Academies are state schools, free from local authority control, directly funded by the Department of Education. Academies have greater freedoms to determine how the school’s funding is utilized to optimize the educational outcomes for its students and are able to direct their own operational procedures such as the taught curriculum and the hours of the school day.

The academy is run by an ‘Academy Trust’ who oversees a governing body. The Academy Trust is a legal body which operates a charitable organization and a company limited by guarantee. The Trust has a formal agreement with the Department of Education to provide educational services to its students.

Academies are funded directly by the Education Funding Agency (part of the Department of Education). This means that academies receive 100% of their grant (rather than a proportion of these funds being diverted to the local authority) and are free to choose how to spend it, as long as it is spent on improving the education of its students.

Yes. Parkgate School has a strong inclusion ethos, a very successful Overcoming Barriers to Learning team and an excellent track record ensuring its SEN children achieve their potential. The local authority retains the responsibility for children with statements of special educational needs and monitoring arrangements for SEN children in academies.

Parkgate School has an excellent long standing working relationship with the local authority. The governors expect this relationship to continue. It is likely the school will continue to purchase services offered by the local authority in the future.

Parents or carers who have a complaint about their son or daughter’s academy school would need to contact the school directly. Parkgate School has a well established complaints procedure and we would expect this procedure to continue if the school becomes an academy.

The Department of Education website is a very good source of information relating to academies. www.education.gov.uk/academies