THE man at the top of one of York's first school academy trusts has announced he is going to retire.

Richard Ludlow has been the chief executive of Ebor Academy Trust since its inception in 2013 and before that was the head teacher at Robert Wilkinson primary school in Strensall.

This morning he has announced on social media that he will retire before his 60th birthday in November 2020.

The York-based academy chain has 22 schools including Robert Wilkinson and Haxby Road in York with the prospect of two more Hull schools joining their ranks in July and Mr Ludlow said that it is very much business as usual until his successor has been found.

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The trust's head teachers were told of his decision at 7am today and he posted a video on Twitter saying the process to appoint a new chief executive could take months or it may take up to a year.

He said: “It’s been an amazing journey. I have loved working with so many talented, inspiring professionals within the Ebor family and will continue to do so in this transition period."

Ebor was set up in December 2013 and Mr Ludlow has always been the Trust's CEO but initially he combined it with being head teacher of Robert Wilkinson Primary Academy.


He had been head at the Strensall primary since 2004 and the new head, Sarah Wright, took over in 2016, when Mr Ludlow became CEO full time.


The initial decision to form an academy trust was to formalise the relationship between Robert Wilkinson Primary Academy and Haxby Road School, which had been in a challenging position for many years.


Today Ebor's 22 schools are in York, Selby, on the Yorkshire Coast and in the East Riding and the Humber. Two more schools in Hessle are set to join Ebor in July.
The trust board has set up a steering group to start the process of looking for a new CEO and Mr Ludlow has said he will retire at some point during academic year 2019-20.