The changing face England’s education system has arrived in Kendal with the conversion of both of the town’s secondary schools to Academy status.

Governors at Queen Katherine School on Appleby Road and Kirkbie Kendal School, Lound Road, voted to change their school status’ from April 1.

The number of academy schools in England has tripled since the coalition came to power less than a year ago and the two Kendal schools brings the total to 600.

* An Academy School is directly funded by central government but is independent of local government control. They are goverened by trusts.

* Academies can set their own admissions policies, control the curriculum, set their own pay and conditions for staff and change the length of their terms.

* Labour first set up Academies in 2000 to find financial sponsors for failing schools but under the Academies Act 2010 high performing secondaries and primaries have been invited to convert.

* 371 secondary schools are now academies – 11 per cent of all secondary schools in England. Queen Elizabeth School in Kirkby Lonsdale was the first of the ‘new’ academies in Cumbria.

Just three weeks into the change, which is designed to give high performing schools more freedom from the local authority, both head teachers have spoken of their delight at the opportunities now available to them.

Kirkbie Kendal School head teacher Phil Hyman said: “I am delighted that our achievements have allowed the school to be recognised in this way. We are looking forward to the extra responsibilities and the increased funding Academy status will bring.”

In a letter to the school education secretary Michael Gove wrote: “I am delighted that Kirkbie Kendal School recognises the benefits Academy Status will bring and has chosen to be in the first wave of schools to convert. The school will now have the opportunity to use the freedoms and flexibilities of Academy Status to share best practice with others to bring about improvements to all schools in the area.”

Stephen Wilkinson, head teacher of Queen Katherine School, said freedoms over the curriculum would be ‘liberating’ and allow them to tailor learning to meet the specific needs of pupils.

While he noted the historic significance of the new wave of academies, in his personal opinion the school’s decision to make the change was for pragmatic and not philosophical reasons.

“It was a pragmatic decision that needed to be taken in order to maximise the opportunities for QKS but I’m not an Academy evangelist. I never imagined that I would one day run a school outside of local authority control but in the context of the South Lakes Federation of Schools where we have got so many schools that are working so closely together. logically it’s the next step.”