Approved Grant Maintained School 1992

On December 9th 1991, the school’s Governing Body approved a resolution to seek Grant Maintained Status for the school as soon as possible. Grant maintained status (GMS) means that the school receives its allocation of money direct from the Department of Education and Science rather than from Essex County Council which had been the case until then. The school will receive an extra 15% on top of its budget to pay for those services provided by the local authority, and will have the freedom to ‘shop around’ for the best value for money. In the following January (1992) parents were given the opportunity to vote on this important question. The vote was in favour and the school became grant maintained in September of that year. A new governing body was put in place and a new Support Manager was appointed: John Hunter. His role was to reorganise the administration and finances of the school.