Education reporter LINDA WHITWAM looks the move by Kirklees schools to take up Academy status

THREE more Kirklees schools are hoping to become academies.

Salendine Nook High School, Birkenshaw Middle School and the Community Science College at Thornhill are the latest to apply to the Department for Education (DfE) for Academy status.

The trio is hoping to join the growing ranks of schools in Kirklees, which have already opted out of local authority control and converted to academies.

Salendine Nook should be the first to change this year.

According to headteacher Mrs Christine Spencer, the school is “on track” to become an academy on February 1.

The process usually takes about three to four months and, if granted, would bring the total number of academies in Kirklees to 10.

The others are: Moor End Academy, Shelley College, The Mirfield Free Grammar and Sixth Form, Heckmondwike Grammar School, Castle Hall Academy Specialising in Languages at Mirfield and Batley Girls’ High School – Visual Arts College. Lindley Junior School is the only Kirklees primary school to have converted to date.

Academies operate outside local government control, although they must follow the National Curriculum in core subjects and are still subject to Ofsted inspections.

They are directly funded by the DfE. Most receive additional support from outside sponsors and are set up as registered charities.

Academies were the brainchild of Tony Blair, who established them in 2000 to drive up standards by replacing failing schools in struggling local authorities.

Any school can register an interest in becoming an academy, as long as the governing body agrees. Schools are required to consult before converting, but it is up to them to choose who and how they consult.

A converting school automatically receives a one-off payment of £25,000 from the government to help finance the process.

A DfE spokesman told the Examiner: “Academies are public-funded independent schools that provide a first-class education.