A BRIDPORT school has officially become an academy after a long process.

The Sir John Colfox School has been granted academy status by the Department for Education (DfE) - with the headteacher saying the school will be able to continue offering a more tailored curriculum.

Headteacher at the Sir John Colfox School, Kay Taylor, said: "We are delighted that in becoming an academy we can retain more control over our curriculum.

"We believe that we offer students a broader choice of courses and a curriculum which is more tailored to their needs and we wish to continue to be able to do this.

"Parents and students will probably see no real difference once we become an academy and although staff are now employed by the school rather than the local authority, there will be few differences for them as well.

“This is an exciting time for the school. As we will now have greater control over our future planning and can ensure we still move in a direction that will allow the school to continue to be successful”.

In becoming an academy, the school will now have access to more funding, and will have greater freedom to decide how to use funding by ensuring that it is targeted appropriately.

The school will be able to broker support in key areas from whoever they believe will be the best providers. In many cases, this will continue to be the local authority - but it is likely that in some cases, the school will be using other consultants.

Chairman of governors, Martin Stones said: “I am delighted that The Sir John Colfox School has now received academy conversion status from the DfE.

"I would like to thank all parties for their hard work and conviction on what has been a long and at times, difficult journey. We, The Sir John Colfox Academy, can now build on our successes and continue to offer our students an aspirational education”.