Yesterday I joined parents of children at Cheam Common Junior and Infant Schools at a meeting where it was confirmed that Cheam Common Junior would convert to an academy sponsored by Cheam Park Farm Junior School. There are still some details to work out before the Academy Order is issued but I hope that this is the start of a brighter future for the school.

Text of letter to parents from LEO Academy Trust (the name of the Multi Academy Trust led by Cheam Park Farm Junior School)

“Dear Parents

Staff and Governors at Cheam Park Farm Junior School were delighted to receive the news on Friday, that we had been approved by the Regional Schools Commissioner as the academy sponsor for Cheam Common Junior School. Both schools already have a close working relationship and we look forward to building on this partnership together. An Academy Order will now be issued by the Department for Education (DfE) and we await further information from the DfE Project Lead in September.

Due to prior work and holiday commitments, we are unfortunately unable to join you at your meeting this morning. We look forward to meeting you all in September and working with staff, governors, pupils and parents at Cheam Common Junior School.

As an academy, Cheam Common Junior will become part of the LEO Academy trust. LEO is a new Multi Academy Trust developed by Cheam Park Farm Junior Academy Trust. The past few years have been an exciting period of change for our education system in England. Schools are now empowered to support each other to improve both outcomes for their own pupils and to drive performance across the wider school system. At the LEO Academy Trust, we feel passionately that supporting other schools is the right thing to do. The practice that makes one academy in our Trust successful, and helps our pupils to achieve their potential, also helps to improve the chances of more pupils in other academies and schools. This is true of both academies in our Trust and those academies and schools beyond.

A key principle of the LEO Academy Trust is that each academy maintains their own character. For example, each LEO academy school is encouraged to develop a specialism which can be shared with others within and beyond the Trust. All academies will retain their own uniform and identity, which is usually well known and respected in their local communities. All of our academies are also led by strong Leadership Teams, supported and challenged by an effective Local Governing Body. Their work is entirely focused on the development of their own academy. We will share full details about the LEO Academy Trust with parents next term. In the meantime we wish you all a good holiday and look forward to meeting you all next term.

Yours sincerely

Mrs J Saddington, Chair of the LEO Academy Trust,
Mr P Hedger, Executive Headteacher, LEO Academy Trust”