Four schools across Suffolk have become academies ahead of the start of the new school year.

St Benedict's Catholic School, Sir Peter Hall School, Grace Cook Primary School and Woodbridge Road Academy, join the ever-growing list of schools becoming academies around the country.

There are over 10,000 academies now in the UK, with each receiving funding directly from the Government.

They are all run by academy trusts rather than the local authorities, and also have more freedom, being able to set their own term times, and they don't need to abide by the national curriculum.

St Benedict's Catholic School and the newly opened Sir Peter Hall School, are both in Bury St Edmunds, while Grace Cook Primary School, another new school opening this year, is situated in Stowmarket, and Woodbridge Road Academy is in Ipswich.

The four academies are now part of the 92% of secondary schools in the East of England that are academies, with an extra 13 being added across the East.

Education secretary, James Cleverly, said: "The government is working continuously to improve education standards in the East of England to drive up pupil attainment, and with 13 newly-converted academies opening, these schools will benefit from the expertise and support of their academy trust."

Woodbridge Road Academy is part of the Paradigm Trust, who already run Ipswich Academy and Piper's Vale Primary in Ipswich.

The new schools for the upcoming year, Grace Cook Primary and Sir Peter Hall Primary, are run by Orwell Multi-Academy trust, and Unity Schools Partnership respectively.

Schools and Academies are using new measures this year to help boost attendances.

This includes targeted support to families that need it, and improved data tools to help schools better identify issues.

Mr Cleverly continued: "Our new attendance guidance and data tools that come into effect this academic year will make sure all schools trusts, and the East of England local authority are encouraging pupils to attend school every day."