Did Supply in a new Academy yesterday and feel sad

northcountry
sadly I think you have defined the elephant in the room
Academies ARE accountable - to the DFEE
which has so far NO apparent systems to deal with schools that are going pear shaped
(my local academy is an Oasis so this is something I watch VERY closely)

The only experience I have of academies is from my own childrens "outstanding" primary, and from what I've seen I find it very worrying.

The very first (visible) thing they did was to change their admission policy to basically make it impossible for children outside catchment to get a place (by de-prioritising the sibly policy and even giving teachers children a priority). The cynic in me thinks that the reason for this is that there is a pretty large chunk of out of catchment EAL children who have now got no chance of getting a place. What's next? Maybe get rid of all the SEN kids too?

There was no consultation with parents other than a letter to say there would be no consultation as the board of governers had already decided it was in the best interests of the school.

The sats revision is crazy. My kids have missed core lessons (including games)
in order to focus on sats revision.

And the way I see it I have no-one at all to complain to;

1. the headteacher - well they're her policies so she isn't going to do anything
2. the Board of Governors - they sing from the same song sheet
3. MP - he's on the board of Governors

I may be wrong on this, but they just don't seem accountable to anyone? As far as I'm aware they are no longer governed by either the LEA or Ofsted?

Fortunately, my 2 are leaving this year but the high school they are going to is also an academy.

I fear that Academies can be dangerous when you've got a meglomaniac running the show.

Kez, my school is one that is outstanding that was forced to convert for financial reasons. The Tories cut our school budget massively and are promising more cuts in the future. We needed to get control of our finances so that we could have some chance of salvaging the situation.

You might like to think that we would be spending our bumper academy bonus on more teachers, improved facilities and maintaining TAs, but in fact despite becoming an academy my school has had to lay off teachers, sack TAs and like I said, my classroom is leaky and hole-ridden (we were promised a new school under the Building Schools for the Future programme which was scrapped by the Tories).

Teachers at my school are teaching more and with less support, despite being an academy. And we are looking at how we can further cut costs over the next few years as sixth form funding continues to dwindle, by cutting lesson allocation and subject availability in the sixth form.

The academy money is not a surplus, it is going towards plugging a very deep hole. And it's not enough.

Lots of schools have no textbooks
That's nothing to do with being a 'good' or 'failing' school or an academy or not. It's just some schools use them, and some schools don't.

My DCs have textbooks. Maths is only used for Homework, Science is used for Homework and revision, French and Spanish is used in class and at home. DS used to have a History one, DD hasn't had it, I don't think it covers all the subjects in the new (more consistent) syllabus. English has set books from time to time.

New academies get the full allocation direct. It used to go to the LA who took a bit of it, and gave the rest to the schools to spend. The bit kept back the LA chose where to spend. So, although all schools got some services, not all got services equal to the amount they lost. Some received very few services for the money the LA kept back.

Politically, in these circumstances, I can understand the argument not to convert. However, financially, there is no argument; the school is better off. It gets it's full allocation if it converts, it buys the services the LA provided and the rest it can spend how it wants because it is extra to what it would have received otherwise. That could be wasted but as these Academies were outstanding schools, one would hope they would divert it to very good education investment - maybe more teachers, improved facilities, maintaining TAs, keeping a decent choice of curriculum at a time when main budgets are being cut.

textbooks are much better for learning than photocopies.

I don't understand the teachers who don't like textbooks. Are you suggesting that everything the children learn has to come out of your head in the lessons, or out of classroom discussion? Or do you mean that the children should get any additional info off the internet?

The internet wasn't even invented when I was at school, and in my favourite subjects I learned loads from the textbook, even reading the chapters that weren't in our particular exam board's curriculum.

I can see that maybe textbooks are more relevant to some subjects than others, but no text books? I just can't get my head around that idea.

Getting back to the OP, it does seem a bit depressing: Either the school became an academy because it was so good that it thought it could do even better freed from the trammels of LA control...and it has gone downhill.

Or it was rubbish and was made to convert in order to improve...and it hasn't improved.

I teach two very different subjects and in both of them textbooks do not equal lazy teaching. They equal saving photocopying.

gabid

All of the Bliar Broon Nuu Labour Academies were "sponsored" which meant that the sponsor put in £1m in the first year and then got to run the school.
The budget share came direct from the DFEE rather than via the LEA
management charges from the companies that oversee the academy can be substantial - Oasis are currently being taken to task for spending too much on senior management and too little on teaching.

All of the Cameroon / Goove 2011/12 Academies are standard schools that have had their budget share transferred from the LEA to the Dfee

there is NO NEW MONEY
the only difference is that the school can CHOOSE whether to buy in expertise from the LEA or from a private (profit making) company

I don't see how textbooks equal lazy teaching. The kids at my children's selective independent each have a rucksack full every day and the teaching is excellent.

It seems to me more that no textbooks equals teachers who don't think their kids will look after them or bring them into school as required.

Most, if not all academies are fur coat, no knickers IME.

I am HoD RE too, and like Pottering you won't find textbooks in my department. I never use them. I too do revision guides for students, so lessons can focus on active learning.

I had to break up a fight today and restrain a student and we are a "good" school. Old style academies are unusual in being able to totally turn things round.

Which times tables were the Year 9s doing? I'm a solicitor and a Russell Group university graduate and I struggle with times tables frankly, always have done.

I'd imagine it takes more than a year to turn around a failing school tbh.

I had to laugh at the suggestion that academies are lavishly funded. Failing schools might have money chucked at them, but from looking around at my classroom with leaky windows and holes in the walls, I can assure you that the new academies are not plated in gold.

Every single secondary school in my LEA is an academy.

Kumquat - are you prepared to home educate?

Kumquats.. lots of perfectly good schools are becoming academies, so you may not have a choice. DCs school became one as it seemed likely (and still does) that if it didn't it would be the only one, one of a very few good/outstanding schools under LA control. Therefore the central resources would be unavailable as they would be concentrated on the poor schools. The terms and conditions for the teachers is exactly as before, and I think this is pretty much so for the support staff. The one big change is a lot more money making schemes, eg. charging for courses for School Admin staff and TAs.
But then again there are two kinds of academies, those who were Good/Outstanding and failing schools which are turned around (although I also think some new schools are also Academies).

"I've written my own revision guides with everything they need / independent learning tasks etc in"

...Or you could buy a textbook with the same stuff in that can be used for more than one class/year. You wouldn't get the photocopying budget for individual revision guides at my place. I find it odd that you think that a textbook = lazy teaching, but you've essentially just written your own.

Academies are an appalling idea. My children will never set foot in one. Furthermore, they can choose not to recognise if a teacher is a member of a union.

That's really very sad. I live on the outskirts of Middlesbrough where there's an academy where only 9% of students got 5 GCSEs not including equivelents. As well as this 50% of the childen get free school meals :(
It's a truly amazing school building, but what use is that when only 40% of children make expected progress? Something really needs to be done to help schools like this and the ones mentioned above.

Thanks Pottering along.

The boards are paid? Surely the boards are what were Governors in the old school and the only ones paid are the Staff Governors and Headteacher.