Nettleham Infants School Will Become An Academy

The Governing Body of Nettleham Infants School resolved last night to make an application to the Secretary of State for Education to attain Academy status, giving the school greater operational independence.

Despite a small number of comments received questioning the move, during the consultation, Governors resolved unanimously to become an Academy.

Nettleham Parish Council had raised concern that the size of the school was not viable to go alone, recommending consideration of an umbrella, hard federation academy model. This was rejected by Governors owing to the lack of obvious candidates to join in such a model. The School, however, does expect to work with other schools in a soft collaborative approach.

Giles McNeill, a Local Education Authority Governor at the school said:

"This is an excellent  move, it promises a brighter future for parents, staff but most importantly the children at the School. 

"We have had to move on this now, we wanted to move at the time of our choosing, not when we are forced to by the local authority or central government."

A further concern raised by parents was the impact upon pupils feeding into Nettleham C.E. Junior School. However, it was felt that the change to Academy status would have limited impact as the two schools are very different already.

SPRING FORUM: Off to the races

Well today sees the beginning of the Conservative Spring Forum for 2009 in Cheltenham, Gloustershire.

Michael Gove will later this afternoon be outlining Conservative plans to allow Primary Schools to attain 'Academy Status' and there will be discussion on the NHS.

I will be attending the National Convention and voting for a new Chairman and Vice Presidents for the Party.

I will also try and post some videoblogs.

There is a European Reception tonight and the Freedom Association also have an event.

There is an interesting peice on ConservativeHome about how Lincoln City Council have halve staff absenteeism.

David launches Maths Taskforce with Carol Vorderman

David Cameron and Michael Gove have launched a new Maths Taskforce to be led by Carol Vorderman and examine how to make maths teaching in Britain’s state schools as good as anywhere else in the world.


Under Labour, more than three and a half million children have left school without at least a ‘C’ in maths GSCE – and nearly half of all eleven-year-olds leave primary school without basic numeracy skills.

David stressed there are

“few things more important than getting maths in our schools right: Basic numeracy is not a nice-to-have, it’s a must have. From checking your bank balance, to doing the weekly shop or making the most of the sales being able to add, subtract, times and divide is something we rely on often without thinking about it.”

He described Carol as the 'perfect choice' to lead our Maths Taskforce:

“She’s a well-respected public figure who not only knows maths inside out, but also how to extend that knowledge to a wider audience in an interesting and inspirational way.”