Barking and Dagenham School Improvement Partnership (BDSIP) has announced the appointment of Ben Spinks as its’ first chief executive.

The new not-for-profit company is jointly owned by local schools and the council.

It has been created to provide headteachers with support to raise standards and ensure every young person in the borough is given the best educational start in life.

The company is expected to launch in April 2018.

A former market director at Capita Transformation and assistant chief executive at Brent Council, Mr Spinks will bring a wealth of experience in guiding organisations through periods of significant change.

The new chief executive said the role was “genuinely exciting” and the council’s ambitious change agenda was a major factor in his decision.

Partnerships and innovation at the heart

Mr Spinks said: “I’m not sure if I would have applied for this role if it hadn’t been in Barking and Dagenham. The council is on a wider journey of transformation and there is a real sense of an organisation that wants to do things differently, and which places partnerships and innovation at the heart of that evolution.”

Mr Spinks identified the “first 12 months as being key” to BDSIP establishing itself as a trusted provider.

“This is a genuinely exciting opportunity for us to build on the strong relationships between the family of schools and the council in Barking and Dagenham, and to become the go to source for schools requiring services,” said Mr Spinks, who takes up his new role from 2 January 2018.

Beginning of something truly exciting

Peter McPartland OBE, the former headteacher of Dagenham Trinity School, Dagenham, is the chair of BDSIP shadow board of directors.

Mr McPartland said: “I am delighted Ben is joining us at this exciting time and I look forward to working with him.

“We will provide a range of services that will make a difference to schools and the lives of local children and young people in the borough – it is the beginning of something truly exciting.”