The United Church Schools Trust (UCST) is a large education charity in the United Kingdom which owns and operates a group of 12 independent schools. The charity is operating under the name United Learning as of 2012.

History

UCST was founded in 1883 (as the ‘Church Schools Company’) to extend the reach of academic education in Victorian England and to educate young women based on

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

(and particularly

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

) principles. The majority of its schools are now co-educational. As a group, it is non-denominational and welcomes pupils of all faiths and none to its schools. In 2002, it established the United Learning Trust (now United Learning) as a fully owned subsidiary to extend UCST’s work and ethos into the state sector through the Academies Programme. Together, UCST schools and ULT academies educate more than 30,000 pupils. UCST is one of the 100 largest UK charitable organisations. Its central office is based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire. It is governed by
Board of Trustees
and a
Executive Team

Schools

UCST currently owns and manages 12 independent schools across England: *

AKS Lytham AKS Lytham (AKS), or ArnoldKEQMS, is an independent, co-educational day school located on the Fylde, Lancashire, England. It was formed from the merger of King Edward VII and Queen Mary School (KEQMS) in Lytham St. Annes and Arnold School in Bl ...

Ashford School Ashford School is a coeducational independent boarding and day school in East Hill, Ashford, Kent. There are 480 students in the senior school (ages 11 to 18) and 360 in the prep school (ages 3 to 11). The school is owned and run by the Unit ...

Caterham School (Truth without Fear) , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day and boarding school , religious_affiliation = Protestant (United Reformed Church) , president = , head_label = Headmaste ...

Dunottar School Dunottar School is an independent school in Reigate, Surrey, England, established in 1926. History The school was established in 1926 by Jessie Elliot-Pyle in Brownlow Road with three pupils, and was named after Dunnottar Castle in Scotland. She ...

, Reigate * Embley * Greenacre School * Guildford High School * Tranby School * Lincoln Minster School * Rowan Preparatory School *

St Ives School for Girls ST, St, or St. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stanza, in poetry * Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band * Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise * Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy an ...

Surbiton High School Surbiton High School is a private independent school in Surbiton in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, Greater London, England. It has seven buildings overall including the Boys’ Preparatory School, Girls’ Preparatory School, the Se ...

Five schools are boarding and day; seven schools are day only. Five schools are single-sex (girls); nine schools are co-educational. The schools are accredited through the Independent Schools Council (ISC). The UCST planned to merge

King Edward VII and Queen Mary School King Edward VII and Queen Mary School (KEQMS) was an HMC independent co-educational school in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, England, formed in 2000 by the merger of King Edward VII School, Lytham and Queen Mary School. It merged with Arnold ...

(KEQMS) with Arnold School in September 2012, to create Arnold KEQMS (now

). A parent group lodged an appeal with HM Courts and Tribunal Service – First Tier Tribunal on Friday 9 December 2011. The appeal was heard on 11 & 12 April 2012 and a decision was released by the tribunal on 17 May 2012 stating that the merger can proceed; however, the lease granted to UCST does not adequately protect the assets of the Lytham Schools and will therefore need to be re-written. The parents group have since announced that they will not be appealing this decision and the merger will therefore go ahead.

Academies

UCST's subsidiary charity the United Learning Trust operates 60 academies and one City Technology College.

United Learning

In 2012 ULT and UCST rebranded to operate under one name, United Learning.The Road to United

Learning Learning is the process of acquiring new understanding, knowledge, behaviors, skills, value (personal and cultural), values, attitudes, and preferences. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, animals, and some machine learning, machines ...

They legally remain as two separate charities.

References

External links

* {{authority control 1883 establishments in the United Kingdom Charities based in Northamptonshire Educational charities based in the United Kingdom