On 1st April 2011 QE became an Academy. This means that the College moved from being maintained by Devon County Council to being directly funded by the DFE (Department for Education). We are now a company limited by guarantee that is run by a Trust formed from the existing Governing Body. There are five founding members of the Trust who then re-appointed the rest of the Governors as Directors and Trustees of the new company.
The Governors took the decision to become an Academy after consultation and a lot of research into the possible implications. A document describing the thinking can be found via the link on the right.
In essence, the change makes little difference to the operation as far as parents and students are concerned, except that being in control of all our funding gives us the opportunity to increase the effectiveness and scope of the service we offer, as well as the resources available to support learning.
Staff members have been transferred under the TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) ) arrangements to be direct employees of the Trust and have guaranteed pay and conditions under existing arrangements until April 2014.
We are very aware of worries about a potential lack of local accountability with new academies. As well as having seven members of our Governing body who are parents, we have increased the staff representation on the body to four. We have also created a Parent Council to add further routes for our parents to be able to represent their views.
Queen Elizabeth's is and will continue to be the local school for our area. Our motives are entirely driven by a desire to improve the service we offer to our local community and to protect the College as we move into an increasingly uncertain future.
The Articles of Association and Funding Agreement under which QE Academy Trust was set up can be accessed via the link on the right.
Last updated: 22 May 2012
QE Academy Trust A company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales, No. 7562194 An exempt charity.
Registered Office: Western Road, Crediton, Devon, EX17 3LU. Tel: 01363 773 401
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