Andrew Nicholson, headteacher at Beyton Middle School

MIDDLE schools in the Thurston area of west Suffolk are pushing ahead for academy status to safeguard their futures, it can be revealed.

To send a link to this page to a friend, simply enter their email address below.

The message will include the name and email address you gave us when you signed up.

Email address

  Send link

To send a link to this page to a friend, you must be logged in.

Beyton Middle School, Ixworth Middle School and Stanton’s Blackbourne CEVC Middle School are trying to become academies to prevent closure with entailing staff redundancies and disruption for students.

This comes as Suffolk County Council has announced that the 17 primary schools and the upper school, Thurston Community College, in the area have formed the “Thurston Partnership” to drive ahead with two-tier education.

As part of the School Organisation Review (SOR), the county council has been bringing about the change from a three-tier to a two-tier system, but the process was halted in the Thurston area because of uncertainties over future funding.

Andrew Nicholson, headteacher of Beyton Middle, said becoming an academy was a “life-line” for the school.

A letter to parents from himself and the chairman of governors said: “We believe that if we become an academy it will help secure the present pattern of education in the Thurston area, prevent the unnecessary closure of a valued school and all the upheaval for children that would necessarily follow.”

Mr Nicholson said the two education systems could coexist and would lead to more choice for parents, but it could be destructive for the schools which do not receive enough pupils.

He said: “If we get our way and become academies we will operate as nine to 13 and we will do all we can to avoid the other schools changing their age ranges.”

He added how he became aware of the Thurston Partnership after he was shown a letter to parents.

Governors at both Beyton and Ixworth middles have voted for their schools to become academies.

A letter to parents from Ixworth Middle headteacher Glenice Francis and the chairman of governors, said: “Academy status would provide the stability we seek at a time when our pyramid of schools seek to re-structure without full thought and planning for our staff and your children.”

Phil Vigrass, headteacher of Blackbourne Middle, said they were seeking approval from the church to become an academy.

He said the current situation with the new Thurston Partnership was “awkward” for the school as they worked extremely well with their partner schools in the area.

He said: “The critical thing for us is we are doing the best we can for the kids that are in the system at the moment.”

He added: “I believe in middle schools very passionately.”

Academy status would mean the middle schools would be independent from the local authority and would be funded directly from the Government.

Helen Wilson, principal of Thurston Community College, said: “As soon as resources become available a new structure will be introduced across the pyramid so that all children who currently attend any of our seventeen primary schools - including Woolpit, Rattlesden and Elmswell - will be educated in a two-tier system.

“We would like to reassure parents and carers that, until such time as the two-tier structure is introduced, our schools will continue to work together within the present system for the benefit of all children in the area.”

Graham Newman, cabinet member for children, schools and young people’s services at Suffolk County Council, said there was clear evidence that young people educated in a two-tier system achieved better than those in a three-tier system.

The new structure under the Thurston Partnership would give children the option of staying at their primary school until the end of year six (age 11) and they could then transfer directly to the community college.

Formal consultation on the partnership’s proposal will take place in due course.