Two headteachers have spoken of their excitement as their schools embark on a new journey.

Redden Court School, Cotswold Road, Harold Wood and the Royal Liberty School, Upper Brentwood School, Gidea Park, have formed a collaboration.

As of February 1, the schools became part of the Success for All Educational Trust.

It means the schools will link up and share practices and resources when possible.

The trust has come about after the Department for Education (DfE) approached Redden Court about a year ago asking them to become a sponsor and lead a trust.

The DfE highlighted the school’s high performance with the Harold Wood institution being in the top 10 per cent nationally for pupils’ progress.

Headteacher Paul Ward will now become the executive headteacher overseeing both of the school’s development.

He said: “The focus was to share our practice with other schools and help others improve their outcomes.”

Mr Ward has been quick to allay any fears of the trust expanding into a large national chain which have been associated with problems in other parts of the country.

He said: “Initially it’s just the two schools, with a possibility for possibly three or four secondary schools over the next few years.

“I understand parents concern when they hear the word trust but big chains seem to not respect a school’s history and heritage and change too much.

“We will not do that and I only see it being a local community trust serving schools nearby.

Not long after setting up the trust, the Royal Liberty School contacted Mr Ward in the hope of becoming the first school to join.

Royal Liberty’s headteacher April Saunders said: “Over the last five months we have already developed strong links with Redden Court School and we look forward to now formalising this within the trust.

“I have every confidence that we can work together to ensure all schools within the trust deliver the best possible outcomes for our students.”