5.10 We invited the best schools in the country to convert to Academy status first, because their proven leadership and management capacity means that they are well placed to make the most of Academy freedoms, and become system leaders without the need for an external sponsor’s support. Since May 2010, 1,132 schools judged to be outstanding by Ofsted asked to be sent information on becoming Academies, representing 72 per cent of outstanding secondary schools and 22 per cent of outstanding primary schools81. Eighty of these outstanding schools have already opened as Academies since September 2010 and a further 118 will open shortly as a result of Academy Orders already made82. 

‘With the new Academy freedoms we will continue to develop our autonomy and take the school forward in an area of London that faces significant challenges and disadvantage. We will now have the flexibility to adapt and extend the curriculum, target resources more effectively, deploy specialist staff and above all build sustainable capacity to ensure continued and long term outstanding educational provision, to best meet the needs of our children and wider school community.’ 

Patricia Sowter, Head of Cuckoo Hall Primary School, Enfield 

5.11 In November 2010, we extended the invitation to other primary and secondary schools. Alongside outstanding schools, all schools that Ofsted has identified as good, and which also have outstanding features, will automatically be eligible for Academy status. All other schools – primary and secondary – that wish to benefit from Academy freedoms will be able to do so, providing they work in partnership with a high performing school that will help support improvement, or another sponsor. We expect that the first group of these schools will be able to open as Academies as early as April 2011.

New Academies

In May 2010, the Secretary of State invited outstanding schools to benefit from the freedom that Academy status brings. Since August 2010, 80 new Academies have opened. A further 118 Academies in the near future. Here are some of their experiences: 

Andrew Fielder is head of the new Sandy Hill Academy in Cornwall. He says the case for becoming an Academy is compelling: ‘We chose more autonomy, clearer leadership, less interference from local and central policy makers, less bureaucracy, and a freer hand to do what’s right for staff and children. In four months we have taken Sandy Hill School to Sandy Hill Academy. It has been a blast. It has been the right thing to do.’

Paul Gazzard, head of the new St. Buryan Academy, also in Cornwall, says that Academy status gives the whole school community greater freedom and flexibility to make a range of decisions: ‘The school staff have the opportunity to shape the curriculum and to concentrate on the areas they feel will most benefit the pupils, and to prepare them for the challenges ahead.’ 

Seaton Academy in Cumbria replaced Seaton Infant School. According to Seaton’s head Lesley Grace, ‘the whole school community has been given a huge boost and is taking on the new role with great enthusiasm. Academy status means that, as part of providing the very best education for our children, we now have the financial and operational freedoms to make changes to the curriculum to better meet their needs.’ Already, bureaucracy has been reduced, ‘we no longer have to duplicate information for the local authority, freeing up staff time to focus on teaching and learning in classrooms.’  

5.12 We will expect every school judged by Ofsted to be outstanding or good with outstanding features which converts into an Academy to commit to supporting at least one weaker school in return for Academy status. This will provide an additional pool of excellent potential sponsors to accelerate the transformation of some of our weakest schools, just as Tollbar Academy in North East Lincolnshire has done with the nearby Cleethorpes Academy. Thanks to the energy and expertise of the staff and head teacher at Tollbar, both schools were able to open as Academies in September 2010. 

‘[An Academy] belongs not to some remote bureaucracy, not to the rulers of government, local or national, but to itself, for itself. The school is in charge of its own destiny. This gives it pride and purpose. And most of all, freed from the extraordinarily debilitating and often, in the worst sense, political correct interference from state or municipality, Academies have just one thing in mind, something shaped not by political prejudice but by common sense: what will make the school excellent.’ 

Tony Blair, A Journey

‘You cannot mandate greatness, it has to be unleashed’

Joel Klein, quoted in Instruction to Deliver (Michael Barber, 2007)

5.13 The complexity of funding issues in particular has meant that we have had to move more slowly with special schools. But in January 2011 we will invite special schools to apply to become Academies as well. We believe that this will be a major opportunity to transform provision for special needs, and the forthcoming Green Paper on Special Educational Needs and Disability will consider how to maximise the impact of these new freedoms for special schools. 

5.14 Taking on Academy status is an opportunity for every school, but – as long as a school is meeting minimum standards – we will not force any school to take on the increased autonomy if the head teacher and governors do not want to.