your thoughts on the whole academy thing?

[ArfurBrain]

My child's secondary has just announced consultation into becoming one.

By my reckoning, this now means all the town's secondaries will be (potentially) academies.
I dare say many of my questions will be answered at the parents' evening. But the whole academy thing appears to be so rushed that I'm sure there are loads of issues which no-one really knows what will happen until they rear their heads, so to speak.

From a social point of view, what implications might this have on the town?
Admissions etc?

What will happen to those academies which have a less afluent parent pool?
SEN services?
Exclusions?
I mean if all the schools are no longer in LEA control, whose responsibliy is it to ensure each child gets a school place ?

And as I understand it, once a school has become an academy, it cannot go back to LEA control,
I sort of feel our children are being guinea pigs in a ratheruncontrolled educational experiment.
Would just like to know what MNetters feel.

Anyone interested in the risks and benefits of academies might find this helpful. As a teacher, I wouldn't work in one and many others feel the same.

I'm a governor at ds's primary school. We've decided not to investigate academy status as a quick look suggests there are so many risks and unknowns. And while the LEA is occasionally frustrating, we also value all the support we get from them and the services they provide. Would probably cost us more to buy in this stuff from private companies.

btw, this idea that academies are devolving power is a typical Tory lie. They are far less accountable to parents and far more accountable to the Secretary of State. But the main thing is it's really privatisation under another name. Just as the NHS 'reforms' are all about privatisation.

I am concerned at that some people seem to have been given a line (from DfE or ambitious heads or misinformed governors or biased press or.....I don't know where) that if you go now there are carrots to be bagged.
There is £25k offered to assist with the costs of conversion, other than that I repeat Michel Gove's words "The government is clear that becoming an academy will NOT bring about a financial advantage" (his capitals)

edam; I agree wholeheartedly with the other big myth about academies - the devolved power. There is an informative bbc article (www.bbc.co.uk/news/10187148) which supports this

"^So what are the essential freedoms that academy status brings?

They are relatively few and, if the coalition government is true to its word, the differences between mainstream schools and academies will soon be even smaller.

The list of freedoms gained through academy status includes: freedom to adapt the national curriculum, to vary teachers' pay and conditions, and to vary the length of the school day/week/year.

And?.well, that's about it.^"

Here's an interesting thought....

Eric Pickles is forcing all councils to publish all spending over £500 per individual item on their web pages.
This will include LEA schools
But will it include Academies?
who are currently utterly secretive - eg you cannot confirm number on roll or true exam results!

It is not too late - demand to see your chair of governors, or head. You will need a critical mass of parents. But note Michael Gove wrote into the legislation that all that is required to convert is for the governing body to decide that it is to be! He also said "Schools need to consult before converting but it is the governors who decide with whom and for how long to consult." HOW CAN THAT BE RIGHT??

If there are several of you, act quickly, get together a petition if possible. Talk to your local authority more importantly if there really are lots of you who oppose it get your local press involved.

It would be a great story to run. "Local Parents Oppose School's Move to Academy". Ideally write your own press release - newspapers are horribly understaffed and generally only amend stories a little to fit their word count. Provide a well written story & include photos if you can.

I feel really strongly that schools are being bulldozed into submission by the pace of this change. Many people panicking into making hasty decisions.

If you need more info use this thread I will keep checking. I am a chair of governors who is astonished at the willingness schools seem to be showing to move over.

Darvit - I understand that is what Gove has said but are you sure he doesn't mean long term? There has to be more to it than 25000 costs help to have Governing bodies acting so quickly. I would imagine most GB s are no walkover. Friends I know that have been on them in the past are knowledgeable professional people, not the sort to bow to HT or Government pressure. So, overall, something is causing this speed to occur. Is there really no