Becoming an Academy School in the UK

Manchester Academy was one of the first major successes of the 1997 Labour Government's flagship education policy of City Academies. This book tells the story of how that happened. Rather than focusing on the theory of school leadership or ‘Heroic Leadership’, it explores how the original vision for Academies was realised in a significantly challenging and challenged community.

It is a story that will speak to all who work in education, as well as anyone interested in it from a parental or employer perspective. This book challenges some of the recent orthodoxies that can polarise and is a timely reminder that education is more than the sum of its parts. More importantly, it provides compelling proof that a learner's identity does not have to be their destiny.