6. Open as an academy
What actions you should take in the first few months after your school opens as an academy.
ESFA will send you a welcome letter and information pack once you have finished the conversion process. The pack will outline the steps you must complete within your first few months of opening.
Your project lead will confirm the date on which ESFA will send your academy its first payment. Contact ESFA if you don’t receive your first payment on time.
If you received a support grant for your conversion, your chair of governors should fill in the academy financial support grant expenditure certificate and send it to your project lead.
This certificate confirms how much of the support grant you have spent on converting, and whether you are carrying a portion of the grant over into your academy’s budget.
You should publish your final funding agreement on your academy’s website.
You will need to submit several financial returns to ESFA in the weeks and months after opening.
Read ESFA’s guidance on financial returns to find out when and how to submit these returns.
You should complete your academy’s land and buildings valuation within 6 weeks of converting.
Guidance on completing your land and buildings form is available.
Once you have opened as an academy, ESFA will be responsible for allocating your funding, answering any questions you may have.
They’ll also be in charge of monitoring your academy’s compliance with its funding agreement and the academies financial handbook.
Contact ESFA if you need more information or advice after you have converted.