Academy status, any views? also adding an entry form?

[manitz]

Indigobell you said your school had been forced to add an entry form. Having posted about bulge years it seems this will be the final solution for our school also. Did you get rebuilt to take the extra form? We would need to be. i'm not that against it if we are rebuilt but you said you fought it, why did you?

Also has anyone any views on what the advantages will be of academy status? who will the charitable bodies be answerable to? how will schools left in the LEA be affected? anything really....

thanks in advance

We had a bulge year, but too costly to build a classroom. So we had a portable classroom on the playground , Not the best solution for the children, but I can see was impractical to build.
We have quite a flexible classroom, so we rotated which year group had their 4th class out there so the same cohort of children (and staff) were not away from main school.
As far as academy status goes, we decided against it. Simply put; money goes directly to school and school has to buyin key services. It means more money in budget initially, but with buying the things that the LA provide not really much in it. Also there is less accountability (and support) for the school. An academy can really go their own way and set its own agenda more. It all depends if you like the school's approach.
There's also a scarey rumour going round that they set their own teachers' and TAs' pay scale and a local one is appointing staff at a lower rate than LA rates. If they are an academy they have outstanding status and that means less, if any OFSTED.

Abigail, thanks. Initially they were asking us to take a bulge year, we had already agreed one for 2012 intake and now they want us to take another for this year's intake. Apparently they really want us to become a 3 form entry school as that's a better long term aim for the council. Obviously a couple of portable classrooms wont help if we increase every year by a form - and the school has previously been promised money for a much needed rebuild but noone has started digging yet and that concerns me.

I'm happy to increase the size of the school but don't think portables are the answer for a permanent increase in the size - we are on a small plot too so there basically wouldn't be any playspace unless properly redesigned, I don't think they'd allow it. I know indigobell said their school campaigned against and wondered why they had done that.

Thanks very much for input about academies what you say about budgets makes absolute sense to me. I can't see how it's a benefit at all but wondered about the extra money to go to academies if they sign up by this sept. Does that come from LA funds? if so does it leave schools who remain in the LA at a disadvantage this year?

I'll answer you in private :)

ta

The Department of Education (DfE) makes it clear that schools should not benefit financially from conversion into an Academy because the extra money given to schools is only to buy services which the Local Authority (LA) would have provided for the school. However, the two schools near me who tried for academy status made it clear they were doing it for financial reasons so that they could save teachers' jobs, keep Special Educational Needs (SEN) provision, teacher's assistants and so on. This means that either there is more money on offer to academies initially (and is therefore a bribe) or schools are underestimating how much the services offered by the LA actually cost.

Academies are not democratically accountable. The composition of governing bodies in LA schools is controlled by law - they have to have so many parent governors (chosen by ballot) and representatives from the local community. However, there is no legal obligation on governing bodies of academies to have local representatives. Academies can also set their own term times and times of the day (which may, or may not, be the same as other local schools). They can decide teachers' pay and conditions. In theory, teachers in the school on conversion have their pay and conditions protected under something called TUPE. However, George Osborne has said he wants to get rid of TUPE so that any organisation taking over another organisation doesn't have to abide with existing conditions of service for staff (NHS employees watch out if your work is taken over by a private organisation).

See the Local Schools Network for discussion of educational matters, including academies.

www.localschoolsnetwork.org.uk/

Academies do NOT have to buy services from the Local authority.

A local school became an academy. They were having 10% of their budget top sliced to the local authority and not getting that value of services back. On top of that they had to pay for other services they felt they needed. Now as an academy, they are paying approximately 4% of their budget to pay for needed services. They are able to look and get best value which usually isn't from the local authority who have over inflated costs on inferior services.

Our school is seriously considering it and considering the success of the local school/academy, if it means to save jobs and services in the school, I am for it.

Yes, it is 100% dependent on your LEA, if they're any good, and what they provide whether or not it's sensible to convert to an Academy.

It is true that academies do not have to buy services from the local authority. They can shop around for allegedly better deals. But this means the headteacher has to oversee more of the administration or hire someone to do it. Headteachers are first and foremost teachers NOT financial and legal experts. It is quite possible, of course, for the heads to buy into an organisation that deals with procuring services for schools but this brings other problems. (See link to Local Schools Network above).

And there's no guarantee that money offered on conversion will remain at that level. In which case schools could find themselves in financial difficulty but with a governing body that is not accountable to local people. And if it fails, the Secretary of State has the ultimate say.

What parents should be lobbying for is sufficient funding for ALL schools and not just the one to which their own children attend.

But Abuelita - if the LEAs are not being efficient with the money they are given then schools can be adequately funded and still not get enough funds (ie the LEA is wasting some of their funds)

Academies receive the same money is maintained schools. It's just the school gets to choose how to spend all of it rather than the LEA choosing how to spend some of it.

Parents can't really lobby against rubbish LEAs - nor do they even know if their LEA is any good or not.

Academies are not stealing money from other schools. This is a total myth. It's a myth teachers and LEAs want you to believe for various reasons. There's a lot of people's jobs on the line here - and that is why there is so much emotion around the subject, despite the facts.

Abuelita my local authority is cutting back to mainly statuatory services and nothing extra. They are still cutting 10% off the top and making headteachers plow throw reams and reams of Service Level Agreements. So, there are MANY heads who are having to select services with out the experience to back it up. However, the Academies have the 10% to support finding the best values and YES they ARE getting better services that what we are getting from the local authority. Hey, at least they get a SLT in on a regular basis for a pentance when we have to be happy with a sporadic service that mediocre at best.