Aycliffe Today Business Aycliffe Today Issue 44 | Page 20

“In the end, it’s all about
supporting school leaders
so they can focus on
giving pupils the best
education possible”
– Julie Sowerby
20 | Aycliffe Business
Today, Avec provides services for around
300 schools, plus 70 multi-academy trusts, and
has helped more than 200 schools to become
academies. Its core services are HR, finance,
and change management, especially around
guiding schools towards academy status.
The number of employees has grown again
since the EPM deal, which represents a pivotal
moment for the company.
“We’d reached the point at which we had to
decide whether to carry on doing what we were
doing or take it to a new level by becoming part
of something bigger,” says Julie.
“We researched who the best partner would
be and EPM was the answer,” adds Sarah, “It’s
given us greater security and means we can
provide even better support for clients because
of the greater resources. It’s also meant we’ve
been able to promote staff as well as recruit
more.”
By pooling skill sets and the massive amount
of knowledge that has been acquired over the
years, the aim now is for the group to become
the leading provider of education services in
the country.
Sarah and Julie have certainly come a
long way since they sat in an office in their
Darlington Council days, assessed the impact
they were having as a team, and said to each
other “Wouldn’t it be nice to do this for
ourselves one day?”
For Sarah, the biggest source of pride
is the reputation Avec has built for never
compromising on quality.
“No one sees what school leaders go through
and to know we are helping to take the pressure
off is so rewarding,” she says.
Kevin Brennan, chief executive officer of
the Eden Learning Trust, based at Ferryhill, is
happy to endorse that statement, describing
the working relationship with Avec as “the best
money I’ve ever spent”.
And what makes the company’s success even
more satisfying is that it has been achieved
against the backdrop of prolonged public sector
austerity.
It also means a lot to the business partners
that they have grown the company on their
home patch. Sarah was raised in Aycliffe and
Julie is from Darlington, where she was a pupil
at Eastbourne Comprehensive School.
Now, St Aidan’s Church of England Academy
in Darlington has this year earned its first
ever “good” rating from Ofsted, with Avec
Partnership playing a key supporting role in
helping to bring about the transformation.
“Avec have been instrumental in St Aidan’s
success,” says principal Nicole Gibbon.
“This is particularly the case with Julie
Sowerby, who actually was a past student when
St Aidan’s was known as Eastbourne School.
The support, passion and fierce devotion and
loyalty from Julie hugely supported and steered
every aspect of our school. St Aidan’s is in her
heart.”
The positive feedback strikes a chord with
Julie. “It means such a lot to me personally
to know that we’ve been able to make a real
difference,” she smiles.
As the 10th anniversary approaches, Avec
Partnership is continuing to prove to be a class
act.