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We decided we wanted to convert to become an academy just really because of the flexibilities
it could afford us for
the short-term and long-term future development of the school
ultimately for the benefit of the students. We had been a grant-maintained school
and then we moved to foundation status and it seemed like a logical move for us
to move back to gain a little independence.
Well, the school's got a history of independence, it was previously a grant-maintained
school
and governance and senior management here has historically been very strong so we
were confident that we could break away from the local authority and still maintain
the services that they provided to the students at the school.
On top of that we also realized that some of the additional funding and
also some of the additional freedoms meant that we could tailor-make
the provision here at the school
for what best suits our students. So when we took all those
factors into account
then the conversion to an academy was by far
the best deal for our students and staff here compared to continuing
as a maintained school.
We were very well-supported both by the DfE and our legal advisors
and I think that it was the planning of the consultation process and ensuring that
that ran effectively
was crucial
as part of the process to make sure that all stakeholders were on board.
Well, this is my second headship and my first headship was for an old-style
academy and that process
well it was pretty arduous. However when you convert under the new system the
process is much more streamlined.
a lot of the articles are off-the-shelf so the funding agreement,
articles of association and so on are off-the-shelf although they can be made bespoke if you have particular issues
that are unique to your school.
And you also get a grant of £25,000 to appoint
solicitors
who do the vast majority of the donkey work.
They've got expertise now in all areas of academy convention and they do take the
strain. It's important to discuss
with your local community exactly what is involved and invite them
to participate in case there are any issues or concerns. We had a
parents meeting and we invited
parents and local businesses
into that meeting and we did a presentation.
We also
used some of our school council members who were very positive about the academy changes
and the advantages that would bring to the school
and we felt that
that really reassured parents that it was actually for the benefit of the
students as well as for the school. And I think there's a lot more openness could be given about what it
entails, for what you have to get in place before you can consider
converting.
But then once you've converted it's a case of
really have your long-term five/ten year plan in the back of your head
before you start making your decisions because
it can have massive
positive impacts on the school
but only if it's well thought-out.
We've only been an academy since 1st July and we're
mid-January now so a lot of the changes that we've introduced have
yet to have
an impact upon the students here but we've increased the number of staff available to
students at Key Stage 4 especially in English and maths
so any student who is below their target now
will get a one-to-one tutor - historically that's only been available for Key Stage 3 students
so all students below their target at Key Stage 4 get one-to-one tuition in English, maths and science.
The academy gives us the opportunity to look carefully at our curriculum to ensure it's the most
appropriate for our students, to ensure they're as successful as they can be.
We've been able to appoint our own attendance officer so that will improve
for the children. We've been able to look at our pastoral structures and have our own school
counselling service and other external agencies that we used to buy in
we can now choose to actually have them on our own school site
so there's more immediate access for our students, parents
and carers. We have also additional freedoms over the appointment of staff
and although we've decided to retain our pay and conditions document -
the teacher's pay and conditions document, we have reserved the right to change that.
So, for example, if we're finding it difficult to recruit staff in maths or science
which historically we have, we could if we wanted to give additional
payments to staff to recruit them. Within our community we're part of a trust with
the primary schools and the other secondary schools in our town.
And our mission really is to provide good quality education for our town
and we've been able to
become a partner in that trust and therefore give benefit back
to our local community because we're an academy.
When it comes to the students they won't notice a great deal of difference
in the classroom immediately. Certainly the day we converted to an academy
it felt, looked, smelled and seemed exactly as it was
the previous day when we were a maintained school.
What academy status does do is give senior leaders and governors
an opportunity to tailor
the provision for the students and what best fits them as opposed to being dictated to by the
local authority. Now there are people in situ within the school who know what's best
for our institution and that's what academy status has given us, the
freedom to do what's best and to do it relatively rapidly compared to being a
maintained school.