By Andrew Topping, Local Democracy Reporter
A Nottinghamshire primary school’s bid to become an academy is edging closer after the county council approved a new 125-year lease on its land.
Heathlands Primary School, in Rainworth, had its requests to become an academy approved by the Government last year.
Heathlands is bidding to become the 22nd school run by the East Midlands Education Trust, which also runs its partner school Blidworth Oaks Primary.
However, letters on the Rainworth school’s website indicate the plans had been halted by “legal complications” regarding Ransom Road, its main access route.
Letters said initial proposals put forward by Nottinghamshire County Council asked the school to maintain the highway and its verges for the lease period.
But the school, its governors and the trust told parents these terms were “unreasonable” and there was no budget to maintain the road for 125 years.
A letter to parents at the end of September said the process had been put “on hold” while the issue was negotiated.
Now the school has confirmed these terms within the lease have been removed and the academy bid is back on.
Shaun Walker is the school’s head teacher.
He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “The clause in the lease stating the school’s responsibility for maintaining Ransom Road has now been removed by Nottinghamshire County Council.
“This leaves the school free to convert without this additional cost on the school budget or resources.”
In letters to parents, Mr Walker has outlined the benefits to the school becoming an academy.
These include the opportunity to “cement our close relationship with The Joseph Whitaker School”, a Rainworth secondary academy already in the trust.
The school also says it opens extra funding streams and creates opportunities and training for staff, which will “inevitably benefit the children they teach”.
Mr Walker added: “The governing body and I believe that this new proposal is fully in the long-term strategic interests of the school.
“[It offers] us the autonomy which we believe will help us continue to drive up educational standards for all pupils.”
Academy status means the school is no longer maintained by the local authority and will be controlled by an education trust.
The schools still receive public funding but this comes directly from the Government, rather than from the council.
The trust has the power to set its own curriculum and school hours.
It means Nottinghamshire County Council will no longer oversee the school – opening the door for its grounds to be handed over to trust bosses.
The once-controversial 125-year lease has now been signed off following a delegated decision by the authority earlier this month.
The length of the lease is standard practice for academy conversions, with a similar agreement made for Blidworth Oaks Primary earlier this year.
Councillor Keith Girling (Con), portfolio holder for economic development and asset management, signed off the lease during the delegated decision on Friday (December 2).
