The 2010 Academies Bill provides a range of exciting opportunities for schools wishing to gain greater autonomy and financial freedom. Many schools have seized the chance to convert, whilst a large number of others are in detailed discussions to plan their next move.

Place Group’s experience in Academy Conversion has been gained from successfully supporting the opening of 30+ such projects across England, and from wider experience in over 50 sponsored Academies, University Technical Colleges, Studio Schools and Free Schools. Our outstanding project management skills will help to ensure that you are well equipped to meet the challenging timescales ahead of you. We will help you explore how you can use Academy status, with information across a range of ages and settings from community, trust and foundation to ‘cluster’ models.

We work exclusively in this market, offering value and experience that only a specialist education project management company can bring:

• As an original member of the DfE project management framework, we work very closely with the DfE project leads. We understand their requirements and the chain of command, which means we can be proactive in tackling stumbling blocks that inevitably cross the path to accelerated conversion.
• Our teams have delivered a number of converter and sponsored Academies, working closely with the DfE and with a variety of legal advisors and local authorities.
• Although we use standard processes and toolkits, our approach is not mechanistic or inflexible. We tailor our support to the needs of each school and the contacts we work with, always ensuring that we have time to be in the school, supporting key staff and working with Governing Bodies

For more information regarding our Academy Conversion services, please follow the three links on the right.

To find out more about how Place Group can support your school in converting to Academy status, please email philip.cranwell@place-group.com