Audenshaw School breaks away from council to become academy

Date published: 03 September 2010

Audenshaw School was granted Academy Status by the Secretary of State for Education on 1 September 2010.

The school is one of only 32 schools who were given permission to convert by the start of the new academic year.

Headmaster Mr Steve Turner said: “We are delighted that the school has been able to achieve Academy Status for the start of the school year. There has been a long history, at Audenshaw School, of autonomy and independence. We were the first school in the country to become Grant Maintained in 1989 and the Governors believe that our new status will allow the school to progress and improve further”.

Chair of Governors Mr Terry Hall commented: “This is fabulous news for the school. Governors are relishing the challenge of assuming the additional responsibilities that come with our status as an Academy. We believe passionately that this change is in the best interests of the school”.

As a result, the school will be given more freedom over budgets, the curriculum, buildings, term times and the length of the school day.

Added to this, the school will also be free to set their own teachers' pay and contracts.

This follows news that teaching unions recently launched a campaign imploring schools to resist the temptation to become academies.