A parent at Woldgate school suggested to me recently that the Woldgate Learning Partnership was formed at the behest of former headmaster Jonathan Britton and that there was precious little discussion with parents at the time. This prompted me to seek more information from WLP who have today responded:

“In 2015, it was felt that to improve education within our local area, schools needed to access additional expertise in school improvement, personnel, operations and finance. The aim was to create a ‘hub’ that all schools could access easily and to create a team that would support schools on a daily basis, working collaboratively alongside colleagues to improve children’s education.
The team, therefore, consists of a National Leader of Education, two qualified ex-His Majesty’s Inspector of Schools Inspectors, current or training Ofsted inspectors and colleagues who have held Executive and multiple Headteacher posts or have been successful senior leaders in Outstanding (Ofsted) schools (at primary and secondary)”.

You will note that they don’t actually say who introduced and drove the idea.

“When the Trust was established, it was hoped that Church of England Schools would join the Trust. If a Church school opts to join a Trust, the Diocese requires that organisation to adopt its Church articles and to appoint Church representatives to the Trust Board and the Members Board. Currently, no Church schools have opted to join the Trust, so the positions remain vacant”.

I seem to recall one parent recently suggesting that this was because the school will not adopt a C of E philosophy but under Government rules all academies have to provide Religious Education for their pupils.