Academy (English school)

Did You Know?

• Studio schools are small free schools with around 300 pupils using project-based learning.
• Mossbourne Community Academy in Hackney has been described as 'the top school in the country for value-added results.'

Features

An academy in England is a type of state-funded school that operates independently from the local education authority. It is governed by a legally binding Academy Agreement with the Department for Education, and the key reference document for this arrangement is the Academy and free school: master funding agreement from March 2018. The school’s governors must release an annual report and financial accounts, both of which are subject to public inspection and oversight.

While academies are expected to offer a broad and balanced curriculum, many choose to specialise in one or more areas such as science, arts, business and enterprise, computing, engineering, mathematics, modern foreign languages, performing arts, sport, or technology. They must follow certain parts of the National Curriculum but otherwise have the freedom to innovate. However, because they take the same Key Stage 3 and GCSE exams as other state schools, their actual teaching content ends up being very similar, with only minor differences.

Like all state schools, academies must comply with the National Admissions Code. New academies with a religious designation are bound by the 50% Rule, meaning at least half of their places must be offered without considering faith. Legally, an academy is set up as a company limited by guarantee, with a board of directors that forms a Trust. This Academy Trust has exempt charity status and is regulated by the Department for Education.

The trustees are legally responsible for the school’s operation, though not financially liable. The Trust is the legal entity that owns the school, and the trustees oversee its running, often delegating day-to-day tasks to a local governing body they appoint. The head teacher and senior management team handle the school’s daily management. In Sponsored Academies, the sponsor can shape the school’s founding, including its curriculum, ethos, specialism, and even its building, and also has the power to appoint governors to the governing body.

History

Academies were established by the Labour Government under Tony Blair through the Learning and Skills Act 2000, which amended the Education Act 1996 section relating to City Technology Colleges. They were first announced as part of the Fresh Start programme in a 2000 speech by David Blunkett, then Secretary of State for Education and Skills, who stated 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), then education advisor to the Prime Minister in the late 1990s.

Initially called City Academies, the term was changed to Academies by an amendment in the Education Act 2002. The term Sponsored Academies was later applied retroactively to distinguish them from other types. By 2024, about 80% of state-funded secondary schools and about 40% of primary schools were academies or free schools. Sponsored Academies originally required a private sponsor—an individual, organisation, mission-driven business, or outsourcing for-profit business—who contributed 10% of capital costs (up to £2m).

The government later removed the requirement for financial investment by a private sponsor to encourage existing successful schools and charities to become sponsors. As of 2018, many academies are struggling financially and running deficits.

The converting procedure (2018)

The decision for a school to become an academy usually starts when its governors are encouraged to consider it, often after a multi-academy trust (MAT) reaches out. Governors have only two paths: stay with the local authority or join a MAT. Becoming a stand-alone trust has not been an option since before 2018. If a school has been rated 'requires improvement' (formerly 'satisfactory') by Ofsted, the governors cannot make the choice themselves.

When they can decide, they review the MATs that are willing and able to take them on. They compare each trust's ethos and values, the geographic spread of its schools, how well individual schools keep their own identity, value for money, and the trust's ability to help schools and staff develop. After picking a partner, they register interest with the Department for Education and tell the Regional Schools Commissioner. A consultation with parents and staff follows, and governors then decide whether to move ahead.

If they do, the Regional Schools Commissioner approves the choice, and the Secretary of State issues an academy order. Staff are moved to the MAT under TUPE rules, and land and business assets shift from the local authority. The school can back out until the documents are sent to the Secretary of State for signing, usually about three weeks before the planned conversion date. The converting school gets £25,000 to cover legal costs.

The local authority must grant a 125-year lease on the land to the academy trust. School land and playing fields stay protected under Section 77 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. The school pays part of its central funding to the MAT for shared services, though it can in theory take steps to ensure it gets the best value.

Criticism and opposition

Academies have remained controversial, frequently opposed by some politicians, commentators, teachers, teachers' unions, and parents. Even after years of operation and reported successes, the programme has been attacked as a waste of money, selective, damaging to schools and communities, forced on unwilling parents, and a move toward privatisation 'by the back door.' Teachers' trade unions and some Labour Party figures, including former party leader Lord Kinnock, opposed the scheme; Kinnock called academies a 'distortion of choice' risking a 'seller's market' with schools selecting parents and children.

The House of Commons Education and Skills Select Committee reported in March 2005 that limiting the programme to 30 or 50 academies for evaluation before expansion would have been wiser, and that rapid expansion came at the expense of rigorous evaluation. The committee expressed concern that promising results might stem from increased exclusions of harder-to-teach pupils, noting that two Middlesbrough academies had expelled 61 pupils compared to just 15 from all other secondary schools in the borough.

The programme has also been criticised for handing schools to private sector entrepreneurs with no education experience, such as Evangelical Christian car dealer Sir Peter Vardy, accused of promoting creationism alongside macroevolution in his Emmanuel Schools Foundation academies. This links to debate about the growing role of religion in the school system promoted by the New Labour government, with more than half of academies estimated to be sponsored by religious groups or affiliated organisations.