What does it mean to become an academy ?

[mamatomany]

There is much excitement hysteria that one of the nicer girls schools locally is to become an academy.
The school has a good head and excellent reputation so what exactly does it mean, I cannot imagine how they would improve it tbh, although I guess there is always room.
Thanks

It's not about 'improving' as such, it's about gaining a far higher degree of financial independence and apparently protecting them from yet more policy change (eg KS4 MFL compulsory, then not compulsory, then part of the Eng Bacc- nonsense).

There appears not to be a 'do nothing' option, and high performing schools apparently stand to lose most financially in this latest government shake-up as the ££ will follow the free school meals which is a) the new measure of 'need' identified, and b) usually under-represented in the higher academically achieving schools. Academy status help ring fence their money.

The 'Outstanding' schools can go Academy without need for govt. approval. Ours is and I suspect it won't make an iota of discernible difference to the DC's school experience, especially as they're still heading for the same exams, though my only hope is that they use the opportunity to ditch some of the currently nationally compulsory 'How to not behave like a drop-kick idiot' lessons (thrown in to try and civilize and make school- and life-ready DCs from neglected backgrounds) in favour of more useful (to our DCs) subjects.

Well that sounds really positive, thank you

I have read on here, though, that the legal necessity for formal parental involvement such as being on the Board of Governors is reduced, this the appeals process. Also teachers terms and conditions can be adversely affected as they become employed by the school, not teh LEA.

Our school is keeping the teachers T&Cs though of course, this may change.

They have to maintain the stated LEA admissions code though they apparently will now keep their own waiting list, citing efficiency but you do wonder if some schools might use this lack of transparency to maybe 'cheat' a bit? And, the simple fact is, I suspect this government would turn a bit of a blind eye on the basis they want and need academies to succeed and this first tranche are already successful schools, so, rather like the way we will see all sorts of admission shenanigans over Free School places, we may see some dodgy practice from academies seeking to keep their intake middle class.

I meant 'THUS the appeals process', i.e. as a parent you may find the tiers of appeal and complaint available to you curtailed and more 'internalised' than you'd find in an LEA school.

All good so far then.
Some people who've failed the 11+ have managed to get on appeal only to struggle with the work load once they get into the school so hope that can be stopped. Any bright child from the local area can apply so it would be nice if the children who actually pass get the places as opposed to those who's parents know what to say at interview.

Whilst academies can reduce parental involvement, the current government is pushing for governing bodies to remain the same or have increased parental involvement. Under the legislation all the governors can be parents if the academy wishes.

The academy becomes its own admission authority which does mean the school is responsible for its own waiting list in exactly the same way as faith schools. The LA is still responsible for administering admissions. The LA will therefore see all applications and be well placed to see if the academy is applying its admission criteria correctly and fairly. The LA and appeal panels both have responsibility for ensuring that the admission arrangements comply with the law and the Admissions Code and are correctly administered.

I would be surprised if this government turned a blind eye to anything in regard to admissions. If they did any parent affected could apply for a judicial review. The negative publicity from this would be far worse than any advantages to be gained from allowing academies to break the law on admissions.

Without knowing details of the cases it I don't know why appeals for a selective school for children failing the 11+ have succeeded. However, conversion to academy status won't necessarily affect that.

I hope by "parents know what to say at interview" you mean "parents know what to say at appeal". No school is allowed to use interviews as part of the admission process unless it is a boarding school.

I do mean at appeal, the problem locally is that we have too many school places so if you are close with the 11+ and say have divorced parents that is offered as a reason why your child should go to the grammar and it works.
Anyway it sounds like a positive move in terms of the school having more control.

WE are finding a very different story with our new Academy. Seaford Head Community College has become very dictatorial with its parents and carers. While Academies do have the right to change the teaching day/week/year, this is done with no consultation whatsoever. We are "informed" and "attendance is mandatory".

We have recently been "required" to give out consent to biometric data being taken from our children and stored in College. We have not, as the Data PRotection Act requires, been told that there is an alternate system, and the students have not been asked for their consent.

I am deeply concerned that this particular Academy is chasing numbers and no longer has the interests of its students at heart.

It now feels that it is answerable to nobody, and parental challenges and questions are brushed aside. This is, I fear, the beginning of a very slippery slope.

The school gets a one-off sum of money, which is handy.

I do mean at appeal, the problem locally is that we have too many school places so if you are close with the 11+ and say have divorced parents that is offered as a reason why your child should go to the grammar and it works.

Really? I've never heard of an Appeals process working like this.

Oh and if your school leaves Local Authority control just make sure someone in the shiny new team knows how to do the legionella checks.