THE TIMES are a-changing for one Stalybridge school as its new name has been revealed.
Copley Academy, on Huddersfield Road, will be known as Dixons Pennine Academy after the trust named after the former high street electrical business merged with Great Academy Education Trust.
And on Saturday, February 28, the new sign appeared outside confirming the switch.
The Correspondent previously told of the intention to change Copley Academy’s name because of the deal.
Dixons Pennine has won out over Dixons Pioneer, which also came up in a consultation with students.
And despite the imminent name change, parents will not have to fork out hard-earned money for new uniforms.
Tahmina Jahan, of Dixons Academies Trust, told The Correspondent: “Everything we are doing here is focused on hearts and minds.
“Some people 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.
“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.
“We won’t expect our families to pay for a uniform when we roll it out.”
Stalybridge South Councillor Liam Billington, in whose ward the school stands, appealed to Dixons Academies Trust to drop plans to remove the word Copley from its title.
However, the erection on the new sign signals that plea fell on deaf ears.
Tameside Council paperwork also reveals the switch will not impact more than £150,000 of grant funding the school will receive to provide 12 more places for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.
Ridge Hill’s Silver Springs Primary Academy and Great Academy Ashton are also impacted by the new agreement with Dixons Academies Trust.
However, it is understood any name change will not be considered until a later date.