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Heckmondwike school in academies first wave
A high-flying Kirklees school is one of the first in the country to convert to an academy under the Government's education overhaul.
And a Leeds primary will become one of the first primary academies after an invitation from Education Secretary Michael Gove to make the change and take more control over the way it is run.
As of yesterday Heckmondwike Grammar School became Heckmondwike Grammar School Academy Trust, one of 32 academies to open this week.
Garforth Community College, Garforth Green Lane Primary School and Wakefield City High School are among a further 110 schools that have had their applications approved and are on track to convert over the coming months.
Mike Cook, headteacher at Heckmondwike, said: "The additional freedoms associated with academy status will enable the governing body to further raise standards not just in the school but also in the local community."
Academies are publicly-funded schools which operate outside local authority control.
They have more freedom over finances, the curriculum, and teachers' pay and conditions.
Schools rated "outstanding" by Ofsted, like Heckmondwike, were pre-approved to make the switch. Garforth Green Lane Primary School is one of just seven primary schools set to convert to academy status this year.
Mr Gove wrote to every primary, secondary and special school in England in May inviting them to apply for academy status and a new Bill was passed to allow schools to take up the offer.
He said: "This Government believes that teachers and head teachers, not politicians and bureaucrats, should control schools and have more power over how they are run."
Around 16 schools in Leeds, six in Wakefield and five in Kirklees were among 2,000 that expressed an interest.
The total of schools becoming academies this academic year is 216, as 64 new academies will replace failing schools this September and a further 10 are set to open by April 2011.
In Leeds there are already three academies, Leeds West Academy in Bramley, David Young Community Academy, Seacroft, and South Leeds Academy, Beeston. The council has approved plans to turn Parklands Girls High, Seacroft, and Primrose High, Burmantofts, into academies in September 2011.
Teaching unions argue that the creation of more academies will create a two-tier service.
Objectors have criticised the speed at which legislation was created and fear there will be less cash for schools remaining under council control .
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Friday 10 February 2012
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