Academy trusts merge to create new alliance of nine schools
Some of the county's biggest schools are now under the control of one organisation after the merger of two academy trusts.
This week the Central Shropshire Academies Trust (CSAT) and TrustEd Schools’ Partnership have combined to form the TrustEd CSAT Alliance
The alliance takes in the current schools under the umbrella of the trusts – all of which are in the central or south area of Shropshire.
In total the new group of schools is made up of four primary schools and five secondary schools, and includes both church schools and non-church schools.
The schools from the CSAT group are Meole Brace School, Belvidere School, and Mary Webb School.
The schools from the TrustEd group are Alveley Primary, Castlefields Primary, Church Stretton School, Oldbury Wells School, St Leonards CE Primary and Stokesay Primary.
The two trusts joined together officially on May 1.
Sarah Godden, who was chief executive of the TrustEd group will take on the position as chief executive of the new alliance.
The role of deputy chief executive will be taken on by Pete Johnstone, who was chief executive of CSAT.
Both Mrs Godden and Mr Johnstone visited Castlefields School where they shared their new logo and talked to pupils about the new merged trust.
Mrs Godden said all the schools and pupils involved in the alliance would benefit from the merger of the trusts.
She said: "It was great to talk to pupils about our new family of schools. We are thrilled to be working within a larger group of local schools and look forward to the many benefits that this will bring to our pupils, staff and communities.”
Mr Johnstone added: “We have decided to join into one family of schools because we are like-minded about education and have a strong shared ethos.
"Sarah Godden and I will work together in partnership as CEO / Deputy CEO, with Sarah holding the post of CEO.”
Parents and pupils will know Mr Johnstone and Mrs Godden because they both served as local headteachers before taking up their current roles – Sarah Godden, from Oldbury wells School and Pete Johnstone from Belvidere School.
“We are both looking forward to working together in the TrustEd CSAT Alliance and serving tour school communities,” said Mrs Godden. She added: “We will continue to cherish our schools’ individuality, but we also appreciate how much we can achieve as a team working together."
