Radical New Process for Becoming an Academy School Published

28th May 2010

The Academies Bill was published on 27th May 2010.  It provides a new and simplified method for a maintained school to become an Academy, and also a relatively simple legal process for parent and other charitable groups to set up Academies.  Assuming this Bill becomes law, all maintained schools, whether providing primary and/or secondary education, can apply to the Department for Education (DfE) to be converted into an Academy. This includes Schools that use selection and those with a faith designation (neither of those characteristics will be altered by this change). 

Whether converted into an Academy or set up as one from scratch, new Academies will have the following characteristics:

  • They will be funded and maintained direct by the DfE at a level equivalent to maintained schools.  This will mean that the School can retain the Local Authority Central Spend Equivalent (“LACSEG”) portion of its budget which is currently top sliced by its LA for maintained Schools. Any current School financial surplus held at the date of conversion to an Academy will be retained by the Academy.
  • A Charitable Trust will need to be set up to hold ownership of the School’s site, be the conduit for funding and appoint the Governing Body of the School.
  • The running of the School will be through an Academy Agreement with the DfE rather than ordinary education law.
  • The School Staff will become employed by the Trust which will not be required to follow the national Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Agreement after TUPE transfer of the current staff.
  • The Academy will have considerable freedom to set its own curriculum.
  • The School will become its own admission authority with control over setting its own admission arrangements, deciding individual admission applications and organising its own appeals.

Roger Inman, Head of Education at Stone King comments:  “This is a radical legal development which makes it relatively simple for a current maintained school to convert into an Academy in a few months.  The legal process for setting up new schools as Academies has also been simplified as much as possible.”

If you would like a detailed version of the above briefing, or discuss setting up or converting into a new Academy, please contact Roger Inman via ri@stoneking.co.uk or 020 7796 1007.