The Heights Primary School Academy Trust was originally founded by four Caversham parents, quickly joined by other like minded members of the community to form an eight strong group of members, heavily supported by volunteer specialists in all of the disciplines required. Individual steering groups chaired by the trust members are responsible for all of the key functions required to establish an outstanding new Primary School. The group was required to successfully bid for funding from the Department of Education, which hinged on (amongst other criteria) the capabilities and capacity of the Trust and all it’s supporters. It passed with flying colours in large part down to the fantastic support the Trust has received from across the community.

No. Any surplus will be invested back in to the school for the benefit of the students.

We have appointed Nick Walden as our Chair of Governors.  Nick was a governor at a local secondary school for 11 years, including 8 years as the Chair of Governors.  Further details on the Trust’s Governing Body can be found here.

One of the key aspects of the Trust’s bid for funding from the Department for Education was an assessment of the group’s “Capacity and Capability” to set up the school. This involved an audit of the groups skills and experience, which concluded that the range of skills across the group and its supporters was more than sufficient. In addition to the members of the community, the Department for Education allocated a team of advisers and consultants with expert experience in all the key areas to assist the group where required. Procurement of the buildings, IT and learning materials is managed and funded by the Education Funding Agency.

The Trust and its community advisers are working together on a completely voluntary basis.  Whilst the majority of the Trust have children that they hope to attend the school,  the remainder simply seeking to give something back to the community. None of the money awarded to the group by the Department of Education will be awarded to members of the Trust to pay for the benefit of their time or experience.  In addition children of Trustees will not receive any preferential treatment regarding admissions to The Heights.

Absolutely not. The admissions process is run by Reading Borough Council and details of how places are awarded are outlined within the Admissions Policy.  Any children of members of the Trust will be considered against exactly the same criteria as anyone else. It was possible for the group to award special status to founder member’s children but this would have gone entirely against the principles of the school being set up for the community and so was not taken up.