by Martin Jefferies

There's good news for a number of schools in Kent and Medway today.

The government announced last night that immediate funding has been allocated for five local academies, with six more set to receive funding later this year.

The U-turn comes after the government scrapped the £55 billion Building Schools for the Future programme last month.

Two academies in Kent - The Isle of Sheppey Academy, Minster-on-Sea, and The Skinners Kent Academy, Tunbridge Wells - will receive funding immediately.

Both schools opened their doors to students in September 2009.

Three academies in Medway have also been given the cash to go ahead.

The Bishop of Rochester Academy can now be built on the former site of the Medway Community College, Chatham, while academies in Strood and Brompton can now develop their sites.

The Strood Academy is already in operation and the Brompton Academy will be built of the former site of New Brompton College, Gillingham.

Meanwhile, a government spending review in October will decide how much money goes to a further six proposed academies.

It means an anxious wait for students and staff at the proposed Dover Christ Church Academy; St Augustine Academy, Maidstone; The Duke of York's Royal Military School, Dover; The John Wallis Academy, Ashford; The Knole Academy, Sevenoaks; and Wilmington Enterprise College, Dartford.

The Department for Education said the projects are "intended to go ahead".