Flagship head says academy status reduces autonomy and independence

UPDATE from the TES: Melvyn Roffe commented on new rules requiring state boarding schools to make an 8% surplus: 'We can’t understand how a pragmatic conversation about how to run boarding has turned into an obligation which means we might lose boarders as a result...'

From the BBC: 'Wymondham College principal Melvyn Roffe, accused the Department for Education (DfE) of "micromanaging" schools... He said the school... became an academy because he was told this would mean major changes to our autonomy' and 'more freedom'.

The BBC reports Mr Roffe saying: 'What happened was the reverse. We have had more control from central government rather than local government.'

A DfE spokesman told the BBC: 'These claims are wrong...'

Wymondham College's 2013 accounts