South-west New Forest multi-academy school trust forms

Leaders at The Arnewood and Eaglewood schools in New Milton, Priestlands School in Lymington, The Burgate School in Fordingbridge and Ringwood School have been exploring options for some months.

The schools have a history of working together and its leaders say that pooling their expertise and experience more formally is a natural progression.

This comes after the Department for Education announced earlier this year that it wanted academies to work in groups of at least 10 schools by 2030. Ultimately, the government body wants every UK school to be in, or in the process of joining, a trust by 2030.

A spokesperson for the newly formed New Forest group said: “The creation of a new trust is something that has been under discussion for a while.

“All the schools agree it is a natural development and will formalise our already close working relationships.

Burgate School and Sixth Form in Fordingbridge (Image: Newsquest)

“Larger trusts allow the sharing of good practice, expertise, experience and other assets in a closer and more cost-effective way.

“Being close geographically the schools enjoy similar benefits but also share similar challenges. Plans are at an early stage, but already there is a shared vision that puts the education of students within their communities at the heart of the proposal.

“We will continue to communicate with parents and other stakeholders as the plans progress and a timetable is created.”

Schools Minister Baroness Barran previously said: “There has been a real energy and interest from across the school sector in our plans to transition all schools into strong academy trusts.

“Asking all schools to join strong trusts is not only borne out of our ambition for young people – but also because strong trusts provide wider opportunities for teachers and support for schools, helping deliver on our White Paper missions to drive up outcomes in maths and English for children leaving primary school and completing their GCSEs.”

The Arnewood School is a mixed secondary school and sixth form with over 1,000 pupils, and neighbouring Eaglewood School is an alternative provision school for children who find it difficult to cope in mainstream education.

Ringwood School is a co-educational secondary school and sixth form with around 1,550 pupils.

The Burgate School and Sixth Form educates those aged between 11 and 18 and has around 1,100 pupils and students.

Priestlands School is a co-educational secondary school and has around 1,250 pupils.