Ayresome Primary School of Middlesbrough is the latest school to join the Ad Astra Multi-Academy Trust with the assistance of Tilly Bailey & Irvine Law Firm.
The school starts 2019 with “academy” status and joins the five existing schools from Hartlepool and Stockton as members of the Trust. Ad Astra was created with the conversion of two Hartlepool-based primary schools, West Park and West View, in 2015 and has continued to grow ever since, in both number of schools and geographical reach.
On adding Ayresome Primary School to Ad Astra, Andy Brown OBE; CEO at Ad Astra Academy Trust, said: “We are excited that Ayresome Primary is the first school in Middlesbrough to join Ad Astra. It is a large, complex multi-cultural school with lots of challenges but also many strengths.”
Ayresome Primary School promotes a positive and inclusive ethos, the key components of which being:
- Respect for everyone and everything that you do.
- Trust in yourself, your abilities and those around you.
- Tolerance, humility and empathy for everyone.
- Ambition to be the best in all that you do.
- Determination to achieve, no matter how small or big the dream is.
- Excellence in all that you do.
Headteacher, Lisa Biggin, is looking to continue those values with the support of Ad Astra Academy Trust and commented that: “Joining Ad Astra has already shown me the wealth of support my staff and I can get. We have already been linked with experts from the south that will enrich our curriculum offer.”
The conversion process was handled by the Academy specialists at Tilly Bailey & Irvine Law Firm, which has guided Ad Astra Academy Trust through all of its conversions since its inception. After completion of its sixth conversion, Craig Malarkey, head of the Academies Team, said:
“It is great to see Ad Astra continuing to grow and expand its family of schools within the Trust. By working with additional schools in the Trust the team at Ad Astra can reach more and more children with its high standards of education, both at its roots in Hartlepool, but also now in the wider Teesside area”.
An Ofsted report of West View Primary School (member of Ad Astra) in October 2017 commented that “the Ad Astra Academy Trust has provided effective support to improve the quality of teaching and learning and leadership. Staff have benefited from a range of trust network hubs to develop their skills. The range of school support services, such as human resources and estate management, enables school leaders to focus on curriculum development and the quality of teaching and learning. Opportunities for peer review in the trust, support school improvement and working beyond your own school.”
The Trust continues with its ambition to bring such positive impacts.
To discuss corporate and commercial matters or academy conversions, please contact our legal specialists at Tilly Bailey & Irvine on 01740 646000 or visit its Wynyard office.