Eleven Croydon schools seek academy status

Forest Hill school in Lewisham: one of the local schools seeking academy status

More schools in Croydon have registered an interest in academy status than any other of the East London Line boroughs.

Eleven requests for further information by both primary and secondary schools in the area, have so far been registered on the Department For Education website. This is compared to five requests from Lewisham, four from Tower Hamlets and six  from Hackney.

The new academy legislation introduced by Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, earlier this month allows state schools to break away from local authorities gaining greater freedom over things like budgets, admissions criteria and curriculum.

Schools that register interest and are rated as ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted will automatically be fast-tracked to academy status by this autumn.

Critics of the new legislation have argued that the introduction of academies will lead to a two-tier education system, where children from the poorest backgrounds will suffer most. Head teachers are being urged to proceed with caution, as once their school becomes an academy, it cannot revert back to the state system.

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