Uplands School to join UCST and merge with Wentworth College

30 March 2009

UCST has announced that Uplands School is to join its family of schools.  The co-educational independent school which is situated in Poole currently has 285 pupils aged from 2 to 16. It will merge with UCST’s Wentworth College to form a single, new school. The merger will take place in September 2009.

The current economic situation is causing significant difficulties for businesses, charities and families up and down the country and the education sector has not been spared. Over the past year, Uplands School realised that, in its current structure, it would face, at best, an uncertain future and, at worst, complete closure and the loss of everything that all associated with the school held dear.

UCST has therefore taken the decision to bring Uplands into its family of schools and merge it with Wentworth in order to combine their strengths and offer them both a stable future. The Charity Commission has approved the merger.

When the two schools merge, senior school pupils from both schools will be taught at the Wentworth College site and pupils from Uplands junior school will continue to be taught at their present site. Some staff from Uplands School will also transfer to the Wentworth site and some others will remain at the Uplands site.

As a result of the merger some redundancies will, regrettably, be made. UCST will be exploring every option to make sure these are kept to an absolute minimum and a full consultation will take place with staff on the new staffing structure.

Over the coming months, UCST will be discussing with parents and staff the name and uniform for the combined new school. UCST will also provide subsidised transport between the two sites for a minimum of one year and fees for parents at Uplands will increase over two years to match those at Wentworth.

Charlotte Rendle-Short, Deputy Chief Executive of UCST, said: “Last year, we took over the running of Wentworth College when it faced closure and have since seen it start to thrive and continue to improve. We see the same potential in Uplands and look forward to working with parents, staff and pupils to ensure that this good school has the future it deserves. We aim to bring out the best in everyone and we hope that Wentworth and Uplands joining forces will bring out the best in both of these schools.”

Nina Dunne, Chair of Governors at Uplands School, said of the merger: “Over the past 18 months, the School has experienced a huge change and the hard work put in by the Governors and the Senior Leadership Team has culminated in receiving ‘outstanding’ in its recent Ofsted and ISI inspections. For the School to continue with this success, it was felt that joining UCST and a merger with Wentworth College was the way forward to ensure a strong future for our pupils and staff.

“We are therefore delighted to be joining UCST. Throughout our work in discussing the proposed merger we have been struck by the similarity in our ethos, dedication to our children and staff and wish for a positive, secure and aspirational school focused on high academic achievement and strong pastoral care. We look forward to a long and bright future.”