By Richard Hatcher

There is a lot of misunderstanding about the term Cooperative Trust. One meaning is the Birmingham-wide umbrella partnership that the LA is trying to set up. This has no connection with the Cooperative Schools Society’s Cooperative Trusts, which are schools or groups of schools – LA and academy – adhering to the Coop’s model (over 200 of them now, including in Wolverhampton and Sandwell). Separate again are schools or groups of schools which may set up ‘cooperative trusts’ (again, as in the Bham LA’s model) without having any connection with the Cooperative Schools Society (CSC) model.

A word about Cornwall. Some LA people have given the impression that Cornwall LA has set up a CSC Cooperative Trust involving all its schools. This is not true. The case they are referring to is a CSC comprising Helston Community College and 15 local primary schools. (See below for a…