Wednesday 30th January 2019
Following recent press coverage regarding academisation of The Barclay School, Stevenage, the Herts for Learning Multi Academy Trust has issued the following statement:
The Trust was set up as a cross phase MAT and the first school approved by the RSC and Headteacher Board in February 2017 was The Barclay School, a secondary school in Stevenage. Trustees of the HfL MAT were then invited by the Governing Body of the school to take part in the appointment of the current headteacher and started work with the school’s leaders on the school’s improvement journey in 2017. The HfL MAT was keen and had the capacity to sponsor and support Barclay in becoming a good school. We established relationships with the governors and the new leadership team; all were optimistic and focussed on working together to bring about rapid improvements. The results in summer 2017 were much improved.
During the summer of 2017 the process of finalising the Funding Agreement was unexpectedly halted and the Trust was informed another sponsor was being sought. The school was left without a sponsor until recently when the Headteacher Board approved another trust as the sponsor. The HfL MAT has continued to be willing and able to sponsor the Barclay School throughout this period.
Alex Thomas
Chief Executive Officer