WINSFORD Academy’s sixth form provisions will be re-established at the ‘earliest opportunity, according to the school’s sponsor.

Fallibroome Multi-Academy Trust took over sponsorship of Winsford Academy in September 2014, after the Department for Education withdrew academy chain E-ACT’s right to sponsor the school.

Fallibroome Academy is a state comprehensive and in 2014 the decision was made to create a Multi-Academy-Trust in order to share ‘expertise and practice across a local network of schools’.

In January, the Academy announced the suspension of its sixth form provision with full effect from September 2016 due to funding cuts and declining pupil numbers.

However, Peter Rubery, executive principal of the Fallibroome Academy Trust, said it is the desire of the Trust to create an ‘innovative post 16 provision’.

He said: “I can assure everyone that the sixth form will be re-established at the earliest opportunity.

“Fallibroome’s sixth form is outstanding and a powerful resource that will support our desire to creative an innovative post 16 provision.

“The support of parents and the community for this exciting project is welcome.

“By working together we can achieve our aim of creating the outstanding Academy that Winsford children deserve.”

Following the news of the Winsford Academy's sixth-form closure, in March the school opened a 30-day consultation to reduce the teaching staff.

Mr Rubery blamed the previous sponsors for making ‘poor decisions’, which have now been addressed.

He explained: “The previous sponsor made some poor decisions that resulted in overstaffing and budgetary difficulties.

“These have been addressed and the school will start the new academic year in a stable position, with resources to invest in creating exciting learning opportunities for students and staff.”

Mr Rubery said the school has made ‘impressive gains’ in 2014, and claims hundreds of completed surveys show ‘consistently high levels of parental satisfaction’.

“The Trust’s support for the school’s improvement plan has resulted in impressive gains this year,” he said.

“This view is supported by reports from monitoring visits undertaken by Ofsted and the DfE, both of which commended the school’s high expectations and rates of academic progress.”