Local MP Greg Hands is welcoming the improvement in standards at a local school which, after being put in special measure by Ofsted in October, has become an academy.
In October 2014 Hurlingham and Chelsea School received an ‘inadequate’ rating from Ofsted, and as a result was put in special measures. The School has had three Ofsted visits since it was put into special measures, and a November report said it is already improving.
Then, in December, the Secretary of State for Education, Nicky Morgan, agreed to allow Hurlingham and Chelsea School to become an academy, and its status was converted on 1st January.
The Conservatives believe the best people to run schools are head teachers, so the Government has given them greater control over matters such as the budget and discipline, through academy freedoms. Underperforming schools taken into the academies programme, and placed under the leadership of great head teachers, are improving more rapidly than those schools which remain in the hands of local councils.
Nicky Morgan said, “Academies form an integral part of the Government’s education policy to raise attainment for all children and to bring about sustained improvements in all schools. I am delighted that Hurlingham and Chelsea Secondary School recognises the benefits academy status will bring.”
Free schools and academies are driving up education standards across England. They are hugely popular with parents, providing more choice and freedom and, crucially, they are benefiting children from all backgrounds. With almost three-quarters of free schools inspected so far rated good or outstanding, they are a significant boost to communities and local education standards.
Commenting, Chelsea and Fulham MP, Greg Hands said: “I am pleased that the Government is ensuring that parents have a wide variety of choice when it comes to choosing the school to which they send their children. This Government has legislated to allow the conversion of all schools into Academies. Nationally we have given new freedoms to teachers in over 4,200 schools, allowing them to help each child to reach their full potential. As a result, over 4,200 schools are now benefitting from the freedoms of academy status which gives them more power over what happens in their classrooms, over discipline and over their budgets.
“Hurlingham and Chelsea School will benefit from becoming an academy and its new freedoms to control its own budget and discipline. I hope the school will continue to improve as it has done in recent months, and will provide a high quality education much valued by local pupils and parents.”