NATIONAL Schools Commissioner Sir David Carter has approved another step forward for the West Somerset Academies Trust as a sixth school – St Michael’s – is set to join.

The trust has grown from Minehead Middle and First Schools to include Danesfield and St Peter’s, in Williton, and Old Cleeve First School.

And now St Michael’s Church of England First School, in Minehead, has applied to join and it is expected that the governors will agree following public consultation.

The trust, led by Paul Rushforth from Minehead Middle School, will educate 1,750 children by the end of the year.

The trust was reviewed by the Department for Education and has now been designated a ’sponsoring’ academy trust.

Full story in Friday’s Free Press