Friday, May 25, 2007
Release: Immediate
LOCAL EDUCATION CHARITY SEEKS TRUST STATUS FOR RYEISH GREEN
SCHOOL
Reading-based international education charity CfBT Education
Trust is working in partnership with governors and staff at Ryeish
Green School in an attempt to secure Trust status for the Spencers
Wood school.
As Wokingham Borough Council prepares to consider the final
results of a public consultation on the future of the school, CfBT
Education Trust announced that it has already carried out a
preliminary review of the school and is confident that it could
have a viable future.
The charity is now committed to working with the school to
produce, within the coming weeks, a full blueprint for its future
as a Trust school
Neil McIntosh, Chief Executive of CfBT Education Trust, said
that he hoped that Wokingham Borough Council would see CfBT’s
involvement as a positive contribution to the debate on the
school’s future.
“We understand Wokingham’s position,” said Mr McIntosh. “We
recognise that, if the school is to have a future we will need to
produce a plan which is both economically and educationally
attractive. But we are also committed to developing a proposition,
which provides a distinctive extra option for parents and one that
will bring credit to the district. We do believe that this is
possible.”
Mr McIntosh acknowledged that CfBT has been brought into the
process at a very late stage. “We cannot guarantee what the council
will eventually decide”, he said. “What we can guarantee is support
to Ryeish Green and its pupils in the coming years so that any
parent who chooses the school for their child this September can be
confident those pupils will be well looked after.”
A delegation from the school, including local MP Rob Wilson who
is supporting CfBT’s proposal, met with Secretary of State for
Education, Alan Johnson on Tuesday (May 22) to discuss the
possibility of securing Trust status for Ryeish Green.
Ends
Notes for editors
CfBT Education Trust is a leading education consultancy and
service organisation. Our object is to provide education for public
benefit both in the UK and internationally. Established 40 years
ago CfBT Education Trust now has an annual turnover exceeding £100
million and employs more than 2,000 staff worldwide who support
educational reform, teach, advise, research and train.
CfBT currently provides two highly successful county School
Improvement Services. It manages a range of national education
projects including the Government’s Gifted and Talented pupils
programme. CfBT manages schools and educational programmes in some
15 countries worldwide.
For more information contact:
Karen Borrer MCIPR
PR Manager, CfBT Education Trust
60 Queens Road
Reading
Berkshire
RG1 4BS
0118 902 1256
07920 476593
kborrer@cfbt.com