Special school bids to become a new academy
PARENTS, staff, pupils and community groups are being invited to comment on proposals to convert a Northampton special school into an academy.
Governors at Billing Brook School, in Penistone Road, Lumbertubs, are holding a public consultation to decide whether they should pursue independence from Northamptonshire County Council by joining the Government’s academies programme.
The move will result in the school, which has been judged “outstanding” by Ofsted, receiving funding directly from the Government instead of via the county council, including an additional £126,000 to spend on services for pupils as well as managing its own daily affairs.
Headteacher Caroline Grant described the status as being similar to entering a “brave new world”.
“We are a local outstanding special school and the governors have decided they would like to consider becoming an academy and the possible options that it will bring. By having more autonomy and independence it will allow us to do the things we do best for our children.”
Mrs Grant said by becoming an academy, the school would still have an important relationship with the local authority because the county council would still refer students to Billing Brook.
She said: “This isn’t about receiving the money, it’s being able to choose where to spend it and on which services, so it meets the specific needs of our pupils as well as enable us to have a more flexible curriculum.”
Consultation letters from the governing body were sent out to parents and carers last week. The letter said academy status would allow Billing Brook to extend the school day if needed and introduce afterschool clubs, however no changes would be made to pupils entitled to local authority transport.
If the governors continue with their proposal, the special school could gain academy status by September 2012.
The only other special school which has successfully gained academy status is Northgate School, in Kingsthorpe, which happened last September.
Mrs Grant said: “This is a very exciting period in education as it will give us more freedom to make our own decisions for the children rather than having to jump through several hoops.”
There will be an open academy consultation meeting at the school for parents tomorrow at 10am and 4pm. The deadline for comments is noon on February 24. They can be emailed to academyconsultation@billingbrook.northants.sch. uk
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willi eckaslyke
Monday, January 30, 2012 at 01:53 PMWon't be any bog-standard schools left soon....There'll need to be a new word to replace 'schoolteacher'...'academyoflearningteacher' seems a bit of a mouthful...Ideas anyone?
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