A SCHOOL is celebrating ‘greater freedom’ this week after it became the first academy school in the district.

Burton Morewood CE School in Burton-in-Kendal officially changed its status on Saturday — a move which has been heralded as a ‘brilliant’ opportunity for pupils and the community.

Head teacher Sue Woodburn said that becoming an academy school would enable the school to provide pupils with a bespoke education.

She said: “Becoming an academy first came about last March as I had been keenly watching academy status —part-icularly Queen Elizabeth School in Kirkby Lonsdale.

“I thought it was a model which would suit secondary schools more than primary schools, but the more I looked at it the more freedom of what academy status offered started to appeal.

“We are in charge of a lot at the school already, such as school meals and maintenance, and so in some ways this is just an extension of that, but it will mean that we have greater freedom.

“We will get a bit more money in the pot, but we are not just doing it for financial reasons.”

Mrs Woodburn, who has been leading the school for 14 years and works as a leader in education in the district, said: “Being an academy school means that we can meet our own needs rather than being directed by Cumbria County Council.

“We are no longer obliged to follow the national curriculum and so can devise the curriculum to meet the needs of the school.

“We like to get the children outside and so hopefully there will be more freedom to build outdoor activities into the curriculum.

She also said that if there were children struggling with a subject that the school could be flexible to adapt the curriculum to meet the child’s needs.

She added: “It will be a big benefit to the children.

"The curriculum is quite regimented at the moment and so we are able to re-timetable topics, such as when to teach about the Romans and whether local history should be introduced.”

She said that the school could act as a pioneer in the South Lakes and added: “I am looking to start up an academy support group because other schools in the area are looking at whether becoming an academy could be the right thing for them.”

She said teachers and support staff at the school had been ‘very supportive’ of the change.