A Bradford primary school is believed to be the first in the district to become an academy without a sponsor.

Woodside Academy opened as an academy on Monday after taking advantage of the Government’s decision to allow primary schools with good Ofsted reports to become academies without a sponsor.

Headteacher Jane Browne said she believed the school’s new status would allow it to create a curriculum which “fits the needs of the children” more.

She said: “The governing body were looking at what was in the Government’s white paper and looking at all the different options that are available to schools to make sure they provide the best possible provision.

“And for the last 18 months we have been looking at exploring the benefits of becoming an academy.

“We have been doing that with staff, children, the school community and parents.”

Mrs Browne said the school did not need a sponsor as its latest Ofsted report was good with outstanding features.

She said: “The Government’s strategy is that those schools performing well are strong enough to make sure they continue independent from the local authority, but still with funding as it was before from the Department for Education.

“We wanted to do it because we thought it allowed us more freedoms, so for example, we don’t have to match the national curriculum, so over the next couple of years we will be redesigning our curriculum to make sure it really fits the needs of the children and gives the best outcomes for them.

“We are also really interested in preparing a curriculum that prepares children for the world of work.

“It’s good just to have the freedoms really to make sure that we are in a position to make sure we get the best outcomes possible, and we feel the freedoms of being an academy allows us to do that.”