Dixons Kings Academy
 |
|
| Established | September 2011 |
|---|---|
| Type | Free school |
| Principal | Neil Miley |
| Chair of Governors | John Bowers |
| Founder | Sajid Hussain Raza |
| Location |
Northside Road Bradford West Yorkshire BD7 2AN England Coordinates: 53°47′28″N 1°47′19″W / 53.7910°N 1.7885°W |
| DfE number | 380/4004 |
| DfE URN | 137277 Tables |
| Ofsted | Reports |
| Staff | 24 teaching, 8 support As of July 2013[update] |
| Students | 140 As of September 2013[update] |
| Gender | Mixed |
| Ages | 11–18 |
| Website | Dixons Kings Academy |
 Whistleblower sounds the alarm about flagship free school in Bradford (25 October 2013). The 10-minute Newsnight report investigating financial irregularities at Kings Science Academy. BBC Newsnight Official channel. (Flash Video.) |
Dixons Kings Academy is a mixed free school for pupils aged 11 to 18 located in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The school opened as the Kings Science Academy in September 2011 and was one of the first free schools to open in England.
The school was founded by Sajid Hussain Raza, the school's first principal, who was convicted of fraud in August 2016 after diverting £150,000 of Department of Education grants into his personal bank account, treating the Academy "like a family business employing his relatives there and, for at least the first 12 months, operating with no proper governance."
London's The Independent said the school "comes closest to David Cameron's vision of what a free school should be." Kings Science Academy has a longer school day (8.00am–3.30pm) than most other schools, and the library remains open until 9.30pm "for those with no quiet space at home." Raza anticipated that eventually 80% of pupils would progress into the sixth form and higher education, and that "most of them" would go to the top 20 research-led universities known as the Russell Group.
On 11 June 2015 a male teacher was stabbed in his classroom by a 14-year-old male pupil who had racially abused the teacher. There was a manhunt for the student afterwards and he was later convicted of attempted murder and given an eleven-year sentence.
One of the school's key supporters is Alan Lewis, vice-chairman of the Conservative Party and owner of the land on which the school stands. The school leases the land from Lewis at an annual cost of £296,000 for 20 years. The school is operated by trustees Kifsa Ltd. and wholly financed by central government through the Education Funding Agency. The current premises were completed in 2012 at a cost of £10.5 million.
The school is now part of the Dixons Academy Trust which includes Dixons Allerton Academy, Dixons City Academy, Dixons McMillan Academy and Dixons Trinity Academy.
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