Why Wellers Law Group?

• Advice from our most experienced solicitors
• Continued communication with you tailoring the service to meet your needs
• Approachable, available and dedicated to support your school
• Known for our quality of service (ISO accredited)
• Clear guidance with very clear time frames for the conversion
• Visit the school in person to discuss your requirements
• Replace the need for project managers (and the cost)

We adopt a no-nonsense approach to service delivery and our advice will always be clear, concise, and delivered in a timely and personal manner.

Why Convert?

There are benefits and burdens of converting to an Academy and we expect that considerable time will be spent deciding if it is right for your school. We cannot comment on the merits of being an Academy or persuade you to convert. However, it seems that the Government remains committed to its promotion of Academies and the Government’s thinking is epitomised by two statements in the recent Schools White Paper:

“It is our ambition, therefore, to help every school which wishes to enjoy greater freedom to achieve academy status. Some schools will not want to acquire academy status just yet, others do not yet have the capacity to enjoy full academy freedoms without external support or sponsorship. But our direction of travel is towards schools as autonomous institutions collaborating with each other on terms set by teachers, not bureaucrats” (The Importance of Teaching, The Schools White Paper 2010, executive summary, para 15)

“It is our ambition that academy status should be the norm for all state schools, with schools enjoying direct funding and full independence from central and local bureaucracy” (The Importance of Teaching, The Schools White Paper 2010, para 5.6)

The Conversion Process

• Registration to note your interest
• Submit application to convert
• Academy order made by the Secretary of State
• Finalise governing documents (Memorandum and Articles of Association)
• Set up Academy Trust (company limited by guarantee)
• Enter into Funding Agreement
• Enter into Commercial Transfer Agreement
• Deal with the land transfer or lease
• Undertake pre-opening procedures and registrations
• Open as an Academy

Our Assistance

• Meet with the management team and/or the governors to take instructions
• Tailor and provide a step plan and time table to manage the conversion
• Send to you a request for information form to complete
• Provide a booklet to give to governors titled ‘Guidance for Governors’
• Present the appropriate Memorandum and Articles of Association to you and provide a document highlighting not only the key points but also the rules and powers that you may not be familiar with pre-conversion
• Provide a question and answer document addressing the most common questions raised by governors on the Articles of Association
• Make amendments as required to the Memorandum and Articles of Association and send them to your Department for Education contact for approval
• Draft the incorporation form to incorporate the Academy Trust and send to the Registrar of Companies with the approved Memorandum and Articles of Association
• Present the appropriate funding agreement to you and provide a document highlighting the key points and clauses of most importance to the school funding
• Provide a question and answer document addressing the most common questions raised by governors on the funding agreement
• Discuss with you the transfer of staff and provide you with an information letter about TUPE and two precedent letters to complete the process
• Tailor the commercial transfer agreement and negotiate its contents with the Local Authority
• Provide a detailed document explaining the contents of the commercial transfer agreement and the apportionments of liability between the parties
• Investigate the title of the school land and draft a report on title for your Department for Education contact to approve
• Provide advice on existing contracts and how they transfer to the Academy
• Provide precedent letters to enable existing contracts to transfer on the conversion date
• Complete the documents and open as an Academy

The above are the main areas of our service. However, no question is too small or trivial and we hope to work in partnership with you to achieve your conversion. We are dedicated always to being available to promptly answer your telephone call or email. We are proud to have received praise for our dedicated support, removing the need and cost of a third party project manager and we are glad that we are able to save schools some valuable money in this way.

Our Fees and Next Steps

We offer a fixed fee plus VAT and any disbursements incurred.  The fixed fee we provide is based upon the information given to us by you at an initial meeting to ascertain all the preliminary information. We will then provide you with a detailed step plan for the project. The fixed fee is also based on certain assumptions, including that we are informed of any PFI contracts in place or BSF schemes.

We will discuss with you which steps of the conversion process you wish to take and which steps you wish for Wellers Law Group to undertake.  This will enable us to tailor the step plan and fee quote specifically to your requirements. This will give you clarity from the outset on our fees.

The information on Academies is continually being updated and if you would like further advice please contact Tracy Evans on 0208 290 3982 or by email to tracy.evans@wellerslawgroup.com