A PLANNED merger between a top York schools group and a larger North Yorkshire academy chain has been given the go ahead.
The merger of The Sherburn, Tadcaster and Rural Multi Academy Trust (STAR) and South York Multi Academy Trust (SYMAT) will create a single multi-academy trust of 17 schools spanning York and North Yorkshire called Yorkshire Learning Trust.
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The move follows a consultation and has been approved by the Department for Education. It will affect the 17 schools who combined have about 7,000 pupils and 1,000 staff.
SYMAT has five schools in addition to Fulford secondaries, all primaries: Dunnington CE; Archbishop of York CE Juniors; Wheldrake and Thorganby CE; Escrick and Bishopthorpe Infants.
STAR is made up of eleven schools in Sherburn, Tadcaster and Selby including Tadcaster Grammar and Sherburn High School.
Together they say that the plan is for the new merged trust to be in place for the beginning of next academic year.
Ian Dolben, the chairman of SYMAT, Ian Yapp, CEO of STAR, Nick Sheppard the chairman of trustees at STAR and Steve Lewis, CEO of SYMAT said: "As ever, our most important focus through the transition to Yorkshire Learning Trust will be our continued focus on the education and wellbeing of all of our young people, though we will of course take opportunities to enhance this further through the new collaborations and partnerships our new trust family brings even before the formal merger date."
They say that they are now working together toward the next steps.
“Now that we have a decision from the DfE we can progress our detailed planning, looking at how YLT will work on a day-to-day basis and ensuring that every decision is shaped to support our people – whether our students or our staff," they say.
"Staff teams will of course have regular briefings and updates and in due course (probably around June), we will work alongside our union colleagues on transfer of staff and consideration of policies etc.
"For all of our stakeholders, we will continue to provide regular, timely updates on progress towards the formation of Yorkshire Learning Trust.
"This is an exciting time for our Trusts and schools and a fantastic opportunity for us to further strengthen our partnerships as a group of like-minded education providers by formalising the relationships between us."
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