First wave of 32 new-style academies open this week

1 September 2010

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-11151559


From the 32 new-style academies that open this term, seven are primary schools. Further, 110 schools will become academies later this year, from which 40 are primary schools and some grammar schools. The ones in favour of this new system say: that the schools will receive money directly from the government, but are not controlled by the local authorities. They are free to manage their academy according to their own needs, which will raise their school standards. Those against say: that the idea is a failure, because comparatively, out of more than 20.000 state schools in England, only a couple have opted for the academy status so far.


I would not say at this stage that it is a failure. Maybe the majority of the state schools are waiting to see if the ones opting for the academy are successful, before they decide themselves to join this new-style. I would do it, but it should be run by a good manager with economical sense. The success will depend on the sole capacity of the management where the investments will translate into poor, average or excellent results. This in turn will determine the status of the academy.