The clue is in our name.

Whether as schools, colleagues or across our communities, working together - as partners - is crucial to the success of Unity Schools Partnership.

So, from the choice of school plays to showcasing a love of literacy as part of World Book Day, it has been wonderful to see close collaboration as a real feature of the early part of 2019.

As parents we want our children to have everything possible at school. We, of course, want them to be safe and happy, get the best possible exam results and to make great friends, some for the rest of their lives.

But we want all the other experiences and opportunities that are the memorable ones – and ones we will remember forever whenever we think back to our own time at school.

This has been a particularly enjoyable month across many of the schools in the trust with big plays and much sport taking place.

By coincidence, two of the secondary schools chose the same play, Beauty and the Beast, as their big spring term performance.

The actors and actresses have not only been able to share costumes but also travel to each other’s schools to watch the respective productions.

Elsewhere, we have had a very high-quality art exhibition organised for students at Haverhill Community Sixth Form, Samuel Ward Academy and Castle Manor Academy.

It is hoped a similar one will follow for our primary school pupils.

The ‘Results Plus’ mantra of the trust has again been out in full force.

Last week, our schools showcased a lover of literacy by taking part in World Book Day, a great annual event which produces a lot of fun and some wonderful photographs.

It was also warming to see some of our secondary schools join forces for a ‘drop everything and read’ activity – which saw students pick up a book and read whenever a special school bell rang.

There has been much in the news in recent weeks about school funding and it being tighter than in recent years.

We are determined that we find ways to make it stretch by working together across the schools to be as efficient as we can and look to ensure that every area of the curriculum continues.

Many schools have School Councils. Each year, we have an annual strategy day when the heads, chairs of governors and trust board reflect on the past year and plan for the coming year.

Our event this year was marked by the first meeting and contribution of a Trust Student Council – consisting of a couple of children from all of the primary, secondary and special schools who joined together to tell the board how they feel they should benefit from being in this family of schools.

Their contribution was a real highlight of the day.