Questions about school becoming an academy

[gemgemninknonk]

Hi. Our primary school has recently announced it will be becoming an academy.
After talking to several other parents and asking the head for further details we are all still left scratching our heads as to the true meaning of this process for the school and the consequences for our children.
I have agreed to do some research and perhaps chair a meeting for the parents to relay some information.

I'm particularly interested in hearing from patents/teachers from schools that have been an academy for a couple of years or more to greater assess the long term effects.

There seems to also be a lot of rumours being spread amongst parents and wondered if anyone could elaborate further on them, for example;

1. When becoming an academy they get an increase of 10% budget for the first 2 years or so then budgets are scaled back.
2. Books and resources become very limited and may even become sponsored by company's to try and push certain 'agendas'.
3. They will no longer have to employ qualified teachers and will start employing lower skilled staff on cheaper wages.
4. Class sizes will get even bigger.
5. Land will be sold off for profit.
6. There is also some uncertainty as to whether or not the academy can be run as a business for profit and questions to where the profits go.
7. Is there any going back when becoming an academy?
8. What does the academy actually own, do they own outright and or are they on renewable contracts?
9. Do they have to follow a curriculum and are they still accountable to ofsted etc?

10. Will the academy accounts be fully accessible and transparent?

Sorry I have so many questions but there are a few to start with.
It's so hard to get all the information needed and I'm trying to collate it all to one place.

Governor here of primary school which is considering converting to an academy.

1. You do not get any more funding. Your school will have to pay a top slice to the academy trust (around 4% of income), in return for the MAT's services. Most of these services were previously provided by the local authority.
2. AFAIK nothing to stop academy pushing their agenda. How they spend their money on resources is up to them

Conversion to an academy involves the transfer of assets (school buildings etc) to the academy trust. Nothing to stop them selling them off.

No, there is no going back to maintained school status.

After doing due diligence and talking to other governors from schools which have converted, my main take home message is that there is less accountability all round - you may have a parent advisory panel on each school, but the Governors are effectively the executive body of the Trust, and in a large academy very far removed from the school. The perceived benefit for us, as a small village school, was increased support for SLT and increased networking and career development opportunities for teaching staff. That said, I am very glad we didn't rush headlong into conversion as I don't like how parents have less say.

Parent of a Junior School which converted 18 months ago:

I can't see a decrease in qualified teacher or limited resources since then, the opposite actually. But obviously I don't know how much the school had in reserves and we have a very active PTA who is good at fundraising.

No land to sell, we are limited anyway.

The school was very open in the whole setting up period, happy to host meetings and answer questions, the same I can say about the Board of Governers. So I think it is up to the individual school how much they say, share and plan for the future.

We are in a MTA with a girl secondary school where around 50% of all girls go to. I feel the academy helped there as the upper KS2 classes benefit from shared experiences, visits from teacher and pupils, visit to the school for equipment.

Classes haven't increased, but again it may be due to size restriction in the building, we were bursting before becoming an academy.

We are merging with the Infant school from September, some say it is easier than under the maintained status but in the end it would have happened anyway.

From a parent's view nothing has changed in the 18 months, we still have the same amount of visits, teacher, experiences and the school actually was one of the first in our borough to fully embarce the new curriculum when it was introduced, I doubt they will go away from it.

I think a great deal depends on the MAT you join and how good they are in comparison to the LA. Our LA charges for services so paying the MAT is neutral financially speaking. Some MATs are good and the Sutton Trust has just published info on MATs. Some are not so good. Tiny primary ones linked with a senior school are very difficult to judge. Your staff should be assured that high quality advice and CPD is available and in our LA academy schools can purchase from the LA if they perceive their training to be better. The MAT must be capable of ensuring school improvement takes place to ensure a favourable Ofsted
Inspection. Some MATs have allowed schools to coast and advice has been poor.

All schools have to work within budgets so if you do not have 30 in a class they could increase but they still have a PAN so not everything can be overridden. LAs can sell surplus land. Academies can sell surplus land. It comes down to what is surplus and what will be done with the money to benefit the school.

Academies follow the national curriculum and are inspected by Ofsted. They have little reason not to follow the NC as they are judged on it! Some religious schools are going to be investigated by Ofsted due to not teaching the NC but I assume you are not a religious school of dubious character.

My belief, for what it's worth and from what I have observed, primary schools that become academies do so for one or two reasons. C of E schools like to be part of their club in a more meaningful way. They just replace the LA with another bureaucracy that sits well with their Governors. The second set of circumstances is where school Governors recognise they will lose a first class Head unless they offer them more. The chance to be an executive Head in a MAT and have a higher powered role keeps them at the school, for the moment. I was on a GB that saw it as CPD for the Head who had considerable ambition to rise to the top! The opportunities at a MAT outweighed the possibilities with the LA in terms of shaping its destination and salary opportunities. Academisation is not necessarily better for primary schools and you should look at the motives behind it. The money per child remains the same but some MATs have extended schools quicker than a LA can do but it will depend on pupil numbers and popularity. In the end parents want a good school and don't care too much about whether it is an academy or not.

