The merger with Abbeywood

BTE Academy joined Olympus Academy Trust a full academic year before it closed as a separate school. That distinction helps explain why records show both 2021 and 2022 for the change at New Road.

March and April 2021

On 25 March, the chairs of BTEA and Olympus issued a provisional plan (PDF) for BTEA to join the trust. It envisaged retaining specialist engineering courses while giving more pupils access to them. Local coverage at the time reported that Year 10 entry for September 2021 would pause while discussions continued. A further statement at the end of March addressed leadership support from Abbeywood. The March announcements described a transition still under discussion.

The South West headteacher board considered the proposed trust transfer on 22 April. Its published minutes record support for the transfer and questions about the financial arrangements. They are a separate public record from the joint statement.

September 2021 · Change of trust

The Education and Skills Funding Agency published a financial notice to improve in May. When BTEA became part of Olympus on 1 September 2021, the conditions of the notice ceased to apply. The agency's published correspondence includes the letter closing it. For the 2021–22 academic year, the government establishment record still lists BTE Academy as a school in its own right.

September 2022 · Change of establishment

BTE Academy closed on 31 August 2022. The Department for Education records Abbeywood Community School as the successor from the following day. Researchers looking up a report or certificate can distinguish the former BTEA, URN 139669, from Abbeywood, URN 139067.

The trust describes the former academy as the Engineering Centre at Abbeywood. Current enquiries about study go to Abbeywood. The document archive identifies the public records for each stage of the transition.