Transaction and transformation at Trinity: private sponsorship, core values and Christian ethos at England's most improved academy

The Academies Programme in England, whereby new schools may be privately sponsored and managed but publicly funded, has expanded rapidly with over 200 academies already open before 2010 and many more likely given the education policies promoted by Michael Gove as Conservative Secretary of State for Education. A significant number of academies are sponsored by Christian organisations and this article draws upon the author's recent case study of Trinity Academy which has both a business sponsor and a Christian ethos. Trinity Academy, which is located at the heart of a former mining community in South Yorkshire and serves a social priority area with a history of educational underachievement, was designated 'England's Most Improved Academy' and the 'Most Improved School in Yorkshire and Humberside' just prior to the commencement of the research. In this article the contribution made by Trinity is assessed and the perspectives of sponsor, school leaders, teachers and 14-year-olds are evaluated. The concept of the 'transaction' to indicate exchange and interdependence informs both research design and analysis. The nature and quality of transactions between those who 'author' the authorised 'texts' of school life and the young people and teachers who 'read' and respond to these value-laden 'texts' at Trinity Academy are reported. The conclusion is drawn that transactions between Trinity Academy's students, its 'secular' core values and its Christian ethos, and also between the public and private sectors, have supported an innovation in schooling that has transformed the opportunities and life-chances of young people. Transactions such as those at Trinity are advocated as an ethical and socially just means of bringing about transformation in educational attainment while providing moral education that fosters autonomy and critical thinking.