Chance to become academies

[Kismet2010]

Does anyone know if the new government changes to offer all outstanding schools the opportunity to become academies by the autumn term, means that they will be able to take over the admissions for the school and would they be able to change admissions straight away or will it have to be next years intake that are effected by the any new policies?

Academies are their own admission authorities. That means they set their own admission criteria and are responsible for determining which children are admitted. They still have to follow the rules laid down by the government, however.

The 2010 intake will not be affected. Offers have already been made so it is too late to change that.

New academies will be responsible for their own admissions in 2011 but it is not clear if they will be able to introduce new admission criteria straight away or whether this will have to wait until 2012.

According to the Department for Education there will be further information on www.education.gov.uk this afternoon.

academies legislation news

I don't get it, how can a local authority plan for changes in population if every school can do what it likes re admissions

It is no different from the current situation where faith schools, foundation schools and academies decide their own admission criteria. There will be more of these schools but, in some areas, these schools already form a significant part of the school provision. That doesn't stop the LA planning for population movements.

The schools can't "do what they like" but they do have more freedom than LA controlled schools. The process of determining the school's capacity and admission number remains the same. The capacity is determined by a formula set down by the Government and the admission number is derived from the capacity. They can't change the admission number or the admission criteria on a whim. There is a process which has to be gone through which takes a long time.

This whole thing confuses me. I saw a head teacher on the news last night who was looking forward to becoming an academy and getting to keep the 10% of her budget which the LA currently hold. In her school's case, that 10% amounted to £400,000 and she felt that currently she only got about £20,000 - £30,000 pounds worth of services for that money. But surely the LA provide all kinds of services like centralised HR support, training, support for SN students etc. I appreciate that the quality of some of that support might be questionable but wouldn't you go through £20,000 in a very short time at market rates? Is that HT or others like really going to have lots of extra money to play with or are they just going to end up having to use that amount to pay for mostly the same type of support they already get?

The proportion of central government funding retained by the LA varies from council to council, as does the support provided. The school may feel that it doesn't need all the curriculum co-ordinators and suchlike that the LA employs. Of course, it is quite possible that the head teacher concerned was underestimating the value of services the school gets from their LA. However, £400k can buy a lot of services.

The LA will still be able to provide the existing services to those schools that are willing to pay for them. However, schools will have the option of obtaining services elsewhere or doing it themselves if they can save money and/or get a better service by doing so.

Prh, you obviously know a lot about this. Do you think that the LA charges their services out at market rates or are they subsidised? I am wondering if e.g. 10 hours worth of whatever kind of consultancy from the LA only equals e.g. 7 hours from a private provider?

I think the answer to that one remains to be seen. It may well depend on the individual LA. The perception of those I know who work in education is that many LAs are currently poor value for money and that you would get more from a private provider. Of course, that may just be the grass being greener.

Is there going to be some definitive official guidance on this? The whole thing seems to have been rushed out in a huge hurry, unless the Conservatives have had some secret working party looking at this and working out the details for years and are now launching it fully-formed.

I am in a bit of a lather as I am a primary school Governor and feel like I will need to become knowledgeable in a hurry! Our HT retires in July and despite advertising twice we have had no applicants (faith school) so we can't reasonably expect her to get hugely involved in this. However, I really feel like we have enough on our plate at the moment getting some leadership in place for Sept without writing to Michael Gove to become an Academy at the same time!

I think it is very worrying for children with SEN. As I understand it the protections are far reduced and even if a child manages to secure a statement, the LA will have no power to enforce the provision under it.

"They have to follow the admissions code, which governs how children get school places, but are able to select about 10% of their pupils on aptitude if they wish to, but not on ability".

a bit about it here

Well yes, it could be that some schools would do better with the money rather than having it paid to the LA. But what about those that don't? This rather seems like the 'well I don't have children so why should I pay tax for schools' argument (or more frequently heard - I pay for private education, why should I pay twice for other people's kids in state schools)

library services - southwark - some schools thought they'd be better out. they shifted out. then became uneconomical for the rest (majority).

Annh - Michael Gove has definitely been working on this for years and there has been no great secret about it, although you would need to have been paying attention to his speeches and articles to have picked it all up. The civil service will have known that this was Conservative party policy so should also have been preparing for it. I'm sure there will be official guidance but I don't have any kind of inside track on when it will appear. As your school is a faith school I suspect it is rather less affected than non-faith schools - you will already be handling your own admission arrangements, for example.

