A new dawn for academy school

BROADCLYST Community Primary School has entered a new era as an academy — not that pupils noticed any immediate changes on their first day back yesterday.

The 420-pupil school near Exeter is one of 32 around the country which are starting the new academic year independent of local authority control.

That greater level of independence to continue to innovate in the curriculum and use our resources to provide for the needs of all children is what the academy will enable us to do.Jonathan Bishop, head of Broadclyst Community Primary School

Its conversion to an academy was given the go-ahead by virtue of the school having already been rated outstanding by Ofsted.

Head teacher Jonathan Bishop is confident that having greater autonomy will ultimately benefit Broadclyst pupils, even though they are taught in the same classrooms by the same teachers.

"In that sense hopefully children have noticed nothing different today," he said.

"That greater level of independence to continue to innovate in the curriculum and use our resources to provide for the needs of all children is what the academy will enable us to do."

Instead of Devon County Council maintaining the school, it now receives funding directly from the Government — including a 'top slice' which would normally be kept by the local education authority to pay for back office functions.

Mr Bishop can decide how to spend the money, including paying the county council or another company or organisation for services it previously provided, such as payroll admin, grass cutting and school dinners.

"On paper we are £200,000 a year better off, but in reality we are about spending that money ourselves to support the needs of the children here," he said.

The school's governors are now trustees of a charity and the school is run by a company, the Broadclyst Primary Academy Trust.

Elsewhere, Uffculme School was the only Devon secondary to achieve academy status before the start of the new term. Academy status is worth an extra £400,000 a year to the school, which teaches 900 pupils from Hemyock, Culmstock, Uffculme, Kentisbeare, Burlescombe, Holcombe Rogus, Sampford Peverell and Uplowman.

Head teacher Lorraine Heath said the school's biggest aspiration was to create a sixth form, a proposal turned down by Devon County Council.