I was one of the biggest opponents of Academies and I now work for a MAT in the Central Trust Team and lead the administrative side of it. There are a lot of misconceptions about how MATs are run and yes, there are some dictatorial MATs, but there are some very good ones who value the individuality of each school and what it brings to the Trust.

In our case, we are a group of 7 (but growing) primary schools who felt that the LA was directing all services to the needier areas of the county and leaving schools without support where deprivation as a whole (though sometimes found in concentrated pockets) was lower.

You say your school is converting - is it forming a multi academy trust, joining one out of choice or being sponsored? For those differing circumstances there will be different things to consider. However, taking your questions:

1. When becoming an academy they get an increase of 10% budget for the first 2 years or so then budgets are scaled back.
As an academy you don't receive any extra funding, but you are not paying the LA for compulsory services either, so this funding (which is being reduced year on year) should be re-directed to provide essential Trust services. Most MATs services are provided via a top-slice contribution from funds - anywhere between 3 and 8% but different MATs provide different levels of central services and some may expect schools to meet some costs of services from their devolved budget.
Books and resources become very limited and may even become sponsored by company's to try and push certain 'agendas'.
This is only based on the ethos of the Trust. In ours, there has been no reduction in resources and we don't use sponsorship as we don't want companies to influence our ethos.
3. They will no longer have to employ qualified teachers and will start employing lower skilled staff on cheaper wages.
This hasn't happened with us either - all teachers are qualified and we have a strong emphasis on CPD, internal growth and using our apprenticeship funding to provide increased skills to existing staff.
4. Class sizes will get even bigger.
Again, not the case with us - we have not adjusted our PANs and have stuck to our Net Capacity calculation for each school. I present for admissions appeals and have been more successful at panel than many LA officers.
5. Land will be sold off for profit.
Unless your school is already a Foundation school with land held in Trust, you do not own it if you convert. Instead a standard lease is issued by LAs to lease the land to the Trust for the next 125 years. Therefore, the Trust cannot sell off the land.

6. There is also some uncertainty as to whether or not the academy can be run as a business for profit and questions to where the profits go.
If the academy makes charges for somethings, that is discretionary. We haven't made any changes in regard to this and don't intend to.

7. Is there any going back when becoming an academy?
You cannot return to being an LA maintained school once you have converted. However, you can apply to the Regional Schools' Commissioner to leave a MAT and join another. The RSC can also gift your school to another MAT if the Trust does not improve or maintain standards and Ofsted grade it as Inadequate or Requires Improvement over two inspections in more than one area. Technically you are required to give a MAT 7 years notice to leave and join another, but the reality is that the RSC would intervene.
8. What does the academy actually own, do they own outright and or are they on renewable contracts?
The academy transfers the T&Cs of staff over to the new academy and own the inventory of the school. They lease the land and buildings from the LA unless they were a Foundation School before converting. They retain the responsibility to maintain the land and buildings, including capital refurbishment responsibility. The staff are employed by the Trust but ours are not expected to work in another academy in the Trust unless they wish to take a development opportunity. The MAT is a charitable organisation, limited by guarantee.
9. Do they have to follow a curriculum and are they still accountable to ofsted etc?
No they don't but are still monitored by Ofsted. Every academy I know follows the NC because any justification not to is not deemed acceptable by Ofsted inspectors.
10. Will the academy accounts be fully accessible and transparent?
MATs have to publish their accounts and file them at Companies House - they are transparent in that format. They also have to declare within a bracket of 10k how much their members of staff who are directors are paid (usually the CEO).

If you would like any further information, please DM me - I'm happy to help.

We have also retained local governing bodies with devolved responsibilities from the Board of Directors. If we sponsored a school and brought it into our Trust because of difficulties, it would have fewer devolved powers until it was in a position to successfully manage itself.

Conversion to an academy involves the transfer of assets (school buildings etc) to the academy trust. Nothing to stop them selling them off.

Whilst assets are transferred to the academy trust, VeryPunny is wrong to say there is nothing to stop them selling them off. They have to get the Secretary of State's approval if any land or buildings will no longer be used as part of the school. At that point the Secretary of State will usually make a direction either forcing them to transfer the land to the local authority (with, if appropriate, compensation from the LA for any improvements made by the academy trust) or forcing them to pay the market price for the land.

If it's a MAT, the responsibility for the performance of the schools in the MAT is corporate.