A CITY school is set to pull out of Merseyside’s first charitable trust, less than 18 months after signing up to the “exciting” partnership.

Liverpool secondary schools Childwall college and Broadgreen international school joined together and became a charity in April last year.

The Government and Liverpool Council endorsed plans which saw them form a charitable trust board to include representatives and formally share the expertise from the business community, Liverpool primary care trust and John Moores and Hope Universities.

At the time, Dewi Phillips, head teacher at Childwall college, described the decision to become a trust – something only a handful of schools in the region have done to date – was “an exciting opportunity”.

But now the school’s governors are expected to formally come out of the trust on November 23.

Last night, Mr Phillips insisted he had “no regrets” about signing up to the trust model.

But he said it was felt the school should switch its focus closer to home and the Childwall area, “based on what both the governors and the community are telling me”.

This includes a new “iconic” health centre in partnership with Liverpool PCT, due to partly open on the school site in 2011.

Last night, a disappointed Ian Andain, head teacher at Broadgreen international, said the trust would continue and he hoped a primary school would step into the void.

He said the benefits of the trust ranged from university students working with his pupils ahead of exams to university officials advising his staff on the admission process.

He added: “I have no doubt formal partnerships like this are the only way forward. Schools cannot deliver the government agenda for personalised learning in the 21st century on their own.”