corporate and headshot photography in manchester

Thrive CE Academy Trust Event at Manchester Hall

teacher silhouette against an interactive screen by school photographer Mick Cookson

Thrive CE Academy Trust

Thrive CE Academy Trust, based in Manchester, governs four schools in it’s community; Didsbury CE, West Didsbury CE, St Elisabeth’s CE and St Wilfrid’s CE Primary schools. A Christian-based educational trust, Thrive’s ethos is based on three words - Belonging, Believing, Becoming.

As John Barrett, CEO of the Trust describes on their website…

“As CEO, my role is to make sure that all schools within the Trust work collaboratively to ensure that children receive the very best Christian education. We want all those within our school communities to feel a real sense of belonging and see our Trust as a large extended family. We want our children, their families and our staff to enter a life-long journey of believing; utilising their unique gifts, believing in themselves and making a positive contribution to society. Finally, we want our children, their families and our staff to go on becoming all that they can be, striving to achieve their full potential in a loving and fully inclusive environment.

Since September 2022, the Trust has restructured its central team and its operating model. We have reviewed and strengthen our vision, adopted a clear strategy to help achieve this vision and are working to ensure core services and functions are in place to deliver our strategy. A comprehensive review of all aspects of the Trust has helped establish our priorities to support our existing academies and ensure that our core services can be upscaled to allow for further growth. The PESTLE tool has been used to analyse external factors for our growth strategy, particularly national and local policies relating to academisation, to ensure it can effectively respond to change”.

Event Photographer Manchester

John got in touch with me to help as an Event Photographer Manchester with his Thrive project; a five-part and five day shoot. The whole Thrive CE Academy needed new photography - for it’s own website plus the four schools in the Trust. The websites were looking a little tired and needed fresh new images, rather than some of the stock photos being used. This event was to be the fifth part to the project (the school photography will be published once cleared for use). As an Event Photographer Manchester, I get to photograph a variety of ‘gatherings’ from the small, intimate office meetings to large evening events. This was a medium-large event hosted throughout the day at Manchester Hall, with all four Head Teachers, plus a collection of staff from all the schools in the Trust. As an Event Photographer Manchester, the plan was to have John introduce himself to the gathered staff members, plus have a guest inspirational speaker as the centre of focus for the afternoon. John’s brief to me was to shoot as naturally as possible and blend in. Perfect! But if you know Manchester Hall, you’ll also know how dark it can be, especially in November! I’m a low-light specialist and thrive on conditions like these (no pun intended!)

And, with my ‘Saturday Job’, I have photographed a wedding there. I LOVE Manchester Hall!

Natural Event Photography in Manchester

I arrived a good hour or so before the delegates, to get the feel for the areas booked for the event. And, it was exactly where Lisa & Lawrence had their wedding a year or so previously. It’s a dark space, all wood-panelled and gorgeous. I photograph events live and unstated. No flash, no interrupting people for a quick snap -no, I just let the event flow and capture it with my silent shooting Nikons. For the photographers, I mainly used a 35mm / 85mm combination on two bodies for the shoot. Natural event photography in Manchester? That’s me!

MALIT Learning & Development

On duty for the relaxed, informative and great fun inspirational speaking was Andy Griffith from MALIT Learning & Development, an educational consultant company, specialising in training staff. The bases for the afternoon was ‘Teaching Backwards’ a concept high on MALIT’s list and a best-selling educational book too.

This is how MALIT describe themselves:

“MALIT is a movement that grew out of decades of chalk-face teaching and teacher-training for directors Andy Griffith and Mark Burns. Our mission is to plant a seed of change in UK education that grows into widespread outstanding teaching practice.

We are driven by creating opportunities for our young people, from whatever background, to learn, grow and develop; creating opportunities for us all to contribute to a better society and future world.

MALIT’S mission is to move people, not just train them, helping education professionals and learners harness the impact of their behaviour in a way they would never have thought possible”.

Here’s a few images from the day as my being an Event Photographer Manchester…