Debs40 - I don't know where you got that from but that is definitely wrong. If a school is named in a statement of SEN it HAS to admit the child. That won't change. There is no reduction of protections for SEN. Michael Gove has been pretty strong on that point. He wants to improve provision for SEN, not reduce it.

No, I'm afraid it is right and two issues are being confused her.

I am not talking about the right to send your child to the named school but the enforcement of provision on a statement. Enforcement is undertaken by the SofS and not the LEA under the 'funding arrangement'.

This is a big issue for parents of children with SEN as even if you manage to get a statement, there is no guarantee that schools will follow the letter of the provision set out in it. The situation with academies seems to exacerbate this further.

Please look at the documents produced by ACE and IPSEA e.g. www.ace-ed.org.uk/OneStopCMS/Core/CrawlerResourceServer.aspx?resource=258A1202-71E3-43F9-9962 -A1B5966E051F&mode=link&guid=1f6b042748874f3a9378042605c4cd28 which has been written by David Wolfe.

It says (referring to the current situation with secondary academies):

"The LEA remains legally responsible (and is the only body legally responsible) for arranging the special educational provision
specified in a child?s Statement, but it cannot put in place and enforce arrangements under a local scheme of delegation to
ensure that an academy makes the provision in the Statement (para 8.6 SEN Code of Practice) whereas it can for a maintained
school. If an academy failed to make the provision, the LEA?s only recourse would be to invite the SofS to exercise her powers
under the funding agreement ? a far weaker lever"

prh47bridge can you point to any evidence that this will be remedied in the new Bill? I'd like to see it.

The short answer is I don't know. I'm not involved in government or the Conservative party, just doing my best to explain the changes as I understand them.

I've taken a look at the ACE document which is 4 years old. It is interesting but I've no idea how extensive problems have actually been. It would be useful to know how big a problem there is with the current arrangments.

I can only suggest you contact your MP and/or Michael Gove to express your concerns.

I have contacted my MP as although these documents (and there are others are a few years old) I understand, as a lawyer, that they represent the current state of the law regarding SEN and academies.

My MP, who is a Tory, tells me that he will investigate this further and look at whether there are plans afoot to add SEN protection into the bill.

I wasn't asking for advice prh47bridge but challenging your bald assertion that "I don't know where you got that from but that is definitely wrong".

I stand to be corrected but I don't know that it is.

I understood your original post to imply that the government were actively reducing protection for SEN children. Hence my response. Given Conservative party policy on this subject, I hope they will ensure that SEN children are properly protected.

This does actively reduce protection for SEN children and the fast-track nature of the proposals together with the lack of obligation to consult or involve parents does not bode well.

Let's face it, manifestos mean nothing in practice.

In my book there is a difference between the government setting out to do something (what I termed "actively" in my last post) and something being an unintended consequence of government actions. That's the distinction I was trying to make.

If the arrangements under which academies currently operate have, in practise, reduced protection for SEN children I sincerely hope the new government will act to fix the problem.

I note that it is Conservative policy to stop closure of special schools and end the bias towards inclusion, i.e. the default assumption that every SEN child is better off in a mainstream school. I hope that means we end up with a system that has no bias in either direction and where SEN children are properly provided for. I sincerely hope it does not mean that SEN children will be forced into special schools when it is not appropriate.

I have a briefing document from the Special Educational Consortium regarding Academies and the problems with SEN. For example, in addition to uneforceable statementing provision, at present, Academies do not have the same duty to use their ?best endevaours? to meet the needs of children with SEN which the Education Act 1996 (s317) places on maintained schools, and there is a lack of clarity in regards to whether the SEN Code of Practice must be followed.

If anyone wants a copy CAT me.

Also the bill is now at
www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201011/ldbills/001/2011001.pdf

There is a specific mention of SEN in the Bill. It says that all Academies have to make special educational provision for pupils with SEN. It has yet to be spelt out what exactly what this means!

My child's school (outstanding selective grammar ) has just announced they will apply but acknowledge they don't know enough to make a final assessment until more info available to them and will withdraw if they feel it will substantially affect the school's status. Governers have written to parents about this intention and invited a response. Does anybody know the best place to find out about what academy status will imply?