School plans to become an academy

East Crompton St George's, Shaw: academy plan

PUPILS and parents at East Crompton St George’s Primary School will get the chance to have their say on plans to convert the school into an academy.

The governors are asking local people for their opinion on the conversion, which would make the school part of the multi-academy trust being established by Blue Coat school.

Hazel Gloster, the school’s chairman of governors, said: “We’ve been discussing academy conversion for over two years. St George’s has come a long way. The time is right for us to develop further but we don’t want to be isolated. The trust Blue Coat is establishing will bring schools together to share expertise, focus on improvement and take responsibility for all the pupils in our schools.”

John Lees, chairman of governors at Blue Coat, said: “We’re delighted that East Crompton St George’s wants to be the first to join our trust.

“The trust will be able to draw in expertise from our Teaching School Alliance and we will be bringing in primary improvement professionals to support primary partners.

“We’ll all benefit from a better, structured understanding of what and how pupils learn, and there will be economies of scale for all schools that we can turn into resources for children. It’s win-win.”