‘Outstanding’ school to join Fylde alliance

Bosses at the Fylde Coast Academy Trust (FCAT), set up in 2012, have announced Hambleton Primary Academy is to join its ranks on November 1 following a public consultation.

The alliance – made up of Aspire Academy and Montgomery High School, both in Bispham, and the all-through school Unity Academy in North Shore – hopes to share teaching tips and classroom ideas with the school, which was rated ‘outstanding’ by education watchdog Ofsted in July 2013.

The link-up also means the Church Lane school will be able to share services such as HR with the trust, freeing up vital cash for schoolbooks and equipment.

Headteacher Pam Birch said: “This is all about staying strong for us, so from a Hambleton child’s point of view, hopefully nothing at all will change. It will mean our school continues to improve, having both security and challenge from our partners.

“It means staff will continue to be well-trained and up to date, new teachers will be just as brilliant as known ones, and that evolving school leadership continues to deliver the high quality and fun education that parents expect from us for years into the future.”

Aspire’s deputy head teacher and FCAT’s director of resources, John Topping, told The Gazette: “There have been discussions for quite a long time. It’s clearly very beneficial to have an outstanding primary school in the FCAT family.

“There are classroom practices there that are of great interest to the secondary schools. We can learn from each other.”

In its prospectus, FCAT said its aim is to transform the lives of youngsters by giving them a ‘consistent standard of learning across different schools’ in partnership with its sponsor Fylde Coast Teaching School.

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