Castle School Education Trust

Castle School EducationTrust operates as a multi‑academy trust responsible for the governance and management of a group of schools located in South Gloucestershire, United Kingdom. The trust oversees primary and secondary institutions that are known publicly by aliases such as Lyde Green Primary School, The Castle School, Mangotsfield School, Castle School, Marlwood School, Severn Beach Primary School and others collectively referred to as CSET. Its core function is to provide state‑funded education, deliver the national curriculum, support teaching and learning, and ensure the welfare and progress of pupils across the phases it serves. By bringing together several schools under a single charitable trust, it aims to share expertise, align policies and promote continuous improvement in educational outcomes.

The trust’s reach extends to the local communities served by each member school, though specific figures on pupil numbers or staff counts are not disclosed in the available sources. As an academy trust, it receives funding directly from the Department for Education and is governed by a board of trustees that sets strategic direction and oversees financial and compliance matters. This structure enables the trust to coordinate activities and share resources among its schools. The collaborative approach is intended to strengthen resilience and promote improvement by allowing the exchange of expertise and joint initiatives.

In March 2021 the trust experienced a ransomware attack that affected the IT systems of all schools within the Castle School Education Trust, rendering critical technological resources inaccessible and disrupting normal operations across the trust. The incident, reported by external sources, led to operational adjustments as staff and students coped with the loss of digital tools while the trust worked to restore services. No public details were released regarding the extent of any data compromise or the specifics of any ransom demand. The event demonstrated the vulnerability of educational trusts to cyber‑threats and underscored the need for robust cyber‑security controls.