Peterborough secondary school completes process to become academy

The school’s academy conversion letter has officially been accepted on the Ofsted website.

The school, located on Park Lane, has now completed its move from a voluntary aided school to an academy now under the control of the St John the Baptist Catholic Multi-Academy Trust.

The trust is a network of schools in the Roman Catholic Diocese of East Anglia, which states that it “works together and across the educational landscape to provide an outstanding education for our pupils, while also nurturing a supportive development of ethos and pastoral care within our Catholic mission.”

Both St Thomas More Catholic Primary School and Sacred Heart Primary School in the city are also part of the trust.

Under the Academies Act 2010, schools may apply to the Secretary of State to convert to academy status. These schools are known as academy converters.

On conversion to academy status, the existing school closes and a new school opens in its place. Although little may have changed, the academy converter is a new legal entity.

In its most recent newsletter, published last week, Headteacher Natasha Wilmore said: “We are now part of the St John the Baptist Multi-Academy Trust. We look forward to building strong relationships with all within this trust so that we are able to live out the mission of ‘Preparing the Way’ for all our young people.

"As a learning community, striving to live the gift of life that God has given us we will do our best to reach our aspirations and celebrate our successes. We are a community whose core value is to be people of hope and aspiration.

"Recently, it was the festival of Candlemas or the Feast of the Light. We remembered the purification of Mary and the presentation of Jesus to the Temple by considering how we each have our own light, however this light can be shared with others especially those who are suffering in the dark. It is just another example of how we can lift each other up.”