Essex law firm, Birkett Long, has helped Hilltop Junior School in Wickford convert to academy status - in around half the time that it should take - ready to start the new autumn term as an independent school with greater freedom and control.
Academies are publically funded independent schools which have opted out of local authority control. Academy status gives schools more freedom over budgets, the curriculum, buildings, term times and the length of the school day. They are also free to set their own teachers’ pay and contracts.
Hilltop Junior School, located in Hill Avenue, is attended by approximately 300 pupils aged between 7 to 11 years old. It opened its doors for the new school year as an Academy, having started the conversion process in June. The Department for Education suggests that a conversion should take between three and four months to complete, but in fact it only took Birkett Long seven weeks from the date they were instructed.
Head teacher Alison Waite started the process herself before bringing in expert help from Birkett Long in order to finalise the conversion in plenty of time for the start of the new school year.
Alison explained: “The conversion to academy status brings many benefits to Hilltop and our pupils. The increased autonomy will enable us to implement improvements to the curriculum as well as share best practice with schools we plan to forge links with. 
“We were able to handle the initial part of the application process ourselves but when it came to the legalities we needed some expert guidance. Birkett Long was great at helping us understand the legal jargon and liaising with the local authority, and pulled out all the stops to make sure that everything was in place for the deadline.”
The team at Birkett Long was able to deal with the Department of Education and Essex County Council on the school’s behalf to manage the transfer from the local authority and to set up the academy trust.
Solicitor Emily Brown, who worked on the conversion, said: “It’s a really exciting time for schools at the moment, with lots of changes coming through – but we didn’t want this to mean that things should be difficult for the school. We were delighted to team up with Hilltop Junior School to be one of the first firms in Essex to carry out an academy conversion and we wish the school all the best for the future.
“There are so many different elements involved when schools convert to academy status, including the transfer of the property and the employment contracts from the local authority to the school itself. As a full service law firm, with over 25 years of experience in working with educational institutions, we were well positioned to help manage Hilltop Junior’s conversion. We were able to draw from all our areas of expertise to handle each factor involved and to ensure a smooth transfer.”
Emily added: “We would recommend that any schools looking to convert to academy status employ the expertise of a solicitor. The processes involved in converting to an academy is not an every day occurrence for a school and not something they are likely to face again, so it is really important to seek legal advice.
“We also recognise the need to treat each school as an individual case. Although there is a set conversion processes to follow every school is different and should be treated as such. Being local to the school just makes the conversion that bit more real and meant we could be on hand throughout.”
