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70-456: Cottenham Village College is an academy school located in Cottenham , Cambridgeshire , England. The school offers secondary education to pupils from the surrounding area. In addition, as part of Cambridgeshire's village college structure, Cottenham offers adult education courses and leisure facilities for the local community. Cottenham Village College and The Centre School were run by

140-487: A hung parliament , Nick Timothy resigned, and the future of many of the manifesto policies was thrown into doubt. This resulted in speculation as to whether the 50% Rule would be repealed or not, and associated lobbying and campaigning on both sides of the debate. Nevertheless, eight months after the consultation report was expected to be published, the Government said it was "still considering how best to progress

210-509: A private sponsor who could be an individual (such as Sir David Garrard , who sponsors Business Academy Bexley ), organisations such as the United Learning Trust , mission-driven businesses such as The Co-operative Group or outsourcing for-profit businesses such as Amey plc ). These sponsors were expected to bring "the best of private-sector best practice and innovative management" to academies, "often in marked contrast to

280-567: A foregone conclusion by the Catholic Education Service, which wrote in its 2016 annual report: "After a CES coordinated campaign which put pressure on Government officials, parliamentarians and Downing Street special advisers, the Prime Minister announced the removal of the 50% cap on faith-based admission for new Free Schools. This announcement means that Catholic dioceses will be able to open new Catholic schools for

350-754: A full list of active academy sponsors. In 2019 there were 5,539 primary academies in England, of which 514 were forced away from local authority control after being failed by Ofsted . The Department for Education (DfE) paid out at least £18.4m to the academy trusts taking on these schools. The parents, governors and local authorities had no say in how this money was spent or how the assets were used. Since 2013–14, more than 300 primary academies have been rebrokered (receiving government setup money again) or moved between trusts. In 2017–8, seven trusts running primary schools closed leaving all their schools in search of another sponsor. This leads to uncertainty and expense as

420-572: A judgement which confirmed that places allocated "without reference to faith" should be just as accessible to Catholics (or other faith groups) as to those without a faith affiliation. Another Free School, Trinity Academy in Brixton, opened without a formal Catholic designation (for which it would have needed the support of the church authorities), but with a Catholic ethos, and oversubscription criteria that allocated 100% of places without reference to faith. The school's founder has spoken out against

490-536: A legal precedent for interpretation of 2011 Education Act . The Education Secretary suggested that the school should "voluntarily" adhere to the 50% rule. In the end, the diocesan authorities did provide 10 open places in the primary school, however, like St. Michaels in Camborne, they were also required by the Schools' Adjudicator to modify the wording of their policy to ensure that Catholic children could access

560-467: A number of academies open and reporting successes, the programme continues to come under attack for creating schools that are said to be, among other things, a waste of money, selective, damaging to the schools and communities around them, forced on parents who do not want them, and a move towards privatisation of education "by the back door". The introduction of academy schools was opposed by teachers' trade unions and some high-profile figures within

630-429: A parliamentary debate. He said: "Where the Government fund new Church or faith school provision, it is right that such new schools cater for local demand in the faith, but the needs of children in the broader local community must not be overlooked. We want all local children to have the same opportunity to access high-quality state-funded education. The fact that it is state-funded is the point." He went on to talk about

700-591: Is a state-funded school which is directly funded by the Department for Education and independent of local authority control. The terms of the arrangements are set out in individual Academy Funding Agreements. 80% of secondary schools, 40% of primary schools and 44% of special schools are academies (as of October 2023). Academies are self-governing non-profit charitable trusts and may receive additional support from personal or corporate sponsors, either financially or in kind. Academies are inspected and follow

770-554: Is also linked to the wider debate in the education sector as to the benefits or otherwise of the growing role of religion in the school system being promoted by the New Labour government in general, and Tony Blair in particular, with many academies (one estimate puts it at "more than half" ) being sponsored either by religious groups or organisations/individuals with a religious affiliation. A parliamentary report in 2015, entitled "Free Schools and Academies", recommends that "In

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840-608: Is also located on the Cottenham Village College site. It is a BESD special school providing education for approximately 50 statemented students aged 11 to 16 from across Cambridgeshire. The school opened in January 2009. This Cambridgeshire school or sixth form college related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Academy (English school) An academy school in England

