Academies: a case study

Cuckoo Hall primary school in Edmonton, north London, is likely to be one of the first primary schools in the country to become an academy. Inspectors have rated the school "outstanding", so it could achieve academy status as early as September. Patricia Sowter, its headteacher, says her main motivation for turning becoming an academy is the extra money the school will receive. Local authorities keep 8% or more of the funds they receive for schools in their area so that they can provide central services, such as school buses. Academies operate outside of council control and receive their funds direct from Whitehall. This means they do not have to part with this 8%, and can choose to spend it as they wish. Sowter says the extra sum could amount to as much as £200,000 a year. A third of the pupils at her school have special needs and she would like to use some of it to help them. "We'd like to spend it on things like speech therapy," she says. "The resources for this are very scarce, and some of our children are at the back of the queue." Cuckoo Hall takes an above average proportion of pupils on free school meals and a high percentage of children for whom English is not their first language. The extra funds it will receive as an academy will help to provide what these pupils need. Sowter has been a fan of academies since they were introduced in 2000, under Tony Blair. "It puzzled me that they were only for secondary schools and only for struggling schools," she says. "Why shouldn't successful schools also be given the extra freedoms that academies have?"