Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her Department's estimated timescale is for the completion of the academisation of Denton Community College.

An academy order was issued to the governing body of Denton Community College and Tameside local authority on 22 March 2023. The Regional Director for the North West then agreed for the Northern Education Trust to be the academy trust match for the school in July 2023.

Project planning meetings between the school, trust and local authority take place regularly and these meetings form the basis for discussions on timescales. The current agreeable date for conversion is estimated to be June 2024. This is reliant on Tameside Council’s Cabinet Board approving the school’s Private Finance Initiative agreement.

The Regional Director’s office have been asked to contact the honourable Member for Denton and Reddish to keep him updated on progress.