The Government is stripping a failing Ellesmere Port academy from the University of Chester's control following a second damning inspection in 12 months.
Nick Gibb MP, education minister, told the House of Commons on Monday that University Church of England Academy (UCEA) will be re-brokered - meaning it will be taken off the hands of the University of Chester Academies Trust (UCAT) and handed over to another multi-academy trust.
It follows a turbulent period for the academy, which was placed in special measures by Ofsted in April 2017.
The regulator revisited this school this April and found its improvement plans to be 'not fit for purpose', before it was revealed a month later that UCAT faces a financial deficit of more than £3 million.
Asked by Justin Madders, Labour MP for Ellesmere Port and Neston, if the Government will deal with UCEA 'as swiftly as possible', Mr Gibb said: "We will.
"UCEA was judged to be inadequate by Ofsted in April last year. The question was then whether the multi-academy trust could provide the support that that school needed.
"But following a recent Ofsted monitoring visit to the academy the department took the view that insufficient progress was being made, and that the leadership of the trust was not taking sufficient action.
"And that's why my right honourable friend, the secretary of state, wrote to [Mr Madders] confirming that the academy is going to be brokered to a higher-performing multi academy trust and we will do that as swiftly as possible."
The move follows pressure from both Mr Madders, who discussed UCAT's issues with education secretary Damien Hinds MP last week, and Cheshire West and Chester Council to improve standards at UCEA.
In a letter sent to Mr Hinds, Cllr Nicole Meardon, cabinet member for children and families, called on the Government to find a new trust to control UCEA - or let the academy come back under local authority control if another trust fails to come forward.
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She told the member for East Hampshire that it is 'difficult to believe' UCAT could turn the academy's performance around, and that UCEA's future is vital for meeting a growing demand for school places in Ellesmere Port.
Cllr Meardon said: "Children who attend UCEA have been consistently let down - not only by UCAT, but by a system that has failed to act to improve the academy and ensure that the trust can deliver effective school improvement.
"I cannot understand how the school can be in this position, a year after being placed in special measures.
"I hope you will agree that the children attending this school deserve far more than to be constantly let down by this failing trust and a school improvement system that seems incapable of monitoring effective progress and intervening when necessary."
UCAT has been approached for comment.
