North West

Schools’ Buying Club is currently supporting Brian Clarke Church of England Academy , which was approved by Department for Education in 2019, with its pre-opening responsibilities. The secondary school will be operated by Cranmer Education Trust and will open in Oldham in September 2022. Schools’ Buying Club is helping to ensure that the establishment can recognise its potential and be truly multi-faith, multi-ethnic and multi-talented. We are supporting with pre-opening governance, finance, section 10 consultation and the necessary capital works.

Schools’ Buying Club has developed an ongoing relationship with Birmingham Diocesan Multi-Academy Trust (BDMAT). We are currently supporting the pre-opening phase of Christ Church Secondary Academy after helping to produce the successful free schools application, and are looking forward to the establishment opening in September 2021. We are also advising and supporting BDMAT with the academisation processes.

The Orchards was the first special free school in Trafford and caters for 4 – 11 years old students with complex learning needs. The Orchards is operated by The Dunham Trust which also operates Elmridge Primary School and Acre Hall Primary School. The Dunham Trust appointed Schools’ Buying Club to provide project management support for the pre–opening phase including advice on governance, education, finance and stakeholder consultation.

Schools’ Buying Club was appointed in January 2020 by the Altus Education Partnership to provide pre-opening support for the Edgar Wood Academy which was proposed to open in September 2022. However, due an urgent need for school places, the school opening date was moved forward to September 2021 following discussions with the DfE and LA. Schools’ Buying Club was able to mobilise quickly and accelerate all work streams in order to help deliver a school earlier than originally proposed. This included principal designate benchmarking, governance, finance, education policy development, section 10 consultation and capital works. We also helped develop and implement a comprehensive marketing strategy which helped ensure the school was oversubscribed for the first year of operation.