St John Fisher Catholic High School in Harrogate has today become an academy.
The school, which has about 1,420 pupils aged 11 to 18, has joined the Bishop Wheeler Catholic Academy Trust, which is based in Menston, West Yorkshire.
The trust has 11 other schools, including St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School and St Robert’s Catholic Primary School in Harrogate and St Mary’s Catholic Primary School in Knaresborough
Academy schools are directly funded by government and have more control than other state schools. They do not have to follow the national curriculum.
The trust issued a statement announcing the news.
Headteacher Steve Mort said in the statement:
“The support we have enjoyed over the last year shows how the trust will enable St John Fisher to continue providing an outstanding Catholic education to our children, and I am very pleased that we have already been able to begin reciprocating through our growing partnerships with the trust’s other schools.”
Jane O’Gara, chair of the governing body at St John Fisher, said in the statement:
“We are delighted to be joining our fellow Catholic schools in the Bishop Wheeler Trust and we are looking forward to working closely together with them to continue providing the education our young people deserve”.
The Stray Ferret contacted the school to ask why it had pursued academy status and what it would mean to pupils but nobody at the school was available to respond.
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St John Fisher was graded ‘outstanding’ at its last Ofsted inspection. Many pupils are Catholics but the school educates children of all faiths and none.
It shares an associated sixth form with St Aidan’s Church of England High School, which is itself an academy within the Yorkshire Causeway Schools Trust.
The trust, which is named after Bishop William Gordon Wheeler, Bishop of Leeds from 1966 to 1985, has 10 primary schools and two secondary schools serving 4,800 pupils in North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire. It hopes to increase this number to 18 over the next few years.
Diane Gaskin, chair of the trust board, said in the statement:
“The outstanding education that the school provides makes it a great addition to our trust family.”
