A primary school has joined two of the borough's highest performing secondary schools as it becomes part of a Bolton academy trust.

St Catherine’s CE Primary in Horwich has officially joined the Bishop Fraser Trust, which governs Bolton St Catherine's Academy, St James' CE High School and Canon Slade, as well as Bury CE High School.

Bolton's best performing schools 

The trust, announced it intends to grow its primary sector within the areas of Bolton and Bury.

Bolton St Catherine's Academy includes a primary sector.

Tania Lewyckyj, CEO of the trust said: ‘We are absolutely delighted to welcome this great school into our trust as we begin to develop the primary offer.

"Karen Graham and her team offer expertise and excellent practice and we are excited to be in partnership as we develop the primary sector of the trust with the aim of offering an outstanding primary education for all of our children."

The trust plans to have four primary schools in place in the next twelve months.

Ms Lewyckyj said there are many benefits of being in a multi academy trust (MAT) which include sharing best practice across the schools to improve teaching and learning, professional development, support structures such as HR, IT and finance, procurement, strong succession planning and support for senior teams and governors.

"All of this gives headteachers and their teams the time to focus on what really matters; teaching and learning and the outcomes for our children within a nurturing environment to be the best they can be," she said

Mrs Graham, headteacher of St Catherine’s CE Primary (Horwich) added: ‘We are overjoyed to join The Bishop Fraser Trust family.

"Our own values perfectly match those of the trust, and together we will work in partnership to retain and develop the things which are important to our successful and popular school. We are excited to help shape the primary school offer of the trust for the benefit of even more local children."

St James CE High School in Farnworth and Canon Slade School in Bradshaw are two of Bolton's highest performing schools based on GCSE results