Top York school seeks to become an academy

Fulford School, which has about 1,400 pupils and is rated outstanding by Ofsted,wants to opt out of local authority control and found the South York Multi-Academy Trust (MAT).

In a letter to parents tonight the school has said it is consulting along with a small number of partner schools.

It's currently unclear which of the eight feeder primaries involved: Archbishop of York’s CE Junior School, Dunnington CE School, Elvington CE School, Escrick CE School, Lord Deramore’s School, Naburn CE School, St Oswald’s CE School and Wheldrake with Thorganby CE School would join the MAT when.

But remaining schools would look to join the MAT on a phased basis.

The timings and phased nature of the development of the MAT will be agreed through further discussion between the schools, the Local Authority and the Regional Schools Commissioner.

In a letter explaining the decision to parents, head teacher, Lorna Savage, (pictured below) said: "Fulford is a highly successful school that serves its community very well. Our success is supported by our strong partnerships with local primary schools where we strive to provide the highest standards of education and support for the children in our care. 

"We are now seeking to establish a South York Schools Multi-Academy Trust to formalise our existing collaboration and to ensure we can work together, both now and in the future, in the best interests of those in our school community.

"While we acknowledge that academy conversion has never been our desired outcome, we fully recognise the combination of the threats and opportunities we face, both within a national and local context, which now make academy conversion the most appropriate course of action to advance and protect the interests of our school and to further improve the outcomes and support for those within our community.

"The size and membership of this Multi-Academy Trust will develop over time. We believe this move will create a unique family of schools that will be defined by shared values and that will maximise the outcomes, support and opportunities available for all those within our community, both now and in the future."

In the summer GCSE exams 81.7 per cent of Year 11 pupils at Fulford got A*-C passes in English and maths and 35.3 of all GCSE entries were at A*/A, 18.8 per cent of our Year 11 students gaining nine or more A*/A grades.

The city already has four established academy trusts - Ebor which runs Robert Wilkinson Primary in Strensall, and Haxby Road Primary and the Hope Learning Trust which includes Manor CE and Poppleton Ousebank Academies, the Pathfinder Multi Academy Trust which includes Archbishop Holgate’s CE, Hempland, Badger Hill and Heworth CE and the Southbank MAT is comprised of Scarcroft, Knavesmire and Millthorpe schools.

Mrs Savage said: "More than 65 per cent of secondary schools nationally now have academy status. 

"Although York has been unrepresentative of this national picture of a move to academy status, this situation is rapidly changing with a growing number of academy conversions and MATs being planned.

"This change in school status, nationally and locally, is combined with Local Authorities losing their role in school improvement and with a sharp decline in the support available for schools through the local authority.

"This context, in addition to the rapid pace of educational reform and pressures on school funding, creates both a need and an opportunity for schools to work together to provide school to school support and to facilitate school improvement."

The consultation meeting for parents will be held on Wednesday, November 2 at 6pm at Fulford School. 

Feedback from the consultation will be reviewed by the school's governing body in December when they will decide on whether to proceed with the application for academy status.

If this proposal is agreed, all schools seeking to apply to convert to academy status and to join the MAT will then work together to shape and agree the MAT structure and its operational arrangements.