Fleet's Calthorpe Park School To Become Academy?

Fleet’s Calthorpe Park secondary school has registered its interest in becoming an Academy.

Appearing on the list of potential candidates for Academy status, released by the government in July, Calthorpe Park is at present the only local school to have responded to the coalition government’s offer.

 As Calthorpe Park wasn’t rated ‘Outstanding’ in its last Ofsted report, it won’t be fast-tracked to Academy status, and there’s currently no indication of how long the conversion might take if the school does push ahead with it.

One of the new government’s key educational policies, Academies are liberated from Local Authority control, receiving greater freedom to manage their own budgets, their curriculum and teacher pay and conditions.

In addition, the government argues that the redistribution of power will give parents and the community more say on how Academies are run.

Fleet-People spoke to Oli Beavon of the Fleet Area Working Schools Group (FAWSG), which is campaigning to increase the number of places available in local schools.

“I’m quite surprised that Calthorpe has taken this step,” he said. “To be honest I would have expected Court Moor school to be a more likely candidate.

“However, I can appreciate how the status would be of interest, due to the flexibility it can provide”.

Does he think Academy status at Calthorpe Park would contribute to FASWG’s goal?

“Between Calthorpe Park and Court Moor there’s still not enough capacity to avoid the crunch point for school places, which will come to a head in 2012,” Oli explained.

“I don’t think academy status will make a difference to this. What will is the expansion of Calthorpe Park to encourage capacity- that’s the key.”

For more information about the FASWG, click here.

Do you agree with Oli? Do you think Calthorpe Park should become an Academy? What about other schools in the area? Post your thoughts below.