A top performing trust will take over the sponsorship of Deal’s only secondary school after the forerunners accrued £3 million worth of debt.

The Department for Education has announced the Thinking Schools Academy Trust will run Goodwin Academy from September 1.

The organisation was rated by the government as the leading trust in the country for progress made by students in the GCSE performance tables this year.

They will replace SchoolsCompany who admitted "unacceptable failures of financial management" in February - just five months after its new £25m school building in Hamilton Road was opened.

The debt, which MP Charlie Elphicke is calling on the government to write off, was accrued at board level, the former sponsors admitted.

The news has gained cross party support from Mr Elphicke (Con) and Labour councillor Mike Eddy, who said he is pleased another academy trust has been secured as it is “saving tax payers from having to pick up the pieces”.

Leaked material to the East Kent Mercury newspaper in March revealed the school was £3,073,000 in arrears prompting leaders to cut 24 jobs.

Angela Barry, interim chief executive of SchoolsCompany Trust, who was drawn in at the beginning of 2018 when the school’s financial difficulties became public, has described the change as “a very new, and exciting, chapter for Goodwin Academy”.

The decision to re-broker was made by the Department for Education and SchoolsCompany Trust agreed.

She said: “Over the last few months, our work has focused on stabilising the finances of the school, and the decision by the Department for Education and the Regional Schools Commissioner to appoint Thinking Schools as the new sponsor assures Goodwin Academy’s future.”

Principal Simon Smith said: “I am delighted that Thinking Schools Academy Trust is to be the new sponsor.

“They are an excellent trust and I am looking forward to drawing on their expert support and input as we continue Goodwin Academy’s journey of improvement.

“Goodwin Academy has a deserved reputation as a student-centred school that gives young people the very best opportunities, provides a broad and balanced curriculum, and helps ensure students achieve the best outcomes possible.

"This vision is strengthened by the news that TSAT will become Goodwin’s sponsor in the autumn.”

Thinking Schools, which sponsors 14 academies in Medway and in Portsmouth, has a track record of ensuring its schools are secure financially, achieve excellent academic results, and are popular with parents.

It has also been short-listed to be education Employer of the Year in the 2018 TES Awards.

Stuart Gardner, the chief executive of Thinking Schools, said: “The Thinking Schools Academy Trust is a successful trust underpinned by a commitment to transform the life chances of our students.

“We have a strong educational vision of fully integrated thinking schools, outstanding and driven leaders, dedicated teachers and support staff backed by a committed team of governors.

“We are looking forward to working with the students, staff and parents at Goodwin Academy to build on its solid foundations and continue its ongoing improvement.”

MP for Deal and Dover, Charlie Elphicke, has welcomed the news. He said: “This school has come so far in recent years.

"We battled for £25 million investment in new buildings and now there is a huge demand for places in Year 7. We must build on that success.

“The new trust has a strong track record. Yet everyone knows there is much work to do.

“I am seeking assurances that the interests of students and staff will be put first – and I continue to press ministers to write off the school’s £3 million debt.

“We must keep fighting – to ensure progress continues, lessons are learnt, and those who made mistakes are held to account.”

Labour councillor Mike Eddy, who campaigned against the amalgamation of Walmer Science College and Castle Community College in 2013, said: “It’s nice to know that they’ve got somebody to take it on because ultimately if they couldn’t find another academy trust to do that it would have ended up back in the Kent County Council system and it would be us as tax payers who would have to pick up the pieces.

"That’s the product of the system our government has implemented.

“Under a Labour government it was about turning the schools with significant problems into academies as a way of sorting them out now it seems academisation is a form of privatisation.

"It takes schools out of local authority control which means there’s no local authority involvement.

“I sincerely hope that the new sponsor can turn the school around.”