Cambridgeshire school to move trusts after Government warning

The school was told by Ofsted it needed to make ‘urgent improvements’ in its last inspection

A Cambridgeshire school will move to a new education trust – months after it was warned to make ‘significant improvements’. In May, the Department of Education issued a Termination Warning Notice to the members and trustees of the Active Learning Trust, which oversees Neale Wade Academy in March.

This followed an Ofsted report that said the school needed to “urgently improve”. The DfE has since told the education trust that the school will be moving to a new academy trust.

A spokesperson for the Active Learning Trust said: “We have made our staff and families aware that the Department for Education has decided that Neale-Wade will be moving to a new academy trust for the next phase of its improvement.

“Neale-Wade has made significant progress over the past few years – which has been recognised by Ofsted. In their most recent report from January, Ofsted concluded that attendance and behaviour, personal development and wellbeing and post-16 provision were all achieving the ‘expected standard’ grade.”

The spokesperson added that the trust finds it “deeply disappointing” that the school will be moving trusts, “despite this progress” the school has made. The spokesperson said: “And despite Ofsted recognising the improvements that have been made, that the DfE has taken this decision.

“We do not believe the decision is in the best interests of the school or students. Our focus now is on supporting students and staff through every stage of this transition so that the school can continue its improvement journey.”