32 new academies open this week

Of the 32 schools, seven that are primary schools are the first academies to be created for their age group.

A further 110 schools will be converting into academies, including another 40 primary schools.

Michael Gove has said that this will give head teachers more power to tackle disruptive children, to protect and reward teachers better as well as "give children the specialist teaching they need."

The Principal of Tollbar Business and Enterprise College - which is soon to become an academy - has said that the benefits of becoming an academy will be enormous:

"There will be less bureaucracy certainly, but also more resources which we ourselves will be able to manage."

However, Christine Blower as Head of the National Union of Teachers has said that for a policy that was supposed to be a flagship change for education, "it is something of a failure to have so few schools opening at this stage."