The Lord Silkin School, in Stirchley, has become the Lakeside Academy, a specialist college with mathematics.
Academy status will put the school in ‘totally in charge of its own destiny’, according to Principal Trevor Goddard, who sees the conversion as a beneficial move for both students and the wider community.
He said: “Being an Academy gives us great autonomy, both in terms of curriculum and uses of funding. It will allow us to deliver a curriculum which suits the needs of our students now and in the future.
“We have always been a school at the heart of our community, and we’ve involved the parents, students, and local councillors throughout this whole process. We’ve developed a new brand for the Lakeside Academy, as well as a new uniform which will be brought in gradually over the coming year or so.”
The Lakeside Academy will move to a nearby site in 2015 as part of the new Lakeside Learning Community which includes a primary school, nursery and 100-place sixth-form centre. The plans, which are expected to be submitted for approval to Telford & Wrekin Council in June, also include a new sports facility, with floodlit artificial turf pitches.
Mr Goddard said: “We will also be part of the Telford Multi-Academy Trust with three other Telford schools, each of us offering a different specialism. Working together, we will have economies of scale but importantly we can share best practice and our expertise for the benefit of our students.”
The other schools involved in the TMAT, include Wrockwardine Wood, with its performing arts focus; the Sutherland School which has a business and enterprise specialism and the Phoenix School, a specialist sports college.
Mr Goddard added: “Academy status is an exciting opportunity and working alongside the local authority, councillors, parents and governors, we are looking forward to continuing the great progress which is being made here.
“We are creating a generation of 21st century-ready employable citizens through this learning environment, which has already seen record-breaking GCSE results in the last two years. We have received national recognition being named as one of the best schools in the country for these rapidly improving results and I have no doubt that becoming the Lakeside Academy will help us continue on this path.”