A DARLINGTON primary school has taken one of the first steps to becoming an academy by teaming up with a local educational trust.

Dodmire School has launched consultation with staff, parents, teaching unions and the local community with a view to becoming an academy and taking control of its own curriculm and finance by the end of the year.

The move would see the school become sponsored by the Longfield Academy Trust, which comprises two schools – Darlington School of Mathematics and Science and Longfield Academy of Sport.

Dodmire, which has 500 pupils, would become the first primary school to join the trust, alongside Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College and Teesside University.

The consultation will finish on October 15 and a summary of feedback published by October 29. If the move goes ahead the school is likely to convert by December 1.

Longfield Academy Trust executive director Keith Cotgrave said: “We are absolutely delighted with the on-going development of DSMS and Longfield since becoming academies and are thrilled with the prospect of welcoming Dodmire School to the fold.

“When we were approached by the local authority we felt we would be able to make a difference to the educational outcomes of pupils.”

If the move goes ahead Dodmire pupils would be able to share new educational and sporting facilities recently developed at DSMS and Longfield Academy of Sport.