910-515: Is known as a multi-academy trust , although sometimes the terms academy group or academy federation are used instead. An academy chain is a group of trusts working together under a shared management structure. An academy is an independent state school governed by the Academy Agreement it makes with the Department for Education , and at that point it severs connections with the local education authority. The current advisory text

980-519: Is published by the Department for Education. The city academy programme was originally based on the programme of City Technology Colleges (CTCs) created by the Conservative government under Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s, which were also business-sponsored. From 2003, the Government encouraged CTCs to convert to academies; did so (for example, Djanogly CTC is now Djanogly City Academy )

1050-620: Is the Academy and free school: master funding agreement dated March 2018. The governors of the academy are obliged to publish an annual report and accounts, that are open to scrutiny and inspections. All academies are expected to follow a broad and balanced curriculum but many have a particular focus on, or formal specialism in, one or more areas such as science; arts; business and enterprise; computing; engineering; mathematics; modern foreign languages; performing arts; sport; or technology. Although academies are required to follow some aspects of

1120-684: Is the legal vehicle that enables schools to work together in a group in a single legal entity. The trust, therefore, creates the capacity for school improvement. As the legal entity, the trust can also create the conditions and the culture of improvement.” They also highlight the impact academy trusts have made in tackling the attainment gap in areas of the country such as the North. Academies have continued to be controversial, and their existence has frequently been opposed and challenged by some politicians, commentators, teachers, teachers' unions, and parents. Even after several years of operation and with

1190-848: The 2010 Coalition Government formed from the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats . In the run up to the 2010 general election , the Liberal Democrat manifesto had stated that "We will ensure that all faith schools develop an inclusive admissions policy." This aim was reflected in the Coalition Agreement as follows: "We will ensure that all new Academies follow an inclusive admissions policy. We will work with faith groups to enable more faith schools and facilitate inclusive admissions policies in as many of these schools as possible." The 50% rule

1260-414: The 50% Rule requiring them to allocate at least half of their places without reference to faith. In terms of their governance, academies are established as companies limited by guarantee with a Board of Directors that acts as a Trust. The Academy Trust has exempt charity status, regulated by the Department for Education . The trustees are legally, but not financially, accountable for the operation of

1330-785: The DfE and inform the Regional Schools Commission. Governors open consultation with parents and staff, and with this information make a decision as to whether to proceed. Assuming they do, the Regional Schools Commissioner approves the decision to join the selected trust and the Secretary of State issues an academy order. The school staff to are transferred to the MAT in accordance with TUPE regulations, and land and commercial assets are transferred from

1400-464: The Fresh Start programme in a speech by David Blunkett , then Secretary of State for Education and Skills , in 2000. He said that their aim was "to improve pupil performance and break the cycle of low expectations''. The chief architect of the policy was Andrew Adonis (now Lord Adonis, formerly Secretary of State at the Department for Transport ) in his capacity as education advisor to

1470-820: The House of Commons questioned Henry Stewart, of the Local Schools Network, and Rachel Wolf, of the New Schools Network , on accountability and funding of academies and free schools. The Committee was review a report by the Auditor General, Managing the Expansion of the Academies Programme (HC 682), which had identified that in 2011-12 £96,000,000 had been diverted from supporting under-performing Local Authority schools to

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1540-562: The National Curriculum , they are otherwise free to innovate; however, as they participate in the same Key Stage 3 and GCSE exams as other English schools, they teach a curriculum very similar other schools, with only small variations. Like other state schools, academies are required to adhere to the National Admissions Code, although newly established academies with a faith designation are subject to

1610-726: The School Standards and Framework Act 1998 . The school pays a proportion of its central funding to the MAT for shared services but can in theory take better measures to ensure best value. Whilst still in the fairly early stage of development, supporters pointed to emerging data showing "striking" improvements in GCSE results for academies compared to their predecessors, with early results showing that "GCSE results are improving twice as fast in academies as in state schools". In an article in The Observer , that regarded many of

