Castle School Education Trust (CSET) and The Priory Learning Trust (TPLT) have officially merged this week to form Pathway Trust, a unified school trust educating more than 11,000 pupils across twenty primary and secondary schools in South Gloucestershire, North Somerset, and Somerset.

The merger follows three years of successful formal collaboration between the two trusts. Pathway Trust launches as a new organisation with a fresh identity, built upon shared values, ambitious educational goals and the complementary strengths of its regional school network.

"Coming together as a single family of schools is central to our shared ambition of achieving a great education for every child," said Will Roberts, Chief Executive of Pathway Trust. "Through working together, we have significantly improved outcomes in recent years. Across a larger trust, we can more easily connect colleagues and direct resources where they make the biggest impact."

Key benefits and strategic goals of Pathway Trust include:

• Provision of a great education for more children: A wider network enables focussed collaboration across all 20 member schools to continuously elevate the day-to-day educational experience for all children.
• Reinvesting Savings directly into schools: Merging central services generates stronger operational support at a lower cost through improved purchasing power, allowing savings to be directly reinvested into schools and professional development.
• Professional development for staff: As an employer of over 1,500 staff, Pathway Trust is expanding initiatives to recruit, train and retain top talent through initial teacher training, early career to experienced practitioner development, apprenticeships, and leadership pathways.

Pathway Trust remains dedicated to leveraging its scale to build a resilient, forward-thinking educational environment throughout the region with a clear focus upon achieving a great education for every child.