Sponsored Academies: Statistics

Under the last Government the first academy was set up in 2002. Their number increased steadily over the following few years and reached more than 100 by the end of 2008. The rate of growth was even faster in the following two years. Soon after the 2010 General Election the current Government introduced a new model for academies and announced plans for a substantial increase in academies starting from September 2010. The Academies Act 2010 streamlined the process of converting to an academy and also allows primary and special schools to become academies. Schools that have become academies under this model are known as academy converters, those that have become academies under the last Government’s model are now known as sponsored academies. There were a large number of sponsored academies in the pipeline at the time of the last election and new sponsored academies have continued to open. At the start of February 2012 their number stood at 337; 329 secondaries and 8 recently opened primary schools.

In many instances sponsored academies have replaced schools from more deprived urban areas with a history of underperformance. The evidence suggests that sponsored academies have improved at a faster rate than average. It is more mixed when comparing academies to schools with similar intakes or similar levels of past performance. There is substantial variability between academies. The intake of academies which have been open for the longest has become somewhat less deprived over time.