Premier Advisory Group (PAG) is delighted to announce that, following a tender process, it has been appointed to project manage the opening of Michaela Community School in Stevenage. Michaela Stevenage was approved into pre-opening in Wave 13 of the free schools programme. PAG had previously supported the trust in making its application to open the school.
Proposed to open in September 2023, Michaela Stevenage will be a 6FE 11-19 school which, in common with the model successfully employed at the original Michaela in Brent, will open with Year 7 pupils and will grow organically to full capacity. The approval of Michaela Stevenage will mean the Michaela Trust will apply to become a multi academy trust, led by Katharine Birbalsingh.
Commenting on the announcement Tom Legge, Managing Director for PAG stated,
“All at PAG are delighted to have been chosen to support Michaela on the next stage of its journey. The first time I met Katharine was in the back room of a pub in Brixton at the very outset of the campaign to open what eventually became Michaela Brent. As I recall there were as many protesters as there were supporters. I was privileged to work on the pre-opening of Michaela in Brent and I count the school’s first Ofsted and first set of GCSE result as two of my career highlights – although they had nothing at all to do with me! The Brent pre-opening phase was one of the most challenging projects I have worked on, making the eventual opening all the more pleasing.”
Speaking on behalf of Michaela Trust, Katharine Birbalsingh said,
“We have worked with Tom and the team at PAG for many years and I’m delighted that they will be supporting Michaela to open in Stevenage. There are few organisations I know who I trust to be then when needed- even on Christmas Day! I’m looking forward getting started on the next phase of Michaela’s development.”
Work on the pre-opening phase will commence immediately.
To learn more about our services for pre-opening project management, click here.