as the main year four class teacher alongside her deputy head duties. There are fewer staff out on training this week so there should be less disruption. Key Stage two staff are currently being trained on how iPads can enhance learning, and we will have some exciting news about this in the near future. We have had a couple of children off with chickenpox. If your child does have chickenpox, please keep them off until the blisters have 'crusted' over. I am keen that Lingwood is a school with high standards across the board. One of the expectations we have is about wearing the correct school uniform. Please make sure your child comes to school in the correct uniform, including Lingwood PE kit. Have a good week. Regards, Ben Jeffery Interim Headteacher

Lingwood Primary Academy Newsletter 13th January 2025

By lorraine.long • January 13, 2025
Headteacher's Update Happy new year. The Christmas holidays already feel a long way away, but we have got back into the swing of things and have had a good week at Lingwood. Pupils have quickly got back into good learning routines and have coped well with some disruption to staffing. We had several staff off ill last week and also staff on really important training. Whenever we use supply teachers, we always try to make sure we have staff that know the children and have high expectations. As parents of year 4 children already know, Mrs Walker has started her maternity leave, we wish her all the very best. Mr Wills (an experienced teacher) will be teaching this class this week before Miss Coley takes charge the week after. This week, we welcome a cricket coach into school and the year sixes are doing a week of sats getting ready for May. In my assembly we talked about New Years Resolutions and making pledges to be the best version of yourselves. It has been interesting hearing the resolutions children have made but the real test for all of us is keeping them! Regards, Ben Jeffery Interim Headteacher

Lingwood Primary Academy Newsletter 20th December 2024

By ashley.coley • December 20, 2024
Headteacher's Update What a lovely way to finish the term with our celebration assembly. It was great to hear some of the songs from the Christmas performances and celebrate the achievements of this week. It was especially pleasing to see so many children achieve 100% attendance this autumn term. If you haven't yet please read my letter which was sent to parents yesterday. I hope that you and your families have a wonderful Christmas break and I look forward to seeing you all in the new year. See you all on the 6th January. Please note moving forward the newsletter will be sent on a Monday. The first being Monday 13th January. Ben Jeffery Interim Headteacher

Lingwood Primary Academy Newsletter 13th December 2024

By ashley.coley • December 13, 2024
Headteachers Update Hello, I would like to take this chance to say a massive thank you for the warm welcome I have received from children, staff and parents. The performances this week, were so lovely. I am really looking forward to leading the school in Miss Laycock's absence and already I feel I have got to know the strengths of this wonderful school. Fortunately, I have been able to spend a couple of days with Miss Laycock to handover and I know your thoughts and prayers will be with her and her family. I have been a headteacher for over 7 years, and for the past two years, I have been working in an advisory role supporting both Primary and Secondary schools. When Tim Coulson asked if I would come to Lingwood, I did not hesitate. I live just outside Bury St Edmunds with my wife and 16-year-old twin boys. I am an avid sportsman and fan and am currently training for an attempt to run a sub 3-hour marathon, so you might see me running around the village. I will be working from home on a Wednesday, but we have made arrangements for another senior leader from Unity to come and support Miss Coley when I am not in school. Please do catch me at the gate at the start or the end of the day and say hello. Have a lovely weekend. Ben Jeffery Interim Headteacher

Lingwood Primary Academy Newsletter 6th December 2024

By ashley.coley • December 6, 2024
Headteachers Update The children have been working exceptionally hard this week, across the curriculum. We welcomed Sue in from OM health and wellbeing. She visited and delivered different workshops to Year 1 - 6. These were focused around topics like: being safe, resilience, understanding emotions and puberty. We look forward to her delivering more workshops next term. Next week, we are looking forward to our Christmas performances and events. We look forward to welcoming you all. Thank you for your continuing support. Miss Laycock and the Lingwood Team

Lingwood Primary Academy Newsletter 29th November 2024

By ashley.coley • November 28, 2024
Headteachers Update Attendance across the school the last two weeks has taken a dip due to the inclement weather. If you are having any challenges please let us know so a member of our staff can best support you. Miss Hatch and I are on the gate every morning, Miss Coley and teachers are available to talk to daily. Ms Clack (senco) also visits our school every Tuesday. The Lingwood and Unity team are always here to help. Thank you for your continuing support. Miss Laycock and the Lingwood Team
More Posts
Share by: