ACADEMY CONVERSION / MULTI ACADEMY TRUST

Goldenhill Primary converted to Academy status on 1st June 2017.

As an Academy our funding has changed slightly as it now comes directly from the DfE rather than the Local Authority. We have joined over 5000 other schools that have successfully converted and be in a better position to manage the school in the way we want and the way we need to in order to continue providing a nurture based education with the absolute best value-added learning experiences possible. 

After a process supported by the Local Authority in which several existing Multi Academy Trusts were suggested by the LA and visited and interviewed by the Governing Body we decided that the best available MAT for Goldenhill Primary to join was the ‘Societas Trust’. Goldenhill Primary joined this MAT as an equal partner to:

• Ashgreen Primary School
• Alsagers Bank Primary School
• Camountside Primary Academy 
• Ellison Primary School
• Gladstone Primary School
• Summerbank Primary School
• Oaklands Nursery School (Associate member)

Goldenhill Primary is committed to this particular partnership because of the way the Societas Trust is structured. Leaders and Governors at Goldenhill Primary have always strongly held and share the view that our Academy must retain our own unique identity as Goldenhill Primary within any partnership we belong to. At the heart of the Societas Trust structure is the key driver that all schools are equal partners.

 Each school retains its own unique identity.

 Each school retains its own governing board

 Each school retains autonomy on how the individual school’s money is spent for its own children

 Each school retains autonomy over its curriculum

 Each school retains its own leadership ( no executive head/ lead school)

 All schools working collaboratively, not competitively.

The Heads at these schools have worked together over a number of years and therefore our collaborative activities to support Teaching and Learning have developed to the point where all schools wish to formalise our successful partnership. All six of the schools have appreciated the benefits of collaborative working over a number of years. We have also come to further appreciate the possibilities of formalising the partnership we currently have and of the potential future benefits that our partnership will bring. The benefits identified have already been well documented by our group and they include:

 Valuable opportunities to develop collaborative learning opportunities for the children in our schools

 Improved standards for children for all schools within the partnership;

 Operational efficiencies through economies of scale as a group of six schools

 Additional continuing professional development opportunities;

 Strengthened relationships between communities that cover a diverse geographical, socioeconomic, ethnic and cultural region; further embedding a celebration of diversity and mutual respect.

​Please access the Societas Trust website using the link below to find out more information about the trust, including the following information relating:

• To the structure and remit of the members, board of trustees, its committees and local governing bodies, and the full names of the chair of each (where applicable) including Scheme of delegation for the Trust and terms of reference detailing clear lines of accountability
• To each member who has served at any point over the past 12 months, their full names, date of appointment, date they stepped down (where applicable), and relevant business and pecuniary interests including governance roles in other educational institutions
• To each trustee and local governor who has served at any point over the past 12 months, their full names, date of appointment, term of office, date they stepped down (where applicable), who appointed them (in accordance with the trust’s articles), and relevant business and pecuniary interests including governance roles in other educational institutions
• To each trustee and their attendance records at board and committee meetings over the last academic year
• To each local governor and their attendance records at local governing body meetings over the last academic year
• To the academy memorandum and articles of association, annual accounts, annual report, and funding agreement.