Forced academies (primary): questions to ask

[specialmeasures]

I have posted a couple of times before about our school going into special measures and received some very helpful replies. It looks very much like we will become an academy with the C of E as the sponsor. The governing body (which was declared rubbish in the OFSTED report and from which not a single member has resigned so I don't have much faith in them) have said that they think it is best for the school and have given us a series of soundbites as reasons e.g. 'school will have more freedom' 'control over budgets' 'statistics from 2008 show that academies do better'... oh and that they have no choice as Gove will do it anyway.

We have a meeting about this coming up and I would be really grateful for any suggestions of questions to ask or points that I should clarify.

Broadly the questions I have are (in no particular order and I'd appreciate views on whether they are sensible):

1. What will the composition of the governing body be - will the sponsor have a majority vote do the parents get to choose the parent governor(s).
2. Will they consult the parents and will the parents' views play any role in the decision.
3. What exactly does more freedom in the curriculum mean? Who is exercising this freedom and why should we give a 'failing' school more freedom.

This all seems a bit pointless as there seems to be no parental choice at all but I am finding it very difficult to see behind the rhetoric and would appreciate any help.

search the three big education boards for threads on Academies - there are lots
you'll need strong coffee

Thanks - yes I have been reading them and they have been very useful but I'm just trying to distill the masses of information in to questions! Realistically we're not going to have chance to get many questions in and I'm trying to work out what's most important. Also trying to work out what these things mean on a practical level (rather than a theoretical/political level).

is your school a C of E school already?

In which case being a C of E sponsored academy may not have that much impact in the sense that in a sponsored Academy it is the sponsor that has all the power, will appoint a majority of the Governing Body and so forth. if it is already a C of E school this may not mean a radical change of character. Also the C of E in practice is a sponsor with some background in education having already been involved in running so many schools, and unlike other sponsors where quite grave concerns have been expressed about accountability the C of E does have internal democratic structures. ( Admittedly not really easy to access unless you are on your local C of E church's "electoral Roll" which is basically the C of E's definition of practical membership of the C of E. Its the people on the electoral role who can attend your local church's AGM elect members of the parochial Church Council, and ultimately through that choose the Churchs parliament - the General Synod.)

Also, as you may have noticed, the C of E is a reasonably disputatious sort of institution with both freedom of opinion AND variety of opinion on , well everything really, including education. Sometimes I am sorry I am not C of E cos then I could join the fun...

So while I personally neither agree with sponsored Academies in principle, nor do I agree with tax payer financed church schools in principle, in practice a C of E academy is less objectionable...

And if your LA is a bit dozy, in your case it could even be an improvement.

Many thanks nlondondad. Yes it is C of E (and I think that means that Gove has agreed that the school will be offered to C of E rather than other sponsors). That is reassuring!
I still find the lack of accessible information and general disregard of the views of parents disturbing. Indeed I spoke to one of the governors today and they have not been provided with any information at all themselves but are nominally supposed to make the decision. Of course they should do research on the matter but there is so much information it is difficult to digest it.

Consultation of parents is a requirements but it's most likely going to be with a view to finding out what the objections are and overcoming those objections rather than halting the process.

the 'freedom' means that the Ht and governors do not have to follow the national curriculum and if it is felt that a new curriculum is required in order to raise standards, they can decide to do that. If your HT and governors find that this is outside of their comfort zone or that the current curriculum is fine and only needs a little tweaking, they may not exercise the freedom like most primary academies.