The trust in charge of two struggling academies responsible for close to 2,000 pupils has announced it is seeking help from flourishing state schools.

Hampton Academy and Twickenham Academy have been managed by the Learning Schools Trust (LST) for five years, but after achieving poor exam results and scathing Ofsted reports the organisation announced yesterday it is seeking “alternative governance arrangements”.

LST has approached Teddington School and Waldegrave School in the hope of setting up a multi-academy trust.

A teacher at one of the academies, who did not want to be named, said staff were informed LST were looking to step away from the schools at a meeting earlier this week.

He called the review of management a “panic measure” that had not been fully thought out.

Pupils at Hampton Academy, which was given “requires improvement” in every category following an Ofsted inspection in June, attained just 46 per cent A* to C grades at GCSE in 2014.

The Ofsted report said: “The quality of teaching, as in the rest of the academy, is inconsistent and staff absence or changes have had a detrimental effect on students’ achievement. The Learning Schools Trust operates the  Steps Programme.  Some teachers’ interpretation of this programme limits the level of challenge, particularly for the most able.”

The report also said discipline at the school was poorly executed and hampered learning.

September 2014: Twickenham Academy parents and pupils furious after day two of "wrong trousers fiasco"

A total of 52 per cent of Twickenham Academy’s GCSE results were A* to C in 2014, which was in the bottom 40 per cent of a pool of similar schools, according to Ofsted.

A statement from Richmond council said governors at Teddington and Waldegrave Schools have agreed to carry out a review of the academies and will then decide whether a joint approach would benefit students.

Richmond Council’s cabinet member for schools, Paul Hodgins, said: “Sharing best practice and co-operation across all our schools is a positive step forward.

“We have been working with LST for some time and I appreciate their positive approach to working with two of the highest performing schools in the borough.

“I am a firm believer in local

co-operation between all our schools – working together to share best practice for the good of all children and young people.”

Hampton Academy Council member Samantha Redfern said LST could not be blamed for the slow progress the academies had made and said the governors would be happy for the organisation to continue managing the school.

She said: “It is not all down to them as there are all sorts of national crises going on in schools, especially to do with how difficult it is to recruit teachers, and there are all sorts of challenges schools face. It is such a massive subject.”

She added: “Multi-academy trusts are the way forward and it makes sense to pool resources, especially staff resources as you have then got scope for transferring resources.”

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