Kent Council to co-sponsor academies

Kent Council is to become one of the few local authorities to co-sponsor city academies it emerged this week.

Kent is set to co-sponsor three of the six academies in the county which are currently in the process of being set up.

The prime minister has announced that along with the 27 academies that are up and running a further 73 are in the pipeline – half way to achieving the government’s target of 200 by 2010.

John Simmonds, cabinet member for education and school improvement, said that the council had decided to co-sponsor the academies as it believed they would provide local children with a better quality of education than they currently received.