Please explain to me the benefits/drawbacks of becoming an academy?

[TheYuleLogLady]

apart from the extra cash? any why do academies get extra cash anyway?

TIA.

[twoterrors]

I agree.

I think Dunraven used to use national scores for standardising but now uses local/the cohort (I don't really understand this either). I don't know whether they were pushed to change. I am not absolutely sure, though, that you could not use same tests and then standardise using different systems?

I also think it is down to the return of a selective system that no-one wants to acknowledge has crept back.

[prh47bridge]

Fair banding is supposed to be the reverse of selective - it should ensure that a school doesn't just have the top performers. That's why it is allowed for non-selective schools.

Using national scores for fair banding ensures that the intake is representative of the whole country, i.e. the whole of the United Kingdom. However, if children in Southwark are, on average, less intelligent than the rest of the country, using national scores will bias entry in favour of the more intelligent local children.

To illustrate, imagine the national average score is 100 but the average in Southwark is 90. If you have, say, 5 ability bands, using the national scores they may be 115+, 105-115, 95-105, 85-95, less than 85. Nationally there would be a roughly equal number of children in each band. However, a child getting the average score in Southwark would be in band 4, so over half the children in Southwark would be in bands 4 and 5. That means there would be much less competition for places in bands 1-3 making it easier for the more intelligent children to get places.

The reverse effect would also happen - if children in Southwark are, on average, more intelligent than the rest of the country there would be a lot of competition for places in bands 1 and 2, much less competition for places in bands 3-5.

Using the local scores ensures that the intake is representative of Southwark, so that there are roughly the same number of local children in each ability band.

In most areas I would expect little difference between the results using national scores and local scores. However, there may be a measurable difference in particularly deprived or particularly privileged areas.

[twoterrors]

That's really clear, thank you.

The trouble in this area (South London) is that there are also schools which are partially or fully selective. In addition, I think the complexity of the system operates as a means of covert selection: some parents I have spoken to think banding tests are selective and are put off; time and commitment are also required(many of the tests are held on Saturdays and not necessarily at the school you are applying to, for example. Then there are the aptitude tests, with extremely opaque criteria....

Good luck to anyone going through it this year.

[Elibean]

Can anyone fill me in on how converting to an academy impacts on staff recruitment? Someone mentioned to me that staff would be able to move between schools in the Borough, so we could lose control over who we employ and how stable that employment is. I'm utterly about it all - is this even partially right?

[prh47bridge]

I'm not quite sure what you mean. All schools are responsible for their own staff recruitment. Academies have full control over who they employ and on what terms and conditions. If anything, they have more control over their staff than LA schools. Of course, staff are free to move on at any time, but that is the case at any school.

[prh47bridge]

The direct answer to your question is that converting to an academy has no impact on staff recruitment. It remains the responsibility of the school and the governors.

[Elibean]

Thanks - thats reassuring. Though it may be that there is some sort of agreement in our area - there is a Quindrat of schools in the Borough, and I think something was mentioned about staff moving between them. Clearly not a national thing though, so I'll ask in different quarters - thanks, 47bridge, for clarifying.