Housing association sees third academy join its education trust

Published by Max Salsbury for 24dash.com in Housing and also in Communities, Education

A Tameside high school has become an academy under an education trust set up by New Charter Group.

The newly-named Copley Academy (formerly Copley High School) is the third school in the borough to join the housing association's Great Academies Education Trust (GAET).

It means the education facility is no longer under council control  and has greater freedom to manage itself, though it is still publicly funded and accountable to the Government.

New Charter has invested £3.5m into education in Tameside and financially supports schools’ extra-curricular activities in music, sport and culture through its academies trust.

Copley sits alongside two other Tameside schools which have already become academies under the trust.

The New Charter Academy in Ashton was created in 2008 with Silver Springs Academy signing up in April as the first primary school in the area to get academy status.

New Charter established GAET to help raise the standards of local schools and the aspirations of young people and families living in its communities.

As well as financial help, the trust will support academies with central functions such as finance, human resources, legal and IT services.

It will provide teachers and school staff with leadership training while allowing academies already in the trust to share knowledge and resources.

Ian Munro (pictured above with Copley pupils), New Charter Group’s chief executive, said: “We believe that young people in Tameside should have outstanding schools to help increase their opportunities and achievement and our investment in homes and the environment alone is not enough.

“This isn’t about us telling schools how to operate or teach but through other business support functions that we can help with, we are allowing the academies to focus on education.

“Investing in local schools will help us to reach children as well as their families many who live in our homes and neighbourhoods and by providing better places in which to learn, we want young people to achieve more than they thought possible.”

Matt Jennings, head of Copley Academy, added: “Last year we were identified as one of the fastest improving schools in the country and becoming an academy with this education trust allows us to build on the excellent progress we’re already making.

“Our latest Ofsted inspection results show just how much we’ve improved as a school and with the continued hard work of staff and pupils, I’m confident that we have a really promising future as an academy.”