Schools to support each other in academy trust

TWO Catholic primary schools have joined an academy trust.

St Patrick’s, in Foxholes, and Alice Ingham, in Hamer, are now part of the St Teresa of Calcutta Catholic Academy.

The schools have made the move after consultation with parents, staff and governors.

Both have been accepted for funding by the DfE and will continue under the trusteeship of the Diocese of Salford.

Canon Antony McBride, episcopal vicar for education, said: “The creation of multiacademy trusts in the Diocese enables Catholic schools to continue to support each other in the work of delivering in every school the school improvements they require in order to provide the best possible education for all our pupils.

“The schools of our diocese have a long and proud history of working together for the good of all.

“Each generation has taken on the challenges that have faced our Catholic schools and also made the best of the support we have received from the DfE and local authorities. In this new situation where conversion to academy status is being offered to us by the government as a way of schools supporting each other, there is yet another opportunity for us to continue that Catholic tradition of support for each other with an emphasis on helping the poorest of the poor in our society.”

Academies are independent, statefunded schools, which receive their funding directly from central government, rather than through a local authority.

The day-to-day running of the school is with the head teacher or principal, but they are overseen by individual charitable bodies called academy trusts and may be part of an academy chain.