Peterborough academy trust chair receives MBE in New Year's Honours List

The chair of a Peterborough academy trust has vowed to continue to push to “level the playing field” for the city’s children after being awarded an MBE in the King’s New Year Honours List.

Al Kingsley (55) has been awarded an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) for services to Education for his work in the sector over the past 30 years.

Mr Kingsley has been a school governor for over 15 years and since 2014 has been the Chair of the Hampton Academies Trust; overseeing the trust securing over £30M from the government to support delivery of both Hampton Gardens secondary school and Hampton Lakes primary school.

He is also the chair of Dogsthorpe Infant School having previously held the same role at the Richard Barnes Academy.

Mr Kingsley has spent over 30 years' in the technology sector mainly working on educational technology and digital safeguarding.

For the last 25 years he has been the CEO Group of NetSupport, an international software company. Over those 25 years he has worked with schools and Ministries of Education around the globe.

Mr Kingsley said: “I was completely surprised, usually when you get a brown envelope in the post you assume it’s a bill. I have worked for a long time in education and it it really quite touching.

“All of the roles have been voluntary because it’s an area I am very passionate about. We are an area where we need all the support we can get.

“I’m very lucky to have spent 30 years working in education technology, working with ministries and governments all around the world and when you see what is happening across the globe, the natural persuasion is to want to mirror that happening in your own patch too.

“There is huge potential in Peterborough but not every young person seems to have the same opportunities so the more we can level the playing field, the better for the future.”

Since December 2018, he also has been Chair of the Cambridge & Peterborough County SEND panel, focusing improvements across the local authority special educational needs and disabilities provision.

Since 2020 he has been a member of the Department of Education, a regional advisory board in the east of England.

He has sat on Peterborough City Council’s Children and Education Scrutiny Committee for 11 years and and sat on a number of key task and finish groups focused on delivering improvements to children’s services in the city.

He is currently the Independent Chair of the SEND group for Peterborough and has sat on the Department for Education’s Advisory Board for the East of England supporting all of the multi-academy trusts.

Mr Kingsley has also chaired the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority’s Business Board for the last four years and was involved in the securing of the funds for Peterborough’s university.

Mr Kingsley added: “Learning never stops, no matter what age, and you want to give people the opportunity, whether it’s a young child setting out or a person in their 30s looking to do a career change.

"The university unlocks huge potential. THe skills the workplace needs has radically changes in the last five years; companies are looking much more at a person’s personal skills and soft skills.

“The beauty of the Peterborough university project is that it is very much aligned in its courses with what employers in the region want.

“One of the most important things too is that 50% of the intake are from the local area, where they probably wouldn’t go off to university in another area of the country because of all of the costs associated.”