A THIRD Darlington school has become an academy.

Hummersknott School and Language College is now Hummersknott Academy after the school received confirmation yesterday that its new status has been approved.

Academy status means the school is independent of local authority control and makes all the decisions of how its budget is spent and how it implements the national curriculum.

Under the coalition Government's policy, a school like Hummersknott, which was assessed by inspector Ofsted as "good with outstanding features", are able to convert to academies without the involvement of sponsors.

The new governing body will consist of representatives from parents, staff and the local community.

Headteacher Pat Howarth, now the academy's principal, said the school had put in a lot of hard work to gain academy status after the decision was made in January.

"For us, it is about us feeling we can deliver the services we require at better value for money.

"It is about being able to further improve the education for children here."

He said the school had yet to work out its exact budget for the next academic year, but would be looking at spending money on more staff and equipment.

"We have plans to improve arts provision, particularly music provision.

"We won't be making any changes immediately - it is about planning the next 12 months and looking toward 2012.

"We welcome the greater autonomy academy status gives us, but it is not about going off on our own.

"We will still continue to work in partnership with the other schools in Darlington."

The conversion to an academy comes after consultation with staff, parents and students as well as the wider local community, who use the school's leisure facilities out of hours.

Admission procedures will continue to be conducted by Darlington Borough Council and the school says it is committed to the existing admission system.

The school joins academies St Aiden's, formerly Eastbourne School, and Hurworth. Alderman Leach Primary School also became Darlington's first primary school to gain academy status yesterday and will now be known as West Park Academy.

Longfield School is set to become an academy on August 1, while Branksome is to switch to academy status next year.

Mr Howarth said: "This is the latestmilestone in a proud history for Hummersknott and we believe it will take us to new levels of excellence in our work in developing the young people of the borough and being active in the community."