1680-511: The 50% Rule was judged to be unreasonable, because it designated Church of England primary schools, which themselves had faith-based admissions criteria, as feeder schools for the 50% of places that were being allocated without reference to faith. Following the Government's consultation on removal of the 50% Rule, one proposed CE Free School apparently published plans for oversubscription criteria that selected only 25% of places without reference to faith, prompting criticism that people were "jumping

1750-465: The 50% Rule, saying that they would not open any Free schools while it was in place. In April 2014, the issue was aired in the House of Commons in a debate led by Damian Hinds MP . The Coalition Government was replaced by a Conservative Government in the 2015 general election . The Schools Minister with responsibility for Free Schools, Lord Nash , told campaigners that there were no plans to review

1820-426: The 50% Rule. The same document said ""Other Christian" free schools have nearly a fifth of pupils of Asian origin and nearly a tenth from black ethnic families, with just 55% of White ethnic origin". In response to the consultation, a campaign group in favour of retaining the 50% Rule published analysis indicating that schools subject to the rule are more ethnically diverse than those that aren't, concluding that "if

1890-415: The 50% Rule. However, the following year, Nick Timothy , the newly appointed director of the New Schools Network , responsible for encouraging and supporting the establishment of Free Schools, spoke out in favour of ending it. When Theresa May became Prime Minister in 2016, Nick Timothy became her Joint Chief of Staff, and was credited as responsible when later the same year a national consultation by

1960-621: The Catholic Education Service's position on the 50% rule, describing it as "stubborn" and a missed opportunity for evangelism. When St Richard Reynolds Catholic High School and Primary School were established in the London Borough of Richmond Upon Thames in 2013, campaign groups accused the local authority of helping the Catholic church to avoid the 50% Rule, by providing financial and political support for them to be set up as voluntary aided schools rather than Free Schools, and setting

2030-749: The Cottenham Academy Trust. However, the Trust was then taken over by the Astrea Academy Trust based in Sheffield. The CEO of Astrea is Libby Nicholas. Cottenham Village College primarily serves 11–16 year olds in the villages of Cottenham, Waterbeach and Willingham . The college is non-selective and takes students of all abilities, following the Local Authority's admission policy and procedures. The Centre School

2100-557: The Department for Education asked for people's views on removing the 50% Rule, to enable new faith academies to select up to 100% of pupils based on their faith. The move was opposed by individuals and groups campaigning for inclusive admissions, including the Accord Coalition , Humanists UK and the National Secular Society as well as other commentators. The results of the consultation were seen as

2170-683: The Government's claims for academies with scepticism, journalist Geraldine Bedell conceded that: The article singles out the cited academy, Mossbourne Community Academy in Hackney , as "apparently the most popular [school] in Britain – at least with politicians" and "the top school in the country for value-added results". Since the early stages of the academies sector, the sector has grown substantially, and as of January 2022, more than half (53%) of all pupils in England are educated in an academy, and academies account for 39% of primary schools (40% of

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2240-523: The Labour Party, such as former party leader Lord Kinnock . Lord Kinnock criticised the academies scheme, saying that they were a "distortion of choice" and risked creating a "seller's market" with "schools selecting parents and children instead of parents selecting schools". The House of Commons Education and Skills Select Committee reported in March 2005 that it would have been wiser to limit

2310-582: The Prime Minister in the late 1990s. Academies were known as City Academies for the first few years, but the term was changed to Academies by an amendment in the Education Act 2002 . The term Sponsored Academies was applied retroactively to this type of academy, to distinguish it from other types of academy that were enabled later. By 2024, about 80% of state-funded secondary schools were academies or free schools, and about 40% of primary schools were academies. Sponsored Academies originally needed

2380-445: The academies programme, followed by a further £400,000,000 in the financial year 2012-13. The Committee also questioned Chris Wormald , then Permanent Secretary at the Department for Education , who admitted that the Government had deliberately chosen to remove money originally allocated to support under-performing schools. Chris Wormald stated, "The Government took a very conscious decision that its major school improvement programme

2450-467: The academies sector responded to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic showed how strong and sustainable trusts are a resilient and protective structure for pupils and schools. Sector experts such as Leora Cruddas, Chief Executive of the sector body Confederation of School Trusts, support the concept of academy trusts being the ideal vehicle for school improvement, as, unlike in local authorities, “it

