A federation which dragged a primary school up from the doldrums to become “outstanding” could be chosen to run a new academy planned for Spalding.
The Boston Witham Academies Federation (BWAF) is likely to be put forward to the Secretary of State as Lincolnshire County Council’s preferred operator for the new school– which could open on Spalding’s Wygate Park development in September 2014.
The school would eventually offer places to 210 children, helping to alleviate existing pressure on primary school places in South Holland.
The county council’s Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Committee will be asked to approve BWAF and make any comments at a meeting on Friday, before the final decision to propose it as the preferred operator is made.
BWAF is a multi-Academy trust currently incorporating one secondary and two primary schools. Ofsted has rated the secondary and one of the primaries as “good” while the other was in special measures when it joined the trust in 2009, but has now been graded as “oustanding”.
A report to the scrutiny committee says: “This has clearly demonstrated the educational experience available to be drawn on from within the trust.
“In sponsoring the new Wygate Park Academy, BWAF set out how they would be building on their successful ethos of local people working in partnership together for the benefit of all local children and families.
“BWAF also demonstrated how they would be building on already outstanding standards and practices by applying the same to the new academy.”
The scrutiny committee on Friday will also be asked to consider plans to revoke a decision made in May 2012 to extend Spalding Primary School, which has been superseded by the decision to build a new school.