Richard visited Stratton Upper School last week to celebrate the school joining Cambridge Meridian Academies Trust (CMAT). The school is the first in Bedfordshire to join the multi-academy trust and will receive £3.5 million to invest in improving the school’s building, facilities and IT infrastructure and has already equipped a number of classrooms with state-of-the-art interactive whiteboard displays while staff have access to new laptop computers.
CMAT currently operates 15 schools across an area extending from Stamford to Cambridge and in 2017, was ranked as the fifth best performing multi academy trust for Key Stage 4 in the Department for Education’s league tables.
Speaking during the visit, Richard said: "I had a very positive meeting with Principal, Roz Hodges and Executive Principal of the Trust, Andy Daly, about their ambitions for the school and investment plans to provide a high quality learning environment for students in Biggleswade. I enjoyed my tour of the school's facilities and speaking to some Year 13 students about the challenges of learning through the pandemic."