Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the (a) take-up of places in and (b) performance of academies in Stafford constituency.

Stafford constituency has four open academies:

1) John Wheeldon Primary School (opened 1 September 2014, sponsored by Staffordshire University)

2) Rowley Park Primary Academy (opened 1 August 2014, sponsored by Victoria Park Primary Academy)

3) The Weston Road Academy (converted to academy status in October 2011)

4) The Rural Enterprise Academy (opened August 2012 as a free school, sponsored by South Staffordshire College, Veolia and the National Farmers Union).

Both John Wheeldon and Rowley Park are at or near capacity. The Rural Enterprise Academy has been open since 2012 and has a phased intake admitting up to 60 pupils in each year. There are currently under 100 pupils on roll. The Weston Road Academy is almost 80% full.

We make regular assessments of all academies to monitor performance.

John Wheeldon and Rowley Park converted in September 2014 and it is too early to say what impact academy conversion has had. Rural Enterprise Academy was rated Good by Ofsted in March this year. The Weston Road Academy was rated Good by Ofsted in October 2013 and overall performance is above the national floor targets.