St. Budeaux Foundation CE Junior School and Whitchurch Community Primary School join the multi-academy trust.

South-West based First Federation Trust has welcomed two new schools to its growing family.

The two Devon schools, St. Budeaux Foundation CE Junior School in Plymouth and Whitchurch Community Primary in Tavistock officially joined on 1 July after working with the trust in a management partnership. Under that partnership, both schools were able to utilise the expertise of the trust including leadership support and access to its teaching and learning networks.

In total, the multi-academy trust now unites 19 primary schools across Devon and Dorset.

Kerry Bargewell, Head of School at Whitchurch Community Primary School said “We are thrilled to formally join the First Federation Trust and build on the solid foundation laid during the period of our management partnership. Support from the trust and collaboration with other member schools will enable our wonderful school to go from strength to strength.”

Mrs Lewis, Acting Head of School at St. Budeaux Foundation CE Junior School said “We are excited about joining First Federation Trust and the support and opportunities that collaborating with other schools across the trust will continue to give our school and its community. This collaborative approach has already improved curriculum design and delivery at St. Budeaux and we look forward to developing this further, as we seek to provide the very best learning experiences for all our children."

Chief Executive Officer of First Federation Trust Paul Walker described both schools as “welcome additions to our family of primary schools at a very exciting point in the growth and development of our trust”, which includes a mix of village, urban, community and church schools.

He added “Our vision is that every individual will aspire, flourish and achieve within the heart of their community. Fundamental in our pursuit of that aim is fostering close working relationships between colleagues across our schools, a comprehensive programme of training and development and our models of high-quality teaching. The evolution of these two partnerships recognises the benefits of our approach and the value schools derive from working with us.

“With our culture of collaboration and teamwork, our successful family of schools is further enriched by the contribution of the teams at St. Budeaux and Whitchurch.”