A LEADING figure in alternative education provision has been honoured by the King for her work with the community’s most vulnerable learners.
Chief executive of the River Tees Multi Academy Trust Christina Jones has been awarded an OBE in the King’s birthday honours list.
River Tees MAT operates River Tees Secondary Academy, River Tees Primary Academy, River Tees Hospital School, River Tees Academy Grangetown and River Tyne Academy Gateshead.
Based in Middlesbrough, it works with children from all over the Tees Valley who are permanently excluded, or in danger of being excluded, those who need additional support because of physical injury and illness and mental health issues and children whose education has been impacted by social deprivation and gaps in their learning.
“This is a great honour and I feel so flattered and humbled to be recognised for the work of everyone in the organisation,” said Christina, who is also a trustee of Schools North East and a governor at Middleton Tyas Primary School, near Scotch Corner.
“I have been fortunate to be involved with national groups in the alternative provision sector and it has been great to be able to discuss the development of alternative provision and the specialist sector.
“We always try our very best for our learners but there are financial and other pressures. This is public money so we have to make sure we use it effectively. That is why we launched a charity, River Tees MORE, to raise funds for pastoral development activities for our highly vulnerable learners. It is going really well in funding activities, such as swimming lessons, that families and learners sometimes can’t afford.”
She said there was a high demand for services from children who faced permanent exclusions. “We try to support mainstream schools to be more inclusive and help learners who have had interrupted education,” said Christina, who has worked in the public sector since leaving university and has a background in teaching maths, careers and school improvement.
“We think it is right to support them to have a better school experience. There are a lot of pressures on young people that we don’t understand so we have got to give them another chance. It’s about trying to give them another perspective about valuing other people rather than them just taking what they want from society.”
Middlesbrough is a national hotspot for young people not in education, employment or training. “But 100 per cent of our learners go on to further education, employment or training,” Christina said. “We can teach them things in school but they also need to learn who they are and what they see themselves doing in the future.”
Christina (nee McKiernan) is originally from Camborne, Cornwall. She attended St John’s RC Primary School and Camborne School before studying at Southampton University and completing a Masters degree at the University of Sunderland.