Mildenhall primary school to become academy by September

A Mildenhall headteacher whose school is soon to become an academy has labelled the change as an ‘exciting opportunity’.

Great Heath Primary School, in Girton Close, is set to take on academy status from August 1 this year and will change its name to Great Heath Academy.

It will be sponsored by the Academy Transformation Trust, which also supports Mildenhall College Academy.

Steven Vincent, headteacher at Great Heath Primary, said he hoped the school’s conversion would help it ‘realise its ambition’ to become ‘outstanding’.

“We are very much looking forward to becoming part of Academy Transformation Trust’s family of academies,” he said.

“This is an exciting opportunity to provide an environment that inspires learning for all our children and helps realise our ambition of becoming outstanding.”

Consultations on the conversion plans have taken place at the school, currently rated ‘good’ by Ofsted.

Mr Vincent said: “We have had a very positive reaction from staff, pupils and parents.

“Our collective ambition is to be the very best school we can be for the benefit of everyone using our services and believe that with support from our new sponsor we will achieve this aim and become the outstanding school our pupils and families deserve.”

Ian Cleland, Academy Transformation Trust CEO, said the trust was ‘fully committed’ to helping its new academy become ‘outstanding’.

He said: “We are delighted that staff, governors and parents from Great Heath Primary School have chosen to join our family of academies.

“Great Heath is a ‘good’ school that has an excellent relationship with our Mildenhall College Academy (MCA), to which it sends most of its children.

“This partnership will be further strengthened with the launch of the new Great Heath Academy (GHA) this summer.

“GHA will play a key part in the exciting development proposed for the creation of a learning community in Mildenhall.

“More specifically, GHA will benefit from Academy Transformation Trust’s investment in improving the quality of its buildings and a bespoke improvement plan, supported by education experts and exemplary business and administrative assistance in key areas.

“We are fully committed to supporting Great Heath’s determination to becoming an outstanding academy.”

The new academy will take on a new logo and uniform, with the trust providing each pupil with a free jumper and tie.

Mr Cleland added that the plans for conversion would provide for combined health, leisure and civic services between Mildenhall College Academy and Great Heath Academy, and opportunities for access to further education.