Top of the class?

Over 1,000 academies have opened across the country in the past year – and there are more to come.

Academies were fi rst unveiled by then Prime Minister Tony Blair over a decade ago. They have been both criticised as a form of privatisation “by the back door” and praised as inspirational successes that have generated remarkable improvements in exam results.

The cornerstone of the academies policy was to create schools funded by the state yet independent from local authority control. in some cases, normally where an academy is established to replace an underperforming school, they also have a sponsor, which could be a university, faith group, charity or business.

These sponsors are responsible for improving the performance of the school by, as the Department for education puts it, “challenging traditional thinking on how schools are run and what they should be like for students”.

The number of schools signing up to become academies is on the rise. Since September 2010 1,097 institutions have taken academy status - 116 of which were sponsored.

That means around 1,300 academies are currently open– and, according to the Government, another 45 sponsored academies will open this month, with 49 more to follow over the course of the academic year. This is the highest number to open in a single year.

In addition, 185 schools will convert to academies in September, adding to the 796 that have already made the switch.

Figures from the Department for education show another 575 academies are in the pipeline – and more applications are expected once the new school year gets underway.

Education secretary Michael Gove is delighted with the rise of academies, saying they challenge a “segregated” system by giving children access to opportunities “that have historically been the preserve of those from wealthy backgrounds”.

But not everyone is pleased with their growth. The Anti Academies Alliance, which is affi liated to organisations including the TUC, Unison and teaching union the NUT, has described academies as an attempt to replace democratic, planned state education with a “two-tier, market-drivencollection of independent schools at the mercy of education companies driven by profit”.

While the political arguments rumble on, the job for builders is to deliver the best possible academies in terms of design, construction and environmental performance - and there have already been some notable successes.

One of the biggest academies programmes in the country is headed by Manchester City Council, which has cosponsored five academies.

Over the following pages,Builder & engineer takes a look at the story of the programme
and profi les the academies themselves to highlight the innovative features contractors have used to ensure the buildings benefi t not only pupils but also the wider community.

There is also a look at some of successes achieved under Manchester’s Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme, part of another controversial national scheme that set out with the goal of refurbishing or rebuilding every school in the country.

After escaping the cull announced last year by education secretary Michael Gove, Manchester’s BSF projects have demonstrated that while there may be legitimate concerns about the wider programme, the right local approach is still capable of transforming learning environments.

But with BSF funding curbed and so-called free schools on the rise, what does the future hold
for academies?

This summer Partnerships for Schools (PfS), the agency responsible for managing capital investment in schools, announced 16 academy projectsfor southern england. They will form the fi rst wave of £800 million worth of schemes nationwide that will put out totender over the next 18 months.

PfS will continue to manage the academies framework until the quango is wound up and replaced by a new body, the education Funding Agency, next year.

In this changing landscape, builders continue to play a vital role to play in reshaping the country’s school estates.