A YATE school has taken a vital step forward in its bid to become the first primary in South Gloucestershire to join the academy system.

Education Secretary Michael Gove has approved in principle a scheme for Woodlands Primary to merge with Yate International Academy and create an all-through centre for children aged three to 19.

Pupils, staff and parents now have to wait for the green light to be given, but it is expected that Woodlands will "legally close" on August 31 and re-open on September 1 as the primary phase of Yate International Academy.

The schools are next door to each other in Sundridge Park and governors went ahead with the amalgamation proposal after the majority of responses to a consultation backed the idea.

It will bring to an end one of the shortest living school names in the district, as Woodlands was only created last year as the result of a merger between Kings Court Primary School and Rodford Primary School.

Falling pupil numbers at both schools had led to the change, despite campaigns by parents to save them.

The Kings Court site was chosen as the home of Woodlands and children will remain in the building once it becomes part of the academy. But they will get a new uniform and yesterday youngsters were joined by their head, Julie Hogan, when they tried it out.

The merger with Yate International Academy – the former King Edmund Community School – will involve the primary section joining the secondary in being independently-funded, direct from central Government, and staff no longer being South Gloucestershire Council employees.

Yate International Academy is one half of the Ridings' Federation of Academies with Winterbourne International Academy the other.

The federation's chief executive principal, Dr Rob Gibson, said: "I'm delighted that the Secretary of State has approved in principle the first all- though academy in South Gloucestershire. I believe it will provide more opportunities and consistency of curriculum provision and educational experiences for all students in both the primary and secondary phases.

"This is an exciting opportunity for the Yate community, placing it at the cutting edge of educational development for the benefit of all our children both now and into the future."

A £16-million project to rebuild Yate International Academy is under way, to be completed by September 2012.