A NAME change will usher in a new era at a Darlington-based school trust, according to its chief executive.

The Heathfield Academy Trust, which is comprised of five schools, was named after Heathfield Primary, the first school to join the trust after converting to academy status.

In future, it will be known as the Lingfield Education Trust in a move its chief executive says will “reflect its continued growth plans”.

Nick Blackburn said: “We remain proud of our roots in Heathfield Primary School, however we have opted to rename our Trust so that we represent all of our schools equally.

“Importantly, while our name is changing to Lingfield Learning Trust, our core vision and ethos remains as strong as ever – to be the Trust which makes the biggest difference to the whole child, our staff team and the local community.

“We look forward to the future and successfully continuing to support children educationally, socially and practically in achieving their full potential in both education and life.”

The multi-academy trust recently applied to open a further academy in Catterick to accommodate nursery and primary school-aged children.

The trust will find out in February if its plans have been approved and hope to open the school in 2018 in a bid to tackle a shortfall of 730 primary school places in the area.

If approved, the new school would also be well placed to cater for an acceleration in demand as a result of the proposed 315 additional service families expected to be established in the surrounding area by 2019.