ABSTRACT
This paper reports findings from a research project which sought to investigate how joint church academies relate to existing academies and the state-funded church school sector and how religious communities negotiated and articulated their identity, position and ethos in three joint church academies. The research comprised an interview-based study and was carried out in three joint church academies during the academic years 2009/10 and 2010/11. This paper will briefly introduce the context of church sponsored state-funded schools in England and Wales together with the policy context of academies before exploring the existing research around joint church schools and academies. It will then account for the methodology and analytical framework of the study before presenting key findings. Little empirical research has been carried out within Christian sponsored academies and so this study contributes to our understanding of their culture and ethos and their relationship to the broader state-funded church school sector. This paper will argue that in the cases researched little attention had been paid either to the relationship of the new joint church academies to the existing academy and church school sector or to the views and aspirations of the two pre-existing communities coming together in the joint school.
