A NEW trust is set to take over a troubled high school which has lost two headteachers this year.

In May, Legra Academy Trust asked the Regional Schools Commissioner to find a new Trust to run Cecil Jones Academy in Southend.

It followed a damning Ofsted report in December, 2017, which placed the school in special measures.

It is hoped a new trust, which has not been identified, will be able to turn around the school with a long-term plan over several years.

During an inspection at the Eastern Avenue school in December last year, inspectors found the quality of teaching, leadership and management, the behaviour of pupils and the outcomes for children were all “inadequate”.

However, an Ofsted monitoring report this year said the school had made some progress.

Former headteacher, Martin Ovenden stepped down in July. He was succeeded by Michael Taylor who left after about ten days.

Legra runs Belfairs and Darlinghurst schools in Leigh as well as Cecil Jones which has almost 1,000 pupils aged 11 to 18.

A spokesman for the regional schools commissioner said: “The Legra Trust asked the commissioner to find a new sponsor for the Cecil Jones Academy, and is in the process of identifying a new trust to take responsibility for the school.

“In the meantime, the Legra Trust remains responsible for leadership at Cecil Jones Academy.”

A mother of two children at the school, who asked not to be named, said: “We don’t know what’s happening.

“The new head said he was going to do all sorts of things like enforcing uniform policy and dealing with bad behaviour but he vanished after about a week.

“Behaviour at the school is atrocious.

“You see kids standing about openly vaping and no one does anything.

“There is a lot of swearing, there is a constant turnover of staff and the toilets are putrid.

“Mr Taylor did a meet and greet with parents and promised us the world and said pupils would be sent home for bad behaviour, then the next minute he’s gone.”

The Board of Legra Academy Trust confirmed it had “reluctantly decided that the academy would be better served by a trust with additional resources and a proven track record of leading challenging schools”.

A spokesman said: “We originally anticipated a handover to a new trust on September 1, following the appointment of a new sponsor.

“However, this decision was delayed by the Department for Education and was outside our control.

“While the process of finding a new trust was ongoing, the principal of Cecil Jones Academy decided to move on and we were asked to delay the appointment of a permanent headteacher until a new trust was in place.

“This meant we had to appoint an interim principal during the summer break. A week into his tenure, he decided to leave due to personal reasons which were not anticipated when he was appointed.”

Bev Williams, chief executive officer of Legra, said: “I want to pay tribute to the outstanding staff of Cecil Jones Academy for their immense contribution.

“As a trust, we did all we could to make the difference at Cecil Jones.

“The last Ofsted inspection of the academy in July was positive and underlined significant progress.

“We will work closely with the new trust, when it is appointed, to offer a seamless transfer over the next few months to ensure we continue to improve provision for all students.”

Greg Rodulfo, Legra’s director of progress, behaviour and safety, has been appointed as head of school until the new trust takes over.

When Cecil Jones moves to a new trust, Belfairs Academy and Darlinghurst Academy, both in Leigh, will remain part of Legra Academy Trust which will continue to work in the area.

Southend Council declined to comment.