Government gives green light to college Academy plans

MINISTERS have backed plans to transform Featherstone Technology College in Wakefield into an E-ACT sponsored academy in September 2012.

Officials have written to the College, in Pontefract Road, and confirmed that the Department for Education is supporting a project to turn the institution into a sponsored academy. The College has 440 students on roll, aged 11- 16.

The move to become a high-performing academy has been welcomed by Featherstone’s Principal, Mr Wayne Parkes. He said: “We have been making excellent progress recently, with half our students gaining five or more GCSEs including English and Maths in 2011. However, we really want to move quickly to make Featherstone outstanding in every way, and we think the best way to achieve this is with the support of a leading sponsor.”

E-ACT has a significant track record of improving schools. In Birmingham, a lower performing school which transformed into an academy sponsored by E-ACT in 2009 has been declared outstanding by Ofsted after just two years.

Sir Bruce Liddington, Director General of E-ACT, said: “We are delighted that the project has been given ministerial approval to move forward. Our education and academy project teams will work closely with the College and governors to get to the next step. Then we will enter into public consultation on the plans. We all have one objective and that is to build on the positive ethos at the college and turn it into an outstanding academy.”

A project group is being established and a timetable drawn up to achieve the key milestones required by the Department for Education in order to open as a sponsored academy in September 2012.