New backer for troubled academy

Last of chain’s academies taken over

A new sponsor has been confirmed for Mexborough Academy the last of 21 schools that were run by a crisis-hit Yorkshire academy chain, prompting the trust to claim an “end is in sight”.

A NEW sponsor has been confirmed for the last of 21 schools that were run by a crisis-hit Yorkshire academy chain, prompting the trust to claim an “end is in sight”.

Mexborough Academy in South Yorkshire will be taken over later this year following the collapse of the Wakefield City Academies Trust (WCAT).

Just days into the new term last September, WCAT made a shock announcement that it would give up its schools to new trusts after its board concluded that it was not able to bring about the improvements its students deserved.

Sponsors have now been found for all trusts, WCAT confirmed in a statement yesterday, with the Regional Schools’ Commissioner for East Midlands and the Humber, John Edwards, formally announcing that Mexborough will join Delta Academies Trust.

It follows concerns earlier this year by Sean Gibbons, a governor at the school, who feared a Private Finance Initiative deal was hindering efforts to find a new trust to run it and putting off potential sponsors.

A total of 18 schools have been transferred to new education trusts. Doncaster schools Balby Carr and primary Carr Lodge will switch to Astrea Academy Trust and Exceed Academies Trust respectively on September 1.

All parties are working on a transfer date of November 1 for Mexborough, WCAT said.

A spokesperson for the trust told The Yorkshire Post: “We are pleased to have the formal agreements in place for our three remaining academies to transfer.

“We are working with those trusts and the Department for Education to ensure the transition is seamless.

“The preferred sponsors across each of the 21 academies took responsibility for school improvement last September but the formal transfers have been more complex. We can now see a clear end in sight.”

The transfer of all schools will mean that WCAT can formally come to an end.

In June, the Department for Education (DfE) told The Yorkshire Post that once all the schools have been transferred, WCAT will “focus on the orderly wind-up of the trust”, overseen by the Education and Skills Funding Agency and the department itself. The DfE said it had worked with schools and their new trusts to provide “appropriate support and resources, including funding”.

When asked by Angela Rayner, the Shadow Secretary of State for Education, how much money the department had provided, Nadhim Zahawi, Parliamentary Under-Secretary in the department, said the funding “remained sensitive”.

The Outwood Grange Academy Trust (OGAT), which has taken over six Wakefield schools, said it is confident it can raise standards, and has unveiled plans for renovation projects to improve facilities for pupils.

Its chief executive officer, Martyn Oliver, stressed OGAT would not take on any debt and none of the schools would start in deficit.