by Hayley Robinson

A partnership between four schools will see an extra £1.3 million a year injected into the education of children in Sittingbourne.

An estimated £500,000 is expected to be released after Sittingbourne Community College (SCC) announced on Monday that it plans to become a new-style academy.

Since becoming an academy in September, The Westlands has received an extra £562,000 while the Westlands Primary and Regis Manor have received £145,000 each.

SCC will work in partnership with The Westlands School as part of a new academy trust entitled The Swale Academies Trust, as of this autumn.

It will replace The Westlands Trust, which includes Westlands Primary and Regis Manor, and it’s hoped it will offer partnership opportunities to other primary schools in Swale in the future.

Both secondary schools will retain their identities while sharing resources and skills to improve standards.

The names of the schools will stay the same and pupils will continue to wear their current school uniforms.

SCC head teacher Alan Barham will remain in his post and Westlands head teacher Jon Whitcombe will be the trust’s executive head.

The plan has the full backing of the Department for Education and Schools Minister Lord Hill.

The governing bodies of both schools also unanimously agreed to the partnership.

A public consultation for parents and the wider community to find out about SCC’s plans to become an academy will be held in the next few weeks.

Mr Barham said: "We know there are excellent practices in the four schools and it’s about bringing those together and bringing those strategies together for the future. It’s very exciting."

Mr Whitcombe said: "There is an extra £1.3 million coming to the town for the benefit of educating our pupils that we otherwise wouldn’t have had. I hope the community will see it as a positive move and we recognise there is a weighty responsibility on our shoulders.

"It would be irresponsible to say there would be no changes in the future; one thing we know in this uncertain world is change is inevitable. Consequently SCC joining the trust provides more security and opportunities than if it didn’t go ahead."

SCC is the sixth school in Sittingbourne to become a new style-academy. Fulston Manor and Highsted Grammar School became academies in October.