News

• Tuesday 20 May 2025 Prince Avenue earns the Platinum School Games Mark award We are proud to announce that Prince Avenue have achieved the School Games Platinum Mark Award for the 2024/25 academic year.
• Tuesday 20 May 2025 DfE Visit Celebrates the Ongoing Success of SEEAT On Thursday, 15th May 2025, SEEAT was delighted to welcome senior representatives from the Department for Education (DfE). Visitors included Jonathan Duff, Regional Director for the East of England, Ian Jacobs, Head of Delivery for Essex and Nicola Darling, Senior Delivery Officer. They toured Cornelius Vermuyden and The Deanes schools and spoke with senior leaders about the work SEEAT is doing to improve schools in South East Essex.
• Thursday 15 May 2025 Westcliff High School for Girls wins Best Youth Production Westcliff High School for Girls, is proud to announce its success at the National Operatic and Dramatic Awards. Their musical production of ‘Sister Act the Musical’ picked up Best Youth Production at the awards ceremony last weekend, a prestigious national award.
• Wednesday 14 May 2025 Westcliff High School for Girls named National No.1 for GCSE Engineering Westcliff High School for Girls which is part of South East Essex Academy Trust, is proud to announce an outstanding national achievement by the Class of 2023, who secured the highest average point score in the country for GCSE Engineering.
• Friday 9 May 2025 SEEAT Commemorates VE Day 80th Anniversary Thursday 8th May was the 80th anniversary of VE day, which offered a meaningful opportunity for students to reflect on a pivotal moment in history. In SEEAT schools we saw themed dress up days, cake baking, 1940s picnics, VE Day artwork, assemblies and renditions of the National Anthem. These offered the children a chance to reflect on sacrifices made in World War II and help to connect our younger generation to the past. Thank you to all of the teaching staff who made this day memorable for the children.
• Wednesday 7 May 2025 SEEAT Speaks 2025 SEEAT Speaks took place on 1st May at The Deanes school. Pupils from all nine SEEAT Schools were invited to an evening of passionate speeches across a whole range of topics, as well as some music.
• Wednesday 23 April 2025 'Calm, safe and welcoming' Hadleigh Junior School is given highest Ofsted rating Hadleigh Junior School in Church Road, Benfleet, part of South East Essex Academy Trust, is proud to share the outcome of its recent Ofsted inspection, which highlights the school’s commitment to providing high quality education in a caring environment.
• Wednesday 2 April 2025 SEEAT Newsletter April 2025 We are proud to share with you Issue 13 of our SEEAT Newsletter, which includes a special feature on the important work of Learning Support Assistants across the Trust.
• Friday 21 March 2025 The Deanes School Welcomes visitors from Nanjing Normal University On Thursday, The Deanes School, in partnership with Cornelius Vermuyden School, welcomed 18 student teachers from Nanjing Normal University in China as part of an enriching cross-cultural visit designed to foster international understanding and collaboration.
• Wednesday 19 March 2025 SEEAT Sings 2025 On Tuesday 18th March, Westcliff High School for Girls hosted SEEAT Sings 2025.
• Monday 17 March 2025 SEEAT STEM 2025
• Thursday 13 March 2025 SEEArt 2025
• Tuesday 11 March 2025 City Councillors visit Heycroft Primary School On Monday 10th March, City Councillors from the Eastwood Park Ward Paul Collins, Robert McMullan and Dave Poulton visited Heycroft Primary School to see the improvements made since their last visit around 18 months ago.
• Friday 7 March 2025 SEEAT Celebrates World Book Day World Book Day took place on Thursday 6th March and it was wonderful to see staff and pupils celebrating their love of reading. With dress up days, author visits, a visit to Tesco to spend World Book Day vouchers, competitions and more, SEEAT Schools have spent the week encouraging a love of reading. Please have a look at our gallery below to see some of the brilliant costumes!
• Wednesday 26 February 2025 SEEAT Day 2025
• Monday 10 February 2025 David Burton-Sampson MP visits Prince Avenue Academy and Nursery Last week we welcomed David Burton-Sampson MP, our Labour MP for Southend West, to Prince Avenue. The visit began with a visit over to our Nursery, where the children were so engaged with many different learning activities. He was very impressed! The MP was then interviewed by the Head and Vice boy and girl as well as the Year 6 Eco-Warriors. Here, the children found out a little bit about the MP's career as well as his plans to ensure a World Class Education and a Clean, Green Future and what that looked like for our community.
• Thursday 6 February 2025 SEEAT Newsletter February 2025 We are proud to share with you edition number 12 of of Newsletter which includes a spotlight on governance, an update on Cornelius Vermuyden School and of course a round up of all the fantastic things that are happening in our family of schools.
• Thursday 6 February 2025 Westcliff High School for Girls shine at the Music and Drama Education Awards
• Friday 17 January 2025 Progress continues at Cornelius Vermuyden School
• Thursday 9 January 2025 The One Show film at Westcliff High School for Girls On Wednesday 11th December, Westcliff High School for Girls hosted a recording of a segment for BBC’s The One Show. Presenter Jeff Brazier led the piece on research by Dr Tara McAllister-Viel which found that young people in Essex seek to change their accent due to prejudice.
• Friday 20 December 2024 Celebrating Our Christmas Tech Giveaway Success!
• Wednesday 11 December 2024 Sir Trevor McDonald Visits Prince Avenue Academy Sir Trevor McDonald OBE is arguably the most recognisable news presenter in British broadcasting history with a career that has spanned nearly sixty years. Yesterday, all the children and staff at Prince Avenue Academy and Nursery had the pleasure and privilege of meeting Sir Trevor and hearing about his remarkable life and career in journalism that saw him awarded the OBE in 1992 and awarded a Knighthood in 1999. His visit followed the Year 6 children at Prince Avenue writing heartfelt letters to Sir Trevor, he said, “The letters were so charming they deserved more than a paper response.”
• Tuesday 10 December 2024 Heycroft Primary School: A Beacon of Improvement We are delighted that the local press have decided to feature the brilliant Heycroft Primary School following it's remarkable transformation during 2024.
• Monday 25 November 2024 Bayo Alaba MP visits Rochford Primary School On Friday, our CEO Andrew Cooper met with Bayo Alaba MP for Rochford and Southend East, at Rochford Primary School. They had a very productive discussion about education, the school and the wider Trust, with Mr Owen, Headteacher.
• Friday 8 November 2024 Trustee Week 2024
• Thursday 17 October 2024 SEEAT Newsletter October 2024 We are proud to share with you the 11th edition of the SEEAT Newsletter which showcases some of the brilliant things that have been going on around the Trust.
• Friday 11 October 2024 3G Football Pitch Opens at The Deanes School
• Thursday 19 September 2024 The SEEAT Institute achieves Bronze Award for Coaching and Mentoring We are delighted to announce that the SEEAT Institute has been awarded the prestigious Bronze Award for Coaching and Mentoring, awarded by Leeds Beckett University: CollectivED. This recognition is a testament to our commitment to making coaching, mentoring, and professional learning a guided strategic priority for professional development.
• Thursday 19 September 2024 Urte receives one of only 20 places on the Summer Time Advanced Aerospace Residency
• Monday 16 September 2024 Cornelius Vermuyden School makes significant strides towards improvement A recent visit from one of His Majesty’s Inspectors (HMI) in July has highlighted significant progress, and several positive developments at Cornelius Vermuyden School.

View archived news