Richard Ronksley

Chief Executive Officer

Every generation asks the same question in different ways: what is education for? Richard Ronksley believes the answer begins with opportunity.

Throughout his career, he has been guided by a simple conviction: talent is found everywhere, but opportunity is not. Education therefore has a larger purpose than the passing on of knowledge alone. It should help every young person discover what they are capable of becoming, whatever their background and wherever they begin.

This belief has shaped Richard's work as Chief Executive of Altus Education Partnership. Under his leadership, the Trust has grown from a single sixth form college into a family of schools and partnerships serving Rochdale and its surrounding communities. Growth, however, has never been the destination. It has simply created greater opportunities to serve the place that the Trust calls home.

Richard believes that schools are among the most important institutions in any community. They stand alongside families, employers, charities, universities, sports clubs and public services in shaping the lives of young people. When these institutions know one another, trust one another and work together, they create possibilities that none could achieve alone.

This idea can be seen throughout the Trust's work: in Children's University, in partnerships with special schools, in community hubs, in work with employers and universities, and in developing inclusive approaches for children whose education has become difficult. Each reflects the same belief: that opportunity is rarely created by a single organisation, but by people and institutions choosing to work together for a common purpose.

Richard also believes that schools should be places of both ambition and kindness. These are not opposing ideas. Young people flourish when they know that much is expected of them, and that they will be supported as they strive to meet those expectations. Inclusion, in this sense, is not a programme or an initiative. It is simply part of what it means to educate well.

Increasingly, Richard's work explores the role of multi-academy trusts as civic institutions. He sees them not merely as organisations responsible for running schools, but as institutions that can strengthen the communities around them: places that bring people together, widen opportunity, build confidence, and contribute to the long-term prosperity of the towns and neighbourhoods they serve.

His thinking is influenced by history, sociology and the belief that education is one of society's greatest acts of renewal. Every generation inherits a community shaped by those who came before it. Schools, he believes, have the rare privilege (and responsibility) of helping to shape what that community will become next.