Neil Miley, CEO of Mercia Learning Trust.

Mercia Learning Trust is a successful partnership of primary and secondary schools located in the south-west of Sheffield. 

We are proud that our trust has a strong reputation for school effectiveness and improvement.  

We share the same mission, to empower everyone in our communities, especially the most disadvantaged, to succeed.  

We run schools that focus on academic excellence, cultural capital and the development of character.

Our trust was originally founded around King Ecgbert Secondary School. However, very quickly a multi-academy partnership was formed with two feeder schools (Nether Edge Primary and Totley Primary).  This was followed by further growth with a local secondary (Newfield School) and primary (Woodlands Primary).  In 2018, our trust opened a new free school (Mercia School) to meet the need for local population expansion.

In 2023, we welcomed Anns Grove Primary School to our family of schools. 

Presently, we educate over 5400 pupils ranging from 2 to 18 years old. However, as some schools expand in the coming years, the number of pupils we serve will continue to grow.

Our trust has a strong operating model, which is based on 'Aligned Autonomy'. 

This means whilst we share the same mission and values and benefit from our combined resources and reputation, we understand that schools are unique and different. This balance between difference and commonality is a key feature of our trust.

Our staff members are a crucial part of our trust, just like our students. We are devoted to recruiting, training, retaining, and taking good care of our highly skilled and dedicated team. 

We possess a strong desire to progress and look towards the future while remaining fully dedicated to enhancing the outcomes and experiences of our pupils.

Our trust's mission and priorities provide a solid foundation for us to engage in thoughtful and sustainable growth. We firmly believe that we are well-equipped to achieve this objective.