TWO schools for primary pupils have become academies and are no longer under the control of the local education authority.

A formal partnership has been created to allow South Stanley Infant and Nursery School and Greenland Community Primary School in South Moor work together.

They will be funded directly by the Department for Education, instead of Durham County Council, with more financial autonomy and more control of the curriculum.

The schools will be overseen by Stanley Learning Partnership, but retain their own identities, with their own local governing bodies and headteachers on separate sites.

This is the first primary Multi-Academy Trust to be established in Stanley, and means the schools will be able to share their teaching expertise with both sets of pupils.

Mark Stewart, headteacher at Greenland Community Primary School, said: “Our aim is that together, we can ensure the children of Stanley continue to receive the best opportunities possible in education.

“It is an exciting time for everyone involved, in particular our children and we firmly believe that this is in the very best interests of the children within our trust.”

The move means a previous plan by Durham County Council to merge South Stanley Infant and Nursery School with South Stanley Junior School will not go ahead.

Heather Kemp, headteacher at South Stanley Infant and Nursery School, said: “The new benefits and opportunities this will offer our children and how it will further improve the standard of education we can provide is boundless.

“We will continue to focus on meeting the needs of each and every pupil of both schools, placing them at the heart of the learning process and striving to remove any barriers to their learning and success.”

There is scope for other schools in the Stanley area to join the Multi-Academy Trust in future if they decide to.

Caroline O’Neill, Durham County Council’s head of education, said: “While South Stanley Infant and Nursery School and Greenland Community Primary School have formed a primary multi-academy trust, the education of children in this area will be unaffected.

“South Stanley Junior School will continue as a local authority maintained school, operating alongside the new trust.

“Children will continue to transfer from the infant to the junior school in the usual way that is governed by parental choice.”