A Bath secondary school could be converting into a new-style academy much more quickly than predicted and could also start taking in boys.

In a notice published on Oldfield School’s website yesterday headteacher Kim Sparling announced her hopes for the school to become an academy on November 1.

She said: "I am pleased to be able to update parents on our progress with our conversion to academy status.

"After speaking to the Department for Education last week they have agreed a provisional date of November 1st 2010 for us to become an academy."

Mrs Sparling also gave her first indication in a long time that the school may be considering turning co-educational.

This is a move both local parents and the local authority have been calling for.

She said: "You will be aware that in the past the governors had indicated that they might be willing for the school to become co-educational in the future, this was always subject to funding being available for the appropriate building improvements/adjustments to be made.

"Until recently no capital funding was available to make any such building improvements.

"In the last week the governors have been offered funding by the local authority to facilitate capital improvements to allow the school to go co-ed in the future.

"The chair of governors and I are planning to meet shortly with the LA to find out when this funding might become available.

"Obviously we cannot make any changes to our admissions to admit boys unless specific building adjustments have taken place."

Bath and North East Somerset Council has said the money for the necessary changes to allow boys has always been offered to the school, and in a report published earlier in the summer promised Oldfield £1.5 million.

This announcement from Mrs Sparling comes after the publication of a list by the DfE earlier in the week, which showed that Oldfield was not in the first wave of schools to become academies for the new school term.

In the past Mrs Sparling has always said the plan was for the conversion to take place over the summer holidays so that it could break free of local authority control ready for September 1.

But it seems that has not been possible because of B&NES Council’s refusal to support the plans.

The authority is in the middle of a reorganisation of the city’s secondary schools and has argued that it is in the best interests of the community for Oldfield to be co-educational.

It has offered the school an ultimatum to switch its academy application by September 17 so it will start admitting boys or the council will look into shutting it down and reopening a new school on the site, which would probably be run by the local community.

If Oldfield does decide to become co-educational then boys would probably not start entering Year 7 until September 2012.

Mrs Sparling also said that brothers of girls already at the school would get first preference.

She said: "It is important to remember that consultation has already taken place regarding admissions for September 2011, they therefore remain the same, GIRLS ONLY.

"If in the future the school has facilities to admit boys we would nevertheless want to retain the admission criterion which gives priority to SIBLINGS of existing students."

This could make it difficult for Bath children to get a place at Oldfield, because at the moment the majority of current pupils are from either South Gloucestershire or Bristol.