New Sponsor for Wath Comprehensive School

Latest news in Yorkshire: July 31, 2017 12:27:03 PM

A new sponsor has been chosen for Wath Comprehensive School following it being put into special measures earlier this year.

The Regional Schools’ Commissioner has selected Maltby Learning Trust to sponsor the school as it goes through the process of becoming an academy in the next academic year.

The school went into special measures following an Inadequate Ofsted rating In June.

Under statutory rules from the Department for Education (DfE), any local authority maintained school automatically has to become an academy following an Inadequate Ofsted rating.

Maltby Learning Trust will be the proposed sponsor of the school from September. The RSC is in the process of formally consulting with The Wath Learning Community Co-operative Trust on this matter.

Head teacher Jon Taylor said: “The school has made progress this term following on from the report. We are now looking forward to working with Maltby Learning Trust to implement further changes in the next academic year to continue the improvement journey we are on.”

Maltby Learning Trust Chief Executive Officer David Sutton added the Trust is built on the success of Maltby Academy, which has a track record of rapid school improvement and securing strong outcomes for all learners. He said: “The Trust is committed to lifelong learning and seeks to provide excellence in teaching through high expectations and a return to traditional values and standards.

“We are committed to providing outstanding provision for families, firmly rooted in the context of the local community. Leaders and Trustees from Maltby are looking forward to working with colleagues in the Wath learning community to bring about the necessary improvements and we are excited by the opportunities presented with this new collaborative arrangement.”

He added the Trust also has an excellent working relationship with Rotherham Council, which has been working with the school to ensure a statement of action was put in place following the Ofsted report. It is a statutory obligation that this is done within 10 days of the report being published.

Over the last few weeks, as a result of this statement of action, leaders and Governors in the school have been working closely with a number of nationally recognised Leaders of Education and Governance and officers from the Council to shape a robust action plan for improvement.

Ian Thomas, Rotherham Council’s Strategic Director for Children and Young People’s Services said: “A lot of improvements have been put in place at Wath Comprehensive School since the Ofsted rating was announced and we look forward to building on our relationship with the new sponsor, Maltby Learning Trust, in their future work to improve the school.”

This sponsorship arrangement may take a number of months to complete but in the meantime Mr Sutton and other Executive Leaders from the Trust will be working in the school from September.

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