Pictured: Gary Cutts and Nichola Wealthall
A leading Roman Catholic comprehensive school in Nottinghamshire
and three of its primary feeder schools became one of the first
groups of Catholic schools in the UK to be awarded academy status
after receiving banking support from Lloyds TSB Commercial.
The Becket School, in West Bridgford, which has 1062 pupils and
around 65 teachers, became an academy school with effect from 1st
September 2011. St. Edmund Campion Catholic Primary School, Blessed
Robert Widmerpool Catholic Primary School and Our Lady and St
Edwards Catholic Primary School, which feed into The Becket School,
have also converted.
The schools successfully applied for academy status in June 2011
and approached Lloyds TSB Commercial to secure the required banking
facilities to be put in place.
The change in status will mean that the schools are no longer
under the control of the Nottingham Councils.
Becket School was established in 1975 following the amalgamation
of two schools, Corpus Christi Grammar School and The Becket
Grammar School for Boys. It transferred to its new site on Wilford
Lane, at the beginning of the 2009/2010 school year.
Nichola Wealthall, School Business Leader at The Becket School,
commented:
"Achieving academy status will enable us to further develop The
Becket School and continue to build on the great work that we're
already doing. We hope to use the additional freedoms of this
status to further support our ambitions and aspirations for the
school and its students.
"Lloyds TSB Commercial has played a fundamental part in the
financial requirements of becoming an academy and we have been
impressed by the seamless transition and ongoing dedication the
bank has demonstrated."
Gary Cutts, education relationship manager for Lloyds TSB
Commercial, said:
"Schools which decide to transfer to academy status are required
to open a new bank account in the name of the academy, and at
Lloyds TSB Commercial we ensure that these processes are completed
efficiently and without delay.
"Our experience of schools' banking requirements means we are
able to offer a comprehensive range of products and services based
on the things that we know are important, so that school's finances
and budgets can be easily managed with minimal disruption and
within a determined timescale."
Ian Buss, head of Education for Lloyds TSB Commercial,
added:
"We are going through what is arguably most significant change
to the education system in generations and seeing an increasing
number of schools converting or considering converting to an
academy.
"The banking requirements involved with the transfer from local
authority control to state-funded independence is not as onerous as
it might seem. At Lloyds TSB Commercial we have developed the
School Banking Account and have been able to offer Becket School
free day to day banking, supported by a local relationship manager
specialising in education."