The application for a Cambridge charter school has passed the first stage and the applicants will now be assessed for their operational fitness and capability.
Ray and Maxine Nelson
Ray and Maxine Nelson, who have owned and run Ignite Arts Academy in Cambridge for 13 years, worked with education consultant and former principal Alwyn Poole on their application.
They hope to open one of 15 new charter schools after $153 million was approved in this year’s Budget for charter schools over the next four years. Thirty five state schools will also be converted.
A charter school is a state-funded school that operates on a 10-year contract and can set its own curricula, hours and governance structures.
“We have received a significant amount of feedback from Cambridge families regarding the lack of middle school and early high school options for their children and [who] have voiced their support for a schooling option that would cater for children needing to have a different approach to their education,” said Maxine Nelson.
The couple are also receiving teacher applications and are calling for letters of support from the community.
Maxine Nelson from Ignite Arts Academy spots someone she knows in the crowd.
In their application, the Nelsons said Ignite Academy had recently been approved as a charitable trust and it was within that they would run the charter school.
The school would be called Ignite Arts Academy and be a year seven to 10 composite school with 90 students next year rising to 120 in 2026.
“Our firm belief is that every person is creative at their core and that adding that to high quality academic development young people have an opportunity for a fulfilling and contributing life,” the application said.
“We desire to nurture and grow confident, self-aware students that will be an asset to any learning/work environment they choose to be a part of.”
The school would have an academic morning and an arts and activities afternoon. Class sizes would be 15:1.
Associate Education minister David Seymour last month said half of the 78 applications received were unlikely to proceed.
The Nelsons need to get their stage two application through by the end of the month.
