A new sponsor has been lined up for a school that asked to leave the Bright Tribe Academy Trust.

Staff at Whitehaven Academy in Cumbria asked for the school to be removed from the trust last year, complaining of poor exam results and “dilapidated” buildings.

Now Cumbria Education Trust (CET), which operates six academies in Cumbria, has been named as the Department for Education’s preferred sponsor of the academy.

“We are excited to have been selected by the DfE as preferred sponsor of the Whitehaven Academy, but it is early days and there are many issues to review before the CET board of trustees can reach any firm decision about taking up this opportunity,” Lorrayne Hughes, CEO of Cumbria Education Trust, said in a statement published on the trust’s website.

She added that the trust planned to draw on the expertise of teacher school alliances in the area and the local authority in “turning around the fortunes of the academy”.

Academy visits

Last week, Sir David Carter, national schools commissioner, responded to concerns that Janet Renou, the regional schools commissioner for the North of England, had not visited Whitehaven Academy in two years.

Sir David wrote to the Commons Education Committee saying that Janet Renou had visited the school in November 2015, met the headteacher in January 2016 and met Bright Tribe Trust representatives in January 2017.

There were also eight visits from the RSC’s team between November 2015 and December 2017.

Bright Tribe controversy

Bright Tribe announced it was giving up Whitehaven Academy in November 2017, saying its plans to develop a hub of schools in Cumbria had not worked out as it was unable to grow beyond a single school in the area. 

It added that it had carried out “numerous works” to improve the school buildings and had lobbied for additional funding for the school’s buildings and grounds without success.

The statement came two days after the then chief operating officer of the Bright Tribe Trust, Mary McKeeman, left her post.

In January 2018, it emerged that controversial multi-academy trust had paid more than £680,000 to firms owned or controlled by board member, Michael Dwan, who runs its sponsor company.

The accounts said that the costs were attributed to staff transfers under TUPE regulations and were not discretionary with other charges relating to elements such as utilities.

It said that no change had been made for any additional services provided by any party connected to Mr Dwan and that relationships with the companies concerned will not continue.

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