The Board of Trustees at Exmouth Community College has agreed to make an initial application to join the Ted Wragg Multi-Academy Trust.

Parents and carers of children at the College were informed by a letter from the head Tom Inman on April 26.

The governor's decision is now subject to initial approval by a Regional Advisory Board of the Department for Education and includes a full consultation period with the community.

Tom Inman headteacher said “We have been working for a number of months on the prospect of Exmouth Community College joining a Multi-Academy Trust, which is a vital next step in continuing the exciting journey that we are on, as endorsed by our recently published OFSTED report. We now step into a period of community consultations which will give parents, students and staff the opportunity to get to know the trust, its values and, most importantly, learn the great benefits that working together will afford our young people and the whole community”.

“We look forward to working in partnership with the Ted Wragg Trust and the support that they will be able to bring to continue the work of giving the Exmouth community the best Secondary School that we can for future generations of our brilliant young people”.

Jason Hill, chair of governors said “Our Governing board have undergone a really thorough process of consideration and are very confident that membership of the Ted Wragg Trust is the best next step in supporting the College’s continued development. The next stage is to broaden this engagement to ensure a really comprehensive consultation with our local community including staff, parents and students”.

A spokesman for the Ted Wragg Trust said: “Exmouth Community College is a wonderful school within a lovely community, and we are so pleased that they have requested to join our family of schools.  We've got to know the school well and we're looking forward to meeting and hearing from even more staff, students and families during the planned community consultation sessions. The next part of the process, overseen by the Department for Education, is an application to the Headteacher Advisory Board and we're working with the school to support the final approval stages of the process."