A DUDLEY school is set to start the new term as an academy after its transfer was approved by the council’s education chief.

Cllr David Stanley, Dudley cabinet member for education, signed the order to transfer Jesson’s CofE Primary School to the Elements Diocesan Learning Trust with effect from September 1.

From the date of transfer the voluntary-aided Church of England primary school will close and reopen as an academy.

Most of the school land and buildings is already owned by the Diocese of Worcester but the nursery school land and caretaker’s house on the site are still owned by the council.

Under the new deal the council-owned areas will transfer to the academy trust on a 125-year lease for a peppercorn rent.

The order also approves the transfer of the school’s assets and staff to the academy trust which already runs four primary schools in the Dudley area.

Jesson’s CofE Primary School, on School Street, offers places for just over 700 pupils aged from two to 11 and is currently voluntary-aided, which means it is state funded but a separate organisation, usually religious, contributes to building costs and has a big say in how the school operates.

The school’s last Ofsted report was in February 2023 when inspectors found overall the school ‘required improvement’.

Despite the overall finding, inspectors concluded pupils are happy and safe and school leaders are ambitious and making positive improvements in reading, writing and maths.

The report also said: “Leaders work tirelessly to improve attendance, with a good degree of success. However there are still a significant number who are persistently absent or who arrive late.”

The Elements Diocesan Learning Trust was established in 2021 to provide a ‘community for like-minded primary schools from within the Diocese of Worcester’.