University of Chester Academies Trust to wind up and re-broker all seven of its schools

Its announcement today (Thursday) comes after the Government resolved to remove the trust’s control of the failing University Church of England Academy (UCEA) in Ellesmere Port.

All seven schools will now be ‘re-brokered’, which means new more successful trusts will be sought to take the reins.

They are: University Academy Kidsgrove; University Academy Warrington; University Church Free School in Chester; University Church of England Academy in Ellesmere Port; University of Chester Academy Northwich; University Primary Academy Kidsgrove; and University Primary Academy Weaverham.

Two of them had previously been rated ‘Good’ by Ofsted but three ‘Require Improvement’ and two are in the ‘Inadequate’ category.

UCAT and the Department for Education (DfE) had already agreed earlier this year to re-broker four of its schools to other academy trusts.

The board of UCAT, working with the Department for Education (DfE) and the Regional Schools Commissioner, Christine Quinn, was reconfigured in early June, with the appointment of five new trustees from the worlds of education, finance and commerce, to help address the challenges faced by the Trust.

In a statement it said: “Following the more recent agreement with the DfE to re-broker the University Church of England Academy in Ellesmere Port, UCAT’s Board has taken the decision that the Trust cannot continue to operate financially and provide the education we would wish with only two schools and has therefore asked the DfE to re-broker all its schools, before the Trust formally winds up its activities.”

The newly-appointed Chair of the Trust, David Wootton, said: “The overriding focus for the Board is about doing what is best to improve the education and life chances of all children in all the schools and to support local communities and as such it needed to address where this fell short.

“Having established an overview, we needed to plan the best way forward for the future; given the situation, the Board has reached a view that the Trust cannot continue.”

UCAT is working closely with the DfE, to ensure that a new trust is found as quickly as possible for each of the seven schools.

Once this has been agreed, UCAT will work closely with the incoming Trusts, to make the transition as smooth as possible.

The re-brokering of UCEA in Ellesmere Port came after pressure from Ellesmere Port and Neston MP Justin Madders and Cheshire West and Chester Council.

Nicole Meardon, the council's cabinet member for children and families, said children had been "consistently let down" by UCAT.

Reacting to today's announcement from UCAT, Mr Madders said: “While I welcome this decision, I remain extremely disappointed that it has taken so long to reach this point. Parents and children in Ellesmere Port have not just been let down by a poorly-performing Academy chain, but also by a ridiculous system, which is not fit for purpose.

“In an ideal world, the school could now be handed back to the local Council, which has a very strong record with the schools over which it can exercise influence.  However, that isn’t possible under the current government, so instead another academy chain will be taking over.

“It must be stressed that these reports were nothing to do with the students at the school, or the hardworking and dedicated staff.

“This has to be seen as a fresh start for the school. I will work closely with the new academy chain to get the very best for our young people.”

Cllr Meardon added: “I am pleased that the Government has finally agreed to find new sponsors for UCEA and ensure that the children and young people in Ellesmere Port get the high quality education they deserve.

 “All other secondary schools in Cheshire West have been graded by Ofsted as good or outstanding our goal is for this to be true of all our school. As a Local Authority we look forward to working with the new sponsors of UCEA to make sure this goal becomes a reality.”