Trust transfer plan for Ormiston school torn up and replaced

Trust leaders have pulled the plug on proposals for an influential academy trust to hand a founding school over to another national chain.

Ormiston Academies Trust had applied to the Department for Education to transfer its only academy in Thurrock to the Unity Schools Partnership (USP).

It believed the move would allow Ormiston Park Academy, one of the first schools it took on, “to join a trust with strong local presence and capacity…creating opportunities for staff to collaborate, share ideas and best practice”.

But Ormiston is now consulting on proposals to transfer it to the Community Schools Trust (CST). CST doesn’t run any schools in Thurrock, with its six schools split between east London, Norfolk and Newham.

Plan ‘withdrawn’

Department for Education papers say plans for Ormiston Park to join USP were “withdrawn by Ormiston”.

Ormiston stressed “a mutual decision was made not to proceed with the proposed transfer”. It subsequently “took the administrative step of withdrawing the application”.

In documents shared with parents last year, it said the school started working with Unity in February 2024, shortly before it was downgraded to ‘requires improvement’ by Ofsted.

A USP spokesperson said this week: “Our values and visions are closely aligned and we look forward to supporting them further in the coming months ahead of their plans to transfer to another academy trust.”

Ormiston took on three schools when it launched in 2009, including Ormiston Park. It has remained the trust’s only Thurrock school.

Another move?

The announcement of the plans to join CST came as it was revealed another of the MAT’s schools, Ormiston Maritime Academy in Grimsby, could move to Delta Academies Trust.

Tom Rees, Ormiston’s chief executive, said: “Over time and as the trust system has matured, we can see more clearly the importance of local clustering and partnerships, which provide local capacity and opportunities for collaboration.

“These are context-specific proposals, developed collaboratively with Community Schools Trust and Delta Academies Trust, with a clear focus on what is right for each individual school and its community.”

Ormiston Maritime has had a “period of collaboration” with Delta, during which the school received “additional leadership capacity and support”.

‘Best fit’

Meanwhile, CST was seen as the “best fit” for the additional support and investment needed in Ormiston Park.

Simon Elliott, its chief executive, said: “Ormiston has undertaken important work to strengthen the school’s foundations and we look forward to building on that progress.

“We believe our local knowledge, expertise and capacity place us in a strong position to support the school, its staff and students over the long term.”

Ormiston argued clusters and partnerships “can take different forms depending on the needs of the school”.

There could be “particular value in a geographically close local partnership” in some cases. In others it might be “about ensuring the right expertise, leadership capacity, infrastructure and school improvement network”.

“In both CST and Delta, we are pleased to be working with trusts who have this capacity.”

Both proposals are expected to go before the DfE this month.