What is an Academy?

An Academy is a publicly funded independent school which strives to provide a first class free education for all its students.

It may be sponsored by organisations from a wide range of backgrounds, such as high performing schools and colleges, universities, individual philanthropists, businesses, public agencies and the voluntary sector.

It aims to provide a teaching and learning environment that is in line with the best in the maintained (local authority) sector and offer a broad and balanced curriculum to students of all abilities, focussing on one or more specialisms.

Academies work in different ways from other schools, and are accountable to the Department for Education (DfE) through a Funding Agreement, which is a legally binding contract between the DfE and the Academy sponsor.

The Funding Agreement specifies how the Academy will be run, what its responsibilities will be and what powers the Secretary of State at the DfE will have. It requires the Governing Body to publish procedures of its meetings. As a charitable trust, the Academies Enterprise Trust must also prepare and file annual accounts with the Charity Commission, prepare an annual report for the Charity Commissioners and ensure that their accounts are independently audited.

All Academies must have regard to the same School Admissions Code, SEN (Special Educational Needs) Code of Practice and exclusions guidance as all other state-funded schools. They are also required to follow the National Curriculum programmes of studies in English, Maths, Science and ICT. Academies are inspected by Ofsted in the same way as maintained schools.