A NEW multi-academy trust has taken over running the schools in the Okehampton area.

Daryll Chapman, the new CEO of the Dartmoor Multi-Academy Trust (MAT), said the new alliance of 15 schools was ‘all about school improvement’.

The trust bands together three secondary schools — Okehampton College, Holsworthy College and Tavistock College — and 12 primary schools to share resources and support independent of local authority control.

It came into being on January 1 after the plans were approved by the Department for Education.

Mr Chapman said that while ‘opportunities for economies of scale’ would hopefully come through the freedom to run services for schools together, it was not being done purely for financial reasons.

‘The multi-academy trust is all about us maximising opportunities for school improvement,’ he said. ‘It is not a panacea for the school funding problems we have in Devon but we hope that by bringing schools together we will be able to work together to provide whatever is required for the needs of our youngsters. We are in a much stronger position doing that together rather than separately.’

The trust has been two years in the planning and will be one of the largest multi-academy trusts ever formed in the South West. The trust will be responsible for more than 5,000 pupils and students and 750 staff across 15 school sites.

The primary schools involved are Okehampton Primary School and Foundation Unit, Boasley Cross Community Primary School, Black Torrington Church of England Primary School, Bradford Primary School, Bridestowe Primary School, Bridgerule Church of England Primary School, Chagford Church of England Primary School and Pre-school, Exbourne Church of England Primary School, Lydford Primary School, Northlew and Ashbury Parochial Church of England Primary School, North Tawton Community Primary School and Nursery and South Tawton Primary School and Preschool. Highampton Primary School will join the trust later this year.

With the schools organised in clusters, there will be potential for others to join at a later date. The trust hopes this will include the new St James’s Church of England Primary School, a second primary school for Okehampton, which is being built this year. The feeder primary schools for the Tavistock area have currently opted not to be part of the trust.

The trust will have a strong Okehampton focus, with its CEO, Mr Chapman being the former principal of Okehampton College and Hazel Fox, headteacher of Okehampton Primary School, being appointed as deputy.

Ian Courtney, the chair of the board of governors, said: ‘We are absolutely delighted to have been able to appoint such an outstanding leadership team from the outset of the new MAT.

‘A huge amount of thought and care has gone into our plans which have now been approved by the Department for Education.

‘It is clear that this family of schools shares a common ethos and principles and we all believe that by working closely together in partnership we can provide our young people with a superb education and help them develop into confident, engaging and outgoing members of our society.

‘I want to encourage as many people as possible to engage with us to help make our plans a reality.’