ROBERT BURNMILL ROAD, MARKET HARBOROUGH, LEICS LE16 7JG SMYTH T 01858 440770 F 01858 440771 E
[email protected] W www.rsacademy.co.uk ACADEMY Market Harborough Academies Partnership (MHAP) (11-19) innovation excellence CD/JM/SB 14th February 2014 Dear Parent/Carer Re: The Market Harborough Academies Partnership Update As detailed in our previous letter of November 2012, governors of the Welland Park and Robert Smyth Academies agreed to investigate the possibility of a merger of the two schools to form one 11 – 19 school on a split site. During our investigations we discovered that this proposal would be financially disadvantageous for both academies to the effect of £150k, given current funding arrangements with the Education Funding Agency. After an extensive consultation process, a Multi–Academy Trust (MAT) to unite the two academies was proposed by governors in May 2013. Despite this being a slightly different structure, it would still involve the two academies working under the control of a single academy trust with combined governance, but without any financial penalty. However, since that decision was made, there have been a number of significant developments for secondary education in the Harborough area and throughout the county. We have worked together to consider the impact of alterations to catchment areas as a consequence of proposed new admissions policies within other local schools and projected housing growth in Harborough. Governors of both academies feel the time is right to consider a significant reorganisation of secondary education in Market Harborough with an eye to the future. Building upon our successful history of collaborative working we are both now considering the following model to commence in September 2016: Changing age ranges of both academies simultaneously so that Welland Park Academy would change from 11–14 to 11–16, and Robert Smyth Academy would change from 14–19 to 11–19, both for Admissions 2016.