Updated: New sponsor for Bradford school which had been in academy limbo for four years

Hanson School, in Bradford, was made subject of an academy order in 2011 after going into special measures but contractual issues halted the process.

The school had been attempting to join the School Partnership Trust Academies (SPTA) chain and has been calling itself Hanson Academy. However an agreement was not reached over what the sponsor would take on as a result of the conversion. There is a fitness centre in partnership with the school which is understood to be part of the unresolved issue.

Bradford Council has now said that Wakefield City Academies Trust is to take over the school as a new sponsor.

Coun Susan Hinchcliffe, executive member for education, skills and culture: “The council would have preferred for the conversion to academy status to have happened sooner, but the proposed sponsor at the time failed to reach an agreement with the Department for Education relating to buildings liabilities on the site which is why that conversion fell through.

“However we now look forward to working with Wakefield City Academies Trust, who will be the new sponsor of Hanson School. In common with other parts of the country we now have a mix of schools in Bradford, but Ofsted has recognised it is a particular strength of ours that we are focused on ensuring young people get a high quality education regardless of the type of school they attend.”

The school was placed in special measures again earlier this year after Ofsted ruled it was providing an inadequate standard of education. An Ofsted monitoring inspection report, which says progress is now being made at the school revealed that talks were ongoing between Bradford Council and the Government’s regional school commissioner on resolving legal issues about the site and finding a new sponsor for the school.

The report says: “The proposed sponsor (SPTA) did not ultimately take over the school and has withdrawn. An interim executive board replaced the governing body in June 2015. The local authority and interim executive board are in the process of discussion with the regional schools commissioner to resolve financial and legal issues and to identify and appoint a new academy sponsor.”

Since March the school has been supported by an executive head teacher from Guiseley School and a consultant head from Oakbank School, Keighley. Ofsted’s monitoring visit report says new the leaders are “having a positive impact”.

The report adds: “The executive head teacher, well supported by the consultant headteacher, has quickly identified weaknesses in the leadership structure.”

The report says that Bradford Council did not monitor the school while it was subject to an academy order and informally under the auspices of the SPTA academy trust but adds that the authority had acted quickly to install an executive head teacher after the Ofsted report this year.

Coun Hinchcliffe added: “I‘m pleased Ofsted has confirmed that the prompt action taken by the council to put an executive head teacher into Hanson and our other substantial support has had a positive effect on the school. There is still a lot of work to do but this is a major step forward in making sure the children at Hanson receive the good standard of education they need and deserve.”