TWO Crawley schools are on track to become academies by Easter.
Thomas Bennett Community College and Bewbush Primary School have both applied for academy status and, should that status be confirmed, they will get more freedom from West Sussex County Council to decide what is best for their own students.
They will have more control over their finances, the curriculum, teachers’ pay and conditions.
Julian Grant, deputy headteacher of Thomas Bennett, said: “Our very successful Ofsted report – finding the school as good with outstanding features – and our steep rise in results over the past few years has placed us in a position of being able to convert to academy status and join on an equal footing an excellent group of high performing academies in the south east region.
“We are delighted and honoured to be in this position.”
Academy status would not mean a change to the school name and its specialist school status would not be affected. There would be no change to the school day or school uniform, and admissions would remain the same.
The key difference would be that academies are funded directly from central government instead of from local authorities.
Thomas Bennett and Bewbush Primary are hoping to join in partnership with The Kemnal Academies Trust next April.
The Trust oversees 12 academies which benefit from sharing resources, economies of scale, knowledge sharing and pooled teacher allocation.
Headteacher Elizabeth Harrison said: “The proposal to transform Bewbush Primary School into an academy is about creating new opportunities to continue to raise standards and to provide new ways to help all children enjoy learning and achieve their best.
“We believe that this new way of working is an exciting development that will benefit all involved in the life of the school.”
MP Henry Smith has also welcomed the news.
He said: “The benefits would be particular welcome to these two schools progressing to academy status to highlight how far they have come in terms of improving the education they offer the young people of their area. This is testament to the hard work and excellent effort made by local students, teachers and school governors.”
Thomas Bennett and Bewbush primary would join Hazelwick and Discovery New School in gaining academy status in Crawley.