Two new schools join Wearside trust WISE Academies

Two schools have this week joined a high performing North East multi-academy trust.

Bothal Primary School and Central Primary School in Ashington, Northumberland, are now part of WISE Academies, which has 18 primary schools in Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and County Durham.

The two schools, which each operate on split sites and together have around 1,500 pupils, had formed the Ashington Learning Partnership foundation trust in 2007.

In December 2023, Ofsted published two reports following inspections, rating Bothal as ‘outstanding’ across the board and Central as ‘good’ overall with outstanding leadership and management, early years provision and behaviour.

The schools will now be known as Bothal Academy and Central Academy. The transfer to Sunderland-headquartered WISE Academies on March 1 follows a successful consultation process last year involving teaching and support staff, unions, parents, local politicians and other key stakeholders.

It coincides with the launch of the schools white paper 'Every child achieving and thriving' last week, which sets out mandatory plans for all remaining schools to join a trust – putting collaboration at the heart of education.

Zoe Carr OBE, CEO of WISE Academies, welcomed the latest additions to the trust. She said: “As the white paper states, schools joining high-quality trusts benefit from opportunities to share best practice, bringing further innovation to the education system.”

The trust is currently recruiting a new headteacher for each school, to join in September. Executive Headteacher Louise Hall will continue to oversee both Bothal and Central going forward in her new role as Regional Director for WISE Academies.

On Monday, Zoe Carr and other senior leaders from the trust visited all four Ashington school sites to meet staff and pupils on a special welcome day.

Gemma Craik, former Chair of Governors at Bothal and Central, added: “I am confident that as part of the WISE family, both schools will continue to thrive and improve at an even faster pace in a supportive environment of excellence among other talented school leaders.”