Primary school aiming to move to academy status

Monkshouse Primary School in Spalding wants to move to academy status.

That would take the school out of the control of Lincolnshire County Council and give it more autonomy.
However, chairman of the school governors Simon Lilley says, if the proposal goes ahead, changes to Monkshouse would not be too noticeable. There would be no change to the school day or terms, no change to staff pay and conditions and no departure from the National Curriculum.

In a statement declaring the governors’ intention, he said: “Funding in future would be received from the Education Funding Agency rather than the local authority and we would receive the top slice of education funding that the local authority retains and which enables them to provide a wide range of services to all maintained schools. Schools do vary considerably as to the extent to which they benefit from these services.”

He added: “Put simply, in these uncertain economic times we believe that academy status will safeguard the future provision of excellent teaching and learning at our school.”

The school hopes to achieve academy status by April 1 next year at the latest.
The consultation period runs until September 11.