2520-431: The academy proposal from its inception but wants the scheme to go further. This accord was reflected in a remark made by Conservative spokesman David Willetts in 2006: I am more authentically Andrew Adonis than Andrew Adonis is. In 2004, the Liberal Democrats were reported as being "split" on the issue and so decided that academies should not be mentioned in the party's education policy. The position of Phil Willis ,

2590-424: The academy. The Trust serves as the legal entity of which the school is part. The trustees oversee the running of the school, sometimes delegating responsibility to a local governing body which they appoint. The day-to-day management of the school is, as in most schools, conducted by the head teacher and their senior management team. In Sponsored Academies, the sponsor is able to influence the process of establishing

2660-491: The borough. The programme of creating academies has also been heavily criticised by some for handing schools to private sector entrepreneurs who in many cases have no experience of the education sector: such as the Evangelical Christian car dealer, Sir Peter Vardy , who has been accused of promoting the teaching of creationism alongside macroevolution in his Emmanuel Schools Foundation academies. This

2730-592: The case for schools in the Co-op Academies Trust (one of the larger business-supported trusts). They were expected to be creative and innovative because of their financial and academic freedoms, in order to deal with the long-term issues they were intended to solve. Originally all Sponsored Academies had to have a curriculum specialism within the English Specialist Schools Programme (SSP) . However, this requirement

2800-418: The community." However, campaign groups have said that the admissions authorities for CE schools frequently do not follow this advice. Some Church of England free schools go beyond what is required by the 50% Rule and have oversubscription criteria which allocate 100% of places without reference to faith, in line with many of their established voluntary controlled schools . One school's interpretation of

2870-485: The education spokesman at the time, was summarised as: … there [are] no plans to abolish either city academies or specialist schools if the Lib Dems came to power, though "they would be brought under local authority control". In 2005, Willis' successor, Ed Davey , argued that academies were creating a "two-tier education system" and called for the academy programme to be halted until "a proper analysis can be done". At

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2940-466: The first time in six years." However, in April 2017, before the results of the consultation were published, Theresa May called a snap general election , with Nick Timothy as a senior advisor for her campaign. Their Conservative manifesto included a pledge to "replace the unfair and ineffective inclusivity rules that prevent the establishment of new Roman Catholic schools." When the election resulted in

3010-467: The funding agencies to account. The governors of a school are persuaded to consider academy status, perhaps in response to an approach by a multi-academy trust (MAT). They have two choices: remain with their current local authority , or join a multi-academy trust; converting to be a stand-alone trust ceased to be an option prior to 2018. If they were only given a 'satisfactory' (now referred to as 'requir[ing] improvement') Ofsted rating, they don't have

3080-484: The gun" in assuming the change would go ahead. However, the school later said the policy description on their website had been incorrect. The Free School programme resulted in the establishment of many new schools with several faith designations, including other Christian denominations, Jewish, Hindu, Sikh and Muslim, all of which are subject to the 50% Rule. Some senior members of the Jewish community publicly supported

3150-409: The lack of leadership experienced by the failing schools that academies have replaced" (known as predecessor schools). They were originally required to contribute 10% of the academy's capital costs (up to a maximum of £2m). The remainder of the capital and running costs were met by the state in the usual way for UK state schools through grants funded by the local authority. The Government later removed

3220-502: The local authority. The school can change its mind until documents are sent to the Secretary of State in order to be signed; this is usually around three weeks before the agreed conversion date. There are legal costs involved, and £25,000 is given to a converting academy to cover these costs. The local authority must grant a 125-year lease to the academy trust for the land. School land and playing fields are protected under Section 77 of

3290-530: The meantime the Government should stop exaggerating the success of academies and be cautious about firm conclusions except where the evidence merits it. Academisation is not always successful nor is it the only proven alternative for a struggling school". In 2016 a major study by the Education Policy Institute found no significant differences in performance between academies and local council run schools. The original City Academy programme

3360-637: The new Academic year in September 2010. By 23 July 2010, 153 schools in England had applied for academy status, lower than the prediction that more than 1,000 would do so. In spite of the expanding Academy programme, in August 2010 Gove announced that 75 existing academy rebuild projects were likely to be scaled back. Nevertheless, by September 2012, the majority of state secondary schools in England had become Academies. Monthly updated information on existing academies and free schools, and applications in process,

