Academies

26-06-10 Government published list of schools interested in applying for academy status.

Academies are state-funded but independently-run schools in England. They have more freedom than schools under local authority control. They were first established in 2000 to drive up standards by replacing failing schools in struggling local authorities.  Michael Gove, the new education secretary, is urging all schools in the country to apply for academy status, including, for the first time,  primary schools. Those rated outstanding by Ofsted will automatically be eligible to become academies by September 2010. There could be over 2,000 of them.

Academies have more independence over what they teach, they can opt to award bonuses to their staff and pay headteachers up to £30,000 more than in other schools. They are not under local authority control and so arguably are subject to less bureaucracy and have more freedom over their budgets. They can change the length of the school term and day.

Sponsors of the first academies contributed up to £2m towards the costs of the new or refurbished school buildings, and the government provided the rest of the funding. Since then, the Building Schools for the Future programme has taken over, and academy buildings have been acquired through Partnerships for Schools and local authorities, with sponsorship providing other income unconnected to building work.

New legislation to be introduced will mean that outstanding schools that become academies will not need to be sponsored by outside organisations. This represents a major change in the funding system.

At present, out of the 24,000 schools in England, 202 are academies. Labour planned for 400.

Do academies raise standards?
In 2008 figures showed that academies were improving at a faster rate than the average state school, although one in four academies with GCSE students saw their results fall. A report by PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2007 also found attainment in academies was improving at a faster rate than comparable schools and the national average, and pupils were doing better overall at key stage 3, GCSE and post-16 levels.

Academy Schools: Key information
Definition of academy
- State-funded independent schools
- Outside of local authority control
- Historically all-ability but now allows selective arrangements to continue
- Historically sponsored - but the new academies will not be
- A charitable limited company

Eligible schools
- Outstanding schools to begin with (historically underachieving)
- Have governing bodies approval (& Foundation & Trustees if applicable)
- Must be willing to support an under-performing school
- Primary, Secondary, Special Schools
- 200 schools will be chosen per year

Timeframe for conversion
- The process to become an Academy can be completed within a school term
- 30 June cut off date for September conversion.
- Funding agreements to last at least seven years

‘Key Freedoms’
- Pay and terms and conditions of staff
- Freedom from some of the National Curriculum
- Length of terms and school days
- Potentially further freedoms relating to 14-19 education & relaxing requirements in the ‘Funding Agreement’.
- Freedom from further inspection

What transfers?

Staff (TUPE transfer process must be followed)
Staff Pensions
Land, typically on a 125 year lease from the Local Authority
Property and assets

Responsibility for

• the running of the school
• Admissions
• communications plus any rebranding
• parental and pupil consultation
• union relations
• tax
• procurement
• safeguarding and staff training
• contracts and service level agreements
• Legal responsibility for data protection, software licences etc
• Insurance and liabilities
• Budget surplus but also budget deficits
• Financial incentives
• Academy Conversion Grant of £25k (but no more).
• Funded at a comparable level to maintained schools
• Can attract outside private investment
• Can rollover under-spend from one year to next (but no more than 12% of General Annual Grant)

Academies share the Local Authority Central Spend Equivalent
For this money, school needs to fund: -
oSpecialist services
oMonitoring
oSEN
oAttendance and behaviour support
oTransport
o14-19 practical learning options
oFree school meals