The founders of a free school in Sunderland seem to have done a U-turn and accepted proposals to have it sponsored by an academy chain based 140 miles away, it was reported in November.
In October, Grindon Hall Christian School was opposed to the Department for Education’s attempt to impose the Stockport-based Bright Tribe chain on them. The founders had put out a statement saying the sponsor ‘had no record of improving schools’. They wrote to Lord Nash, the academies minister, with a six-page letter of concerns. But in late November, the school’s trustees, governors and principal wrote to parents, saying: ‘We believe that Bright Tribe sponsorship is the best way forward.’
Parents have been told that no other suitable local academy sponsors are available and that the regional schools commissioner, Janet Renou, had outlined possible consequences if the school ‘went it alone’, without sponsorship. This included a warning that a poor future Ofsted report could leave the school, currently in special measures, with its funding agreement terminated.
