A proposed merger of both of Witham's academies has been scrapped, it has been announced today.

The Academies Enterprise Trust, which runs both Maltings Academy and New Rickstones Academy in the town, announced the following statement.

"The AET Board has agreed:

(i) Maltings Academy and New Rickstones Academy will remain as separate entities each with their own Department for Education (“DfE”) number, admissions policy and funding agreement;

(ii) the support services for functional areas such as finance, facilities, HR and IT are brought together into a single shared service;

(iii) the leadership teams are restructured to create a single leadership team responsible for both academies;

(iv) a new single local governing body is established with representatives from the two existing local governing bodies;

(v) the above changes to be introduced from 1 September 2015;

(vi) a shared sixth form will be fully operational from 1 September 2016, with a phased introduction starting from September 2015; and

(vii) a task group is established comprising representatives from both local governing bodies. The task group to take responsibility immediately with delegated authority from the Board and its local governing bodies to drive forward and implement the changes.

These proposals have been discussed and agreed with the local governing bodies of the academies following consultation with a range of stakeholders in autumn 2014."