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Academy Conversion

John EdmundsAcademy Converters Division

An Academy is …

Academies are publicly-funded independent schools that provide a first-class education.

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Broad political support

“[An academy] belongs not to some remote bureaucracy, not to the rulers of government, local or national, but to itself, for itself. The school is in charge of its own destiny. This gives it pride and purpose. And most of all, freed from the extraordinarily debilitating and often, in the worst sense, politically correct interference from state or municipality, academies have just one thing in mind, something shaped not by political prejudice but by common sense: what will make the school excellent.”

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Over quite a long time …

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Academies Act

2010

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Routes to Academy Status

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Schools that are ‘performing well’

Can convert to Academy

status

Schools that are not ‘performing well’ but are

above ‘the floor’

Can convert in a chain with a stronger

school

Schools that are below the

‘floor’

Can convert in a Multi-Academy Trust (chain)

with a strong school

Continue to be tackled through Sponsored

approach

Worst performing

schools

Academy Constitution

• Company– Registered at companies house.– Limited by guarantee.

• Charity– Not for profit.

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Academy Trust

• Funding Agreement– With the secretary of state– For 7 years, rolling thereafter

• Articles of Association– Sets out the objects of the Trust (what it exists

to do)

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Academy Trusts

• Members

– Think: Shareholders– Accountable for the

Trust to the Secretary of State

• Governors

– Think: Directors– Run the Academy on a

day to day basis– Accountable to the

Members

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Academy Trust Governors

• Those appointed by the Members• Head Teacher/ Principal• At least two parent governors• No more than one third Academy employees

(including the Head Teacher/ Principal)• Co-opted governors (no limit, but any employees

count to the one third limit)

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Academies – the money

•General Annual Grant (GAG), including:•Local Authority Central Spend Equivalent Grant (LACSEG)

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Lord Nash – Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools

• Two years as one of the Department’s non-Executive Directors;

• Academy Sponsor (Future Academy Trust)

• Note: very interested in Governance

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Multi-Academy Trusts

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Umbrella Trusts

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Umbrella Trust

£ Contribution

Purchasing Shared Services

School Improvement

Multi-Academy TrustMulti-Academy Funding

AgreementMembersDirectors

Academy AFunding Agreement

ArticlesMembersDirectors

Academy BFunding Agreement

ArticlesMembersDirectors

Conversion process

•It’s like moving house !

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Conversion process 1

• Application (make an offer)

• Academy Order (offer accepted)

• Conversion Grant (special offer)

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Conversion process 2

• Engage solicitors (land searches etc)

• Funding Agreement (exchange of contracts)

• Conversion date (moving in)

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2619 Academies as of January 2013

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72 in the pipeline in Y&H

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One more thing – conversion time

• About 5 months

• Longer for PFI

• Some projects get ‘stuck’

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Any Questions ?

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Thank you

john.edmunds@education.gsi.gov.uk

0114 274 2396

www.education.gov.uk