3430-414: The new trust will rebrand and parents must pay for new school uniform. New rules, staff and systems are set in place. The 50%25 Rule The 50% rule applied only to new academies, established under the " free school " programme, not to maintained schools that converted to academy status. David Laws, Schools Minister at the time the 50% Rule was introduced, described the motivation behind it in

3500-599: The open places. The Church of England (CE) established large numbers of new schools under the Free School programme. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby , has said that the Church of England is moving away from selecting pupils based on religion. Responding to the proposal to remove the 50% Rule, their Chief Education Officer stated that "Our schools are not faith schools for the faithful, they are church schools for

3570-436: The policy proposals ... in light of the responses to the consultation." In January 2018, a Cabinet reshuffle resulted in the incumbent Education Secretary, Justine Greening , being replaced by Damian Hinds , whose record of supporting the Catholic Education Service's position on the 50% rule fuelled speculation that he planned to implement the Government's manifesto pledge to remove it. The following month, he confirmed that

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3640-486: The power to make the decision. The governors assess the MATs available and willing to take them on. Ethos and values, geographical mix of schools and practicality, how individual schools have succeeded in retaining their identity, value for money, and the trust's capacity to support the development of schools and staff are all factors that are compared. The governors then select a partner trust. They then register interest with

3710-488: The previous year. and, at 1 November 2013, it stood at 3,444. The Education Funding Agency monitors financial management and governance of academies. In March 2022, a report by parliament's Public Accounts Committee found that academy trusts paying a staff member more than £100,000 had increased from 1,875 to 2,245 in 2020–2021 from the previous financial year. The committee concluded that lack of financial transparency undermined parents' capacity to hold school leaders and

3780-457: The primary school population), 80% of secondary schools (79% of secondary school pupils) and 43% of special schools (40% of special school pupils). This growth in the academies system coincides with the improvement of Ofsted judgement across schools, with 88% of all schools rated Good or Outstanding, an improvement from 68% in August 2010. Research from the University of Nottingham into how

3850-410: The principle of parental choice, saying there are "two competing rights in a state-funded school system: people's right to choose to have their children educated in the way that they wish, and the right of [other] taxpayers who live near state-funded schools to have some ability to access them despite the over-representation of people from the faith that the system allows." The 50% rule was introduced by

3920-531: The programme to 30 or 50 academies in order to evaluate the results before expanding the programme, and that "the rapid expansion of the Academy policy comes at the expense of rigorous evaluation". The Select Committee was concerned that the promising results achieved by some academies may be due to increased exclusions of harder-to-teach pupils. They noted that two Middlesbrough academies had expelled 61 pupils, compared to just 15 from all other secondary schools in

3990-567: The removal of the 50% Rule. The Government's 2016 consultation document "Schools that Work for Everyone", which was proposing removal of the 50% Rule, said that "in open free schools designated for minority faiths in the English school system (Islam, Judaism, Sikhism and Hinduism) the intake has been predominantly of pupils from similar ethnic backgrounds". They contrasted this with Voluntary Aided Catholic schools which they said have higher levels of diversity on average, despite not being subject to

4060-534: The requirement for financial investment by a private sponsor in a move to encourage successful existing schools and charities to become sponsors. Sponsored Academies typically replaced one or more existing schools, but some were newly established. They were intended to address the problem of entrenched failure within English schools with low academic achievement, or schools situated in communities with low academic aspirations. Often these schools had been placed in " special measures " after an Ofsted inspection, as has been

4130-543: The same rules on admissions, special educational needs and exclusions as other state schools and students sit the same national exams. They have more autonomy with the National Curriculum , but must ensure their curriculum is broad and balanced, and that it includes the core subjects of English, maths and science. They must also teach relationships and sex education, and religious education. They are free to choose their specialisms . The following are all types of academy: An academy trust that operates more than one academy

