LINTON Village College has today moved to academy status.

The college has taken the opportunity given to all Ofsted-rated ‘outstanding’ schools to move to the status and is one of only two schools in Cambridgeshire to have done so at an early stage. The other is Comberton Village College which also converts today.

Academy status enables the school to receive its funding direct from central government and gives it freedom over decisions such as whether to adopt the National Curriculum.

Principal Caroline Derbyshire said: “In reality it will be business as usual at the college. Academy status will give us greater flexibility about how we spend our allocated funds to further the education of our students, but we are not anticipating that much else will change.

“Our name will remain the same, our admissions policies and arrangements are unaltered and for students and parents the conversion will go largely unnoticed.

“We are excited about the change of status, however, because the new ‘converter’ academies are associated with excellence and innovation and this furthers our own ambition to be at the forefront of education as a world-class village college.”