ONE of Oxfordshire's largest academy trusts took on another nine schools and almost 1,500 more pupils last year.

Oxford Diocesan Schools Trust, which runs scores of schools in the region, grew its list of schools by half.

It managed 18 schools in August 2016, but this grew to 27 during the 2016-17 financial year, bringing the total pupil number to 5,728.

The trust's annual report states another nine academies are due to join this year, and it had 'prepared for this expansion with improved systems and additional central posts'.

Published this month, the report notes the trust is in 'good financial health' with funds totalling £11.8m.

It states 'academic performances in our schools remains strong on the whole', adding: "At the heart of the vision for academies in the trust is a belief in educational excellence.

"It is the strategic objective of the trust to create a family of outstanding academies.

"The trust's academies are places where children and young people can learn the value of service and of human endeavour, where they can be sure they are valued for who they are and where they can be supported to be the best they can be."

The multi-academy trust, which formed in 2012, looks after primary schools including John Henry Newman Academy in Littlemore.

The majority of its academies are located in Oxfordshire, but the trust's reach stretches into Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes.

Academies are run by trusts rather than by local authorities.