Schools join new trust for funding boost
Four schools serving around 3,000 pupils across the Black Country and Staffordshire plan to form a new education trust to boost opportunities for young people.
Ellowes Hall Sports College, in Lower Gornal, Dudley, The Crestwood School, in Kingswinford, Edgecliff High School, in Kinver, and Ounsdale High School, in Wombourne, will form the new academy trust.
School leaders today said they hoped the move would allow them to access a 'much needed' funding to help drive through improvements.
The multi-academy trust will come under the name Invictus, inspired by the poem by William Ernest Henley, and will be led by Ellowes Hall principal Andrew Griffiths.
Parents have been notified through letters this week about the new trust forming although full details will be finalised in the coming months.
The trust is expected to be ratified and established by November, if the scheme is agreed by the Department for Education.
Similar trusts have been set up across the country allowing schools and academies to work more closely together and pool resources.
Management teams will work with each other on a range of projects including the curriculum while highlighting best practice while keeping their own identities.
Mr Griffiths today said: "We have come to believe that such a trust is absolutely the best way forward for our communities and especially for those most intimately involved, i.e. students, parents and staff.
"There will be a strong emphasis on achievement and excellence. We will make every effort to maximise the potential of all our students.
"By becoming an Academy Trust we are very optimistic about our ability to access much needed capital funding.
"The four schools firmly believe that, by working together, they will be highly achieving and able to provide elite educational experiences for their students.
"In simple terms, we want to be able to give any school in the country – be it state or independent – a 'run for its money'. We believe that whilst we are locally based we could become nationally important."
Other similar trusts have already been set up in other parts of the Black Country.
The Earls High School, Windsor High School and Leasowes Community College have formed a trust federation with Halesowen College. Thorns Community College, Redhill School, Pedmore Technology College, and Ridgewood High School have already formed the Stourbridge Educational Trust.
