[holding answer 16 December 2009]: Schools are required to notify the Department’s School Organisation Unit if they have changed their status and/or acquired a Trust, but the Department plays no role in decisions on individual cases. According to our records the following schools in the listed local authorities have become co-operative Trust schools.
Local authority School Central Bedfordshire Samuel Whitbread Community College Derwent Lower School Etonbury Middle School Gothic Mede Lower School Hitchmead Special School Langford Lower School Robert Bloomfield Middle School Thurrock St. Clere’s School Suffolk Orwell High School Deben High School Southampton Upper Shirley High School Plymouth Lipson Community College Dorset Wey Valley School, The Wyvern Special School Telford and Wrekin The Sutherland School Kingston Upon Hull Andrew Marvell Business and Enterprise College Doncaster Campsmount Technology College Bradford Nab Wood School Stockport Reddish Vale Technology College Wirral Bebington High Sports College Blackburn with Darwen Blakewater College Bolton Lever Park School Cheshire East Alsager School Alsager Highfields Primary School Excalibur Primary School Pikemere Primary School Oldham Hathershaw College of Technology and Sport, The Broadfield Primary School
It is for the Governing Body of a school—not the local authority—to determine whether or not to acquire a Trust, and to decide which partners it wishes to work with.
However, to access the support funding and advice and guidance on the technical processes around acquiring a trust, schools can submit an Expression of Interest to the Trust Schools Programme.
The Co-operative is also sponsoring academies in Manchester and Stoke-on-Trent that are due to open in September 2010.