When Dan Thomas, chief executive of the newly formed The Learning Partnership (TLP) trust, suggested posing for our photoshoot next to the grand Bentley car parked outside his office, his deputy chief executive’s “face dropped”. Instead, Thomas applied to lead the then ‘outstanding’ Shavington primary school in Crewe. TLA was motivated by “succession planning” for the retirement of its chief executive Mike Cladingbowl, while Thomas needed “more capacity to impact on the communities we serve”. Specialist schoolsThe merger means Thomas now also leads two specialist 14 to 19 provisions – Crewe UTC, and Cheshire Studio School. But Thomas advocates the model as “a really good way of engaging children for whom the traditional key stage four pathway doesn’t suit”.