A FOURTH school is lined up to join a York academy trust and opt out of local authority control.

Woodthorpe primary has converted to academy status and joined the South Bank Multi Academy Trust which currently consists of Knavesmire Primary, Scarcroft Primary and Millthorpe School.

Woodthorpe head James McGann said the school has been on the road to improvement in the last two years and is keen to work alongside other schools that are committed to working together for the benefit of the pupils.

The school was graded as ‘good’ by Ofsted in December 2016 and has been working with South Bank Trust leaders since then, while it waited for City of York Council to finalise the conversion process.

Mr McGann said: “We are excited by the prospect of working within the South Bank MAT.

"The ethos of the MAT enables us to develop a school that is unique for our children while drawing on the experiences of key professionals across the MAT to ensure that every child is given the best possible education.”

Woodthorpe staff will be welcomed into the Trust with a celebratory event after school on October 17, where Trust Principal Anna Cornhill will officially greet the staff over tea and cake, and present them with a welcome pack.

The South Bank Multi Academy Trust is based in the South Bank area of York and already has three academies – Knavesmire Primary, Scarcroft Primary and Millthorpe School.

Pupils within the South Bank Trust have already benefited from cross-school partnership working: they have written pen-pal letters to one another, met up for picnics with their peers in other schools and taken part in a joint music concert.

Year 6 pupils have also performed their end-of-year plays to one another and even featured each other as characters in the cast.

Trust Chair Edwin Thomas said: “We are delighted that a successful school like Woodthorpe is keen to join us and work with our existing local schools to make a difference for our pupils.”

Meanwhile York High in Acomb is due to become an academy and join the trust by Spring 2018.

Until their academy conversion is complete, the South Bank MAT has taken on responsibility for the management of York High in partnership with school governors and the local authority.

From September former Millthorpe head Trevor Burton became executive head of both York High and Millthorpe with Rod Simms appointed as the new head at York High and Gemma Greenhalgh is the new head of school at Millthorpe.