A GOVERNMENT minister dropped in at a York school as part of a national tour of academy trusts.

The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the School System, Lord Nash, visited Millthorpe secondary, part of the South Bank Multi Academy Trust.

He was treated to a tour of the school by students and met with representatives from the school, the Trust and the Local Authority.

Lord Nash is currently visiting schools across the country as part of his desire to meet face-to-face with School Leaders. In particular, he is keen to meet with Heads of Academies and Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs).

Millthorpe head, Trevor Burton discussed the challenges facing secondary academies. He described the recent improvements that have made Millthorpe one of the best performing secondary schools in York. Lord Nash was particularly interested to hear about Millthorpe’s strong system of pastoral support for students.

Mr Burton said: “It was good to share with Lord Nash the ambitions we have and the challenges that secondary schools are facing. Fair funding is a key concern for York schools and the Minister listened carefully to what we had to say.”

Edwin Thomas, chairman of trustees at the South Bank MAT, told the Minister about the Trust’s growth since its founding in April last year, and its plans for the future. Trust principal Anna Cornhill outlined the Trust’s recent successes, including record numbers of pupils and strong results across all the Trust’s schools.

He spoke with Cllr Stuart Rawlings, executive Member for Education and Jon Stonehouse from City of York Council to discuss the close working relationship between the Trust and Local Authority. They explained their plans to collaborate on school improvement at York High, which is due to join the South Bank MAT as a sponsored academy early next year. York High was placed in Special Measures following an Ofsted inspection in January.

Mr Thomas said: "Our Trust demonstrates how collaboration between schools can improve education for all students. We were delighted to have the opportunity to meet with Lord Nash and were keen to share with him our experiences of setting up a new MAT, our strengths and successes and our plans for the immediate future."

Mr Stonehouse said: “We talked to Lord Nash about the strength of our local education partnership arrangements and in particular how the local authority and the South Bank MAT are working together to support school improvement.”