A secondary school is set to become an academy.

The governing body of Marriotts School in Stevenage has voted to move forward with plans to become an academy in partnership with the independent Meller Educational Trust and The University of Hertfordshire.

The change, voted for last week, would mean the school in Brittain Way would receive funding directly from central government, rather than a local authority.

Schools which become academies also have more freedom than other state schools over finances, curriculum, length of terms and school days and do not need to follow national pay and other conditions for teachers.

Marriotts headteacher Bethany Honnor said: “In September we began a 28-day consultation period about becoming a sponsored academy. During this time we held two open stakeholder consultation meetings, one to present the timeline and the procedures for raising questions and concerns and one for parents to meet the potential sponsors and raise their questions to the local authority and to governing body representatives in an open forum.

“In addition we set up a consultation email account, consulted with students through assembly, year councils and whole school parliament and consulted with the governing body and staff on a number of occasions.

“David Meller and the Meller Educational Trust combined with Ross Renton, Dean of The University of Hertfordshire, and their team will bring much experience and expertise to Marriotts and will offer us fantastic support as we continue to move forward on our journey to become the best school for our students.”

The school is now awaiting approval from the Department for Education.