4200-477: The school, including its curriculum, ethos, specialism and building (if a new one is built). The sponsor also has the power to appoint governors to the academy's governing body. The Labour Government under Tony Blair established academies through the Learning and Skills Act 2000 , which amended the section of the Education Act 1996 relating to City Technology Colleges . They were first announced as part of

4270-718: The subsequent election, Academies were supported by all three main political parties, with a further cross-party initiative to extend the programme into primary schools currently being considered. In 2010 the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats coalition government announced plans to expand the academy programme with the Academies Act 2010 . In May 2010 the then Education secretary Michael Gove wrote to all state schools in England inviting them to opt out of Local Authority control and convert to Academy status. Gove also stated that some academies could be created in time for

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4340-448: Was "disingenuous and politically motivated". The chairperson of the CES has said: “The Church of England runs schools for the wider community ..... Ours are different. They are for the Catholic community.” One Catholic Free School was established, St Michael's in Camborne , as a conversion from the private sector. It originally received "one off" approval from church officials, but this

4410-739: Was a 2003 conversion. Academies differ from CTCs in several ways; most notably, academies cannot select more than 10% of pupils by ability, whereas CTCs can. Academies have been compared to US charter schools , which are publicly funded schools largely independent of state and federal control. A number of private and charitable organisations run groups of academies, known as Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs). These major operators include ARK Schools , Academies Enterprise Trust , E-ACT (formerly Edutrust Academies Charitable Trust), Emmanuel Schools Foundation , Harris Federation , Oasis Trust , Ormiston Academies Trust , Tauheedul Education Trust and United Learning Trust . The Department for Education publishes

4480-485: Was attacked for its expense: it cost on average £25m to build an academy under this scheme, much of which was taken up by the costs of new buildings. Critics contend that this is significantly more than it costs to build a new local authority school. Some operators are paying senior staff six-figure salaries, partly funded by central government. In December 2012, the Public Accounts Committee of

4550-503: Was first applied following the Academies Act 2010 , via a condition to the Funding Agreements for all new faith academies established under the Free School programme. It was later documented within the 2014 Schools Admissions Code. The Education Secretary, Michael Gove , suggested that the rule should also be "voluntarily" applied to other types of new faith school. The Catholic Education Service lobbied for removal of

4620-690: Was his intention. However, in May 2018 it was announced that the 50% cap would remain in place. Instead the Government said it would provide financial support for local authorities that want to work with faith groups to create new voluntary aided schools . The Catholic Education Service refused to support the establishment of new faith academies under the 50% Rule because they interpreted it as forcing schools "to turn pupils away because they were Catholics while admitting others because they were not". They said that this would be against Canon Law, although campaigners for inclusive admissions argued that their claim

4690-468: Was later withdrawn and, after it failed to thrive, the school was eventually absorbed into a community academy. While it was operating as a Catholic free school it was found to misinterpret the 50% Rule, because its oversubscription criteria prioritised 50% of places for "non-Catholics" rather than allocating them "without reference to faith". This was judged to be a breach of the Admissions Code,

4760-815: Was removed in 2010. By May 2010 there were 203 Sponsored Academies in England. The Academies Act 2010 sought to increase the number of academies. It enabled all maintained schools to convert to academy status, known as Converter Academies and enabled new academies to be created via the Free School Programme . At the same time the new Conservative-led Coalition Government announced that they would redirect funding for school Specialisms [i.e. Technology College Status ] into mainstream funding. This meant that Secondary Schools would no longer directly receive ring-fenced funds of £130K from Government for each of their specialisms. One way to regain some direct control over their finances and retain specialist funding

4830-497: Was the academies programme." In December 2018, the Sutton Trust published a report on the effectiveness of MATs in improving the performance of disadvantaged children, with its authors noting that "Our five-year analysis of sponsor academies' provision for disadvantaged pupils shows that while a few chains are demonstrating transformational results for these pupils, more are struggling." The Conservative Party has supported

4900-496: Was to become a Converter Academy and receive all of their funding direct from Government, with the possibility of buying in services at a cheaper rate. This, along with some schools wanting more independence from local authority control, meant that many state secondary schools in England converted to academy status in subsequent years. By April 2011, the number of academies had increased to 629, and by August 2011, reached 1,070. By July 2012 this number reached 1,957, double that of

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