A LOCAL education trust is performing so well, according to the Department for Education, it can now take over and improve other struggling primary schools.
Oaks Academy Trust, currently a partnership between Banstead Infant School and Warren Mead Junior School, has just been awarded sponsorship status by the DfE after successfully coming through a vetting process.
Once paired with a school, sponsors are responsible for its performance and finances, selecting the governing body and recruiting the head teacher.
Gill Harradine, executive head teacher for the trust, said: "Education professionals from the department probed over a number of weeks to check that we have the capacity to take on more schools without undermining the progress being made at our existing two.
"We were able to demonstrate that each has its own top-class leadership, and that our small central team will be able to devote the necessary time and expertise to helping others."
Until recently, Banstead Infant School in The Horseshoe and Warren Mead Junior School in Roundwood Way, Banstead, operated as separate schools. This changed in September last year, with a partnership between the two subsequently developing into Oaks Academy Trust.
Banstead Infant School first started supporting other primary schools in 2012, including turning around Warlingham Village Primary from requiring special measures to receiving a "good" Ofsted rating.
Following this, governors decided that working as a family of schools would be beneficial and so applied for academy status, a necessary requirement to partner with other educational institutions.
In April 2013, after the Warren Mead head teacher departed, the school's governors proposed working with Banstead Infant School.
In April this year, Oaks Academy Trust was formed and both schools now share leadership, experiences and opportunities for staff.
Mrs Harradine, who has been a head teacher for eight years, said: "Now, instead of working with a school for a year or so and moving on, we will bring it into our group and offer long-term career opportunities to teachers and school leaders as well as providing much better foundations for children in their secondary schools and indeed throughout their lives."
