THREE Tameside schools are set to change their name as the trust they are in merges with another.
But parents have been told there would be no extra financial outlay for new uniforms, as they will be phased in through new intakes.
Copley Academy, on Huddersfield Road in Stalybridge, is the furthest along the path of the merger of Great Academies Education Trust with Dixons Academies Trust, named after the once familiar high street name.
It is likely to switch to either Dixons Pennine or Dixons Pioneer, with a vote to determine which when the move is completed in January.
Great Academy Ashton and Silver Springs Primary Academy, on School Street in the Ridge Hill area of Stalybridge, will also switch names eventually.
But Tahmina Jahan, of Dixons Academies Trust, told The Correspondent how it will work.
She said of Copley: “Everything we are doing here is with heart and mind.
“This is a merger, so we are very much working with people and the two name choices that came up really strongly in the consultation with the students were Dixons Pennine and Dixons Pioneer.
“Some people responded in the form and said, ‘Why isn’t Copley an option?’ It was only a small minority of people that said that, but there were some.
“A lot of Dixons’ schools are named after the locality, but Copley draws students more than just the Copley area, so Pennine came up quite strongly because it was a bit more geographically sensitive.
“I get that a few people, and it was only a small minority, did mention about keeping Copley but looking at all the areas of trust, not just Copley, is why Pennine was one of the suggestions.
“We are listening to stakeholders and that is what’s going to determine the outcome.
“It wasn’t us coming in and saying, ‘We don’t want Copley anymore.’ It was a joint consultation, and then furthermore, we’ve now gone out to families.
“And the other big thing is that obviously uniform will change with the name change, but there’ll be no additional financial cost to families.
“We completely understand that this is something that people are going to be concerned about, but we wouldn’t bring in a mid-year uniform change anyway.
“Uniform would likely change in the new academic year, but we would not expect families to fork out for it. We’ll be phasing the new uniform in and with the new children’s bill, there’s a restriction on how many branded items you can have.
“All of that will be taken into consideration, but we won’t expect our families to pay for a uniform when we roll it out.”
News of Copley being involved with the merger raised questions from Tameside Councillor Liam Billington, in whose ward it sits.
In a letter, he states: “I am keen to preserve the historic identity of our area I feel that the proposed change to rename Copley Academy as Dixons Pennine Academy or Dixons Pioneer Academy does not reflect the local area or respect the school’s history.
“In addition, given the levels of deprivation in parts of Stalybridge South. I am concerned that rebranding the school could lead to additional costs for parents through the purchase of new uniforms.
“Whilst I am not opposed to the merger with the Dixons Academies Trust and will always support measures that improve the education of our children. I would ask that you reconsider the proposal to rename Copley Academy.”
As things stand, January will see the merger and the name changes of the Tameside schools should be fairly instant.
They also know some may want to stick with what they are now as Tahmina added: “The schools have gone out to students and staff, and, and maybe some families.
“Silver Springs and Great Academy Ashton will be sort of further down the line, but the plan is for them to be fairly quickly after the merger.
“We’re going to consult with people and once we do that, it then goes out. It might be that other schools are really happy with their names, so we change it to Dixon in front of what currently exists, like Dixon Silver Springs.
“We’ve got those conversations but they haven’t happened yet. However, they’re aiming for all four schools to merge with us by about January.”
Copley Academy head Ruth Craven is enthusiastic about the prospects of the merger.
She told The Correspondent: “We are excited to be joining Dixons Academies Trust, a move that will build on our school’s strong foundations for the benefit of our entire community.
“The name options were developed together with our staff and students to reflect our wider community, and we’re grateful for the clear preference shown in the consultation with parents, carers and students.
“Most importantly, we can assure families that new uniforms will be phased in from next academic year with no extra cost.”