Northwood Primary School has converted to academy status, freeing them from the control of Isle of Wight council.
OnTheWight spoke to the school this morning and they were very bright and breezy about their new academy status.
They’ve decided to go for a self-governing academy status as they felt this gave them the best chance to “provide the best possible education for (their) children”.
Advantages of being sponsor-free
Doing it without a sponsor gave them the opportunity of being “free to decide and determine how (their) school will continue to evolve and succeed.”
They also cited one of the reasons for the change as “The council’s capacity to provide meaningful support to its maintained schools had already reduced dramatically and this has now culminated with the management of children’s services, including schools and education, transferring to Hampshire County Council.”
The process
The conversion process started in September 2012 when they consulted for two months on becoming an academy, in their words, “Plenty of time was allowed for this as governors wanted to make sure that everyone, from staff to parents, from pupils to unions, had a chance to have their say.”
The full governing body gave it the official nod in November, commissioning an Island-based consultant to project manage the change.
It was all signed off by Ofsted at the start of April.
As part of the procedure, the previously existing school closes and a new school opens in its place, although this will have no practical effect.
The words in full from Northwood Primary School
Why convert?
In July of last year, our governing body registered Northwood’s interest in becoming an Academy with the Department for Education because they felt that academy status had much to offer the school and, most importantly, to the education experience that we could provide to our pupils. Self governing academy status, without a sponsor, offered a real opportunity to preserve the school’s unique character and ethos and enable us to build on our previous successes.The governing body also saw the academies programme as an opportunity to enter into a new relationship with the local authority. As a result of national spending cuts, the Isle of Wight Council continued to review its role in respect of providing services to schools. The council’s capacity to provide meaningful support to its maintained schools had already reduced dramatically and this has now culminated with the management of children’s services, including schools and education, transferring to Hampshire County Council.
The conversion process
Having registered our interest, we consulted on becoming an academy in September and October. Plenty of time was allowed for this as governors wanted to make sure that everyone, from staff to parents, from pupils to unions, had a chance to have their say. The results of the consultation were compiled into a report that was considered by the full governing body in November. At that meeting the governors decided, in light of the consultation findings, that they would indeed apply to become an academy.The school then commissioned an Island based consultant to project manage the conversion process and we instructed solicitors to work on the lease of the school site and buildings. Throughout January, February and March the consultant attended our governors meetings to update and be questioned on progress on the incorporation of the academy trust, the academy’s funding agreement with the Secretary of State, the lease, the tendering process for insurance, TUPE transfer of staff, staff pensions and a host of other bureaucratic issues.
Fortunately the decision to outsource this work ensured that the conversion process ran very smoothly, on time and enabled the school to carry on with its teaching and learning undistracted. This was very important to us because, as with most primary schools, all our capacity and expertise needs to be directed at our pupils; that is, after all, why we are here.
The future
Now that we are an academy our function will remain unchanged. We are here to serve Northwood and the surrounding communities by doing all we can to provide the best possible education for our children. This, in essence, is the reason that we chose to become an academy in the first place. As a self governing academy, without a sponsor, we are now
free to decide and determine how our school will continue to evolve and succeed. We are confident that we have all the necessary skills and experience to fulfil this role; we think our track record speaks for itself.We look forward to developing a positive relationship with colleagues from Hampshire Children’s Services and will explore all possible ways in which we can support other primary schools in their own teaching and learning.
Contact details
Northwood Primary School
Wyatts Lane
Northwood
Cowes
Isle of Wight
PO31 8PU
Telephone number: 01983 293392
Fax number: 01983 293392
The letter from Ofsted
