A BRAND new ‘one of a kind’ academy has launched in Somerset.

The Levels Academy Trust joined together four local schools, in what was formally the Huish community education trust, and held their official launch party on Friday.

The event, which took place at Huish Sixth in Langport, featured performances of songs and poetry from pupils of the schools involved.

Being part of The Levels Academy Trust means all four schools are independent from the local authority and are self-governing, with the freedom to set their own curriculum. The idea behind the trust was to create an organisation that was sustainable and able to challenge and improve the leadership of the schools.

The Levels Academy Trust operations manager Alexandra Carrington said: “Due to this being a time of fundamental system change in education, the schools have to keep looking and moving forward.

“All four schools wished to not only maintain the good provision they provide but to continually enhance it and secure the very best for its pupils’ communities and its future and, therefore, decided to formalise their partnership and become an academy.

“The academy is only one of two primary academies in Somerset and The Levels is one of a kind in that all the schools operating in it are deemed ‘good’ by Ofsted.”