So annoyed about academy switchover - am I being unreasonable?

[Perriwinkle]

So, it's just been announced who our academy sponsor is to be - an outstanding school up the road - which I'm pleased about as they have a fantastic reputation.

However, what I'm not so happy about is that we seem to be keeping our current Head, who has presided over the failure that got us to where we are today.

Also the piss poor governing body, who were so heavily criticised by OFSTED for being impotent and downright incompetent, are all staying put too.

There are no plans to change the uniform either it seems.

Now, I am quite well aware that blazers don't mean success but I really believe that a clear message needs to be sent to everyone that when the old schools shuts and the new academy opens that it is the start ofa new chapter. A line needs to be drawn under the old ways that led to failure. It's a physological think as much as anything and I feela change of uniform would help to reinforce that message.

I'd also like to know how the old Head is going to be kept a check on so that things don't slide. It's a bit like someone who promises to turn over a new lef and keep their house tidy - they'll have a blitz on it and be keep for a week or two but then fall back into thier old ways. It wil be such a shame if the sponsors give the Head a year to prove that things will change and then when they find it's ended in failure and they want to appoint a new one a whole year will have been wasted.

I know I might sound pessimistic but I have absolutely zero faith in the current Head and the Governors to turn things around. I was optimistic about the whole academy changeover thing and was behind whatever the sponsors wanted to do to improve the school but not under these circumstances.

After waiting 4 months to hear about this, I am very disappointed and not hopeful about the future

[Kez100]

I would feel exactly the same. I suppose it depends on whether the outstanding senior leadership team can actually have any effect.

[admission]

I would suggest you wait and see what happens. The sponsor school being outstanding is going to start to influence the school, which whilst it might not be too apparent to start with is going to move things forward. One of the first things I would expect to happen after the formal change over is that a number of additional governors will be appointed, who will be from the outstanding school.
The school will be getting regular visits by an HMI from Ofsted and if there is not clear positive improvements then there will be repercussions for the outstanding school as well, so I would be confident that things will move forward, just not maybe at the pace you want them at.

[Perriwinkle]

Yes, I suppose we will have to just wait and see. If the Head does stuff up though, it's annoying to think that another year or so might have been wasted in the process and my DS doesn't have that much longer there.

Someone did point out to me that my DS's year group will be the first year group to choose options and take thier GCSEs under the leadership of the new sponsor school. This means that they'll want their first year's results to be good and that any failure will reflect first and foremost on them, so they won't want that. They also spondor two other schools, who are doing really well under thier control, so any failure at our school would be a huge blot on their otherwise flawless copybook. So I'm trying to hold onto that thought.

At the very least I would hope that a parents' meeting will be arranged by the school so that representatives from the SLT of the sponsor school can come along and explain to us what their vision for our school is, their timetable for implementing change etc. Do you think that is likely to happen? There is literally zero information coming from the existing Head and Governors of our school though, which is deeply frustrating.