A team of solicitors from Howes Percival's Northampton office have assisted Northampton School for Boys in their conversion to academy status.

NSB have become one of only 32 schools in the country to have been granted academy status in the first wave of conversions.

Chris Houghton, partner from Howes Percival commented: "this was an extremely challenging piece of work. The final draft of the Academies Act was only passed in late July, and so proper guidance and documentation was only available extremely late in the day. We had to work extremely quickly alongside Mike Griffiths and deputy head Oliver Harris at NSB to ensure that everything had been correctly completed by the deadline. We were delighted that the conversion took place relatively smoothly, and in such a tight timescale". Mike Griffiths, headmaster of NSB: " Chris' team at Howes Percival had to respond quickly and efficiently to meet the deadlines set out by the Department for Education for completing the submission. They did so, meaning we start the new academic year in control of our own funding and able to make the right decisions for NSB".

Chris Houghton who heads the Education Team at Howes Percival added: "NSB is a much loved and respected Northampton institution that we have worked with for a number of years. We were proud to help its transition to academy status which will provide the means for it to thrive and improve in the future. We are working with a number of other schools who appreciate our unique understanding of and commitment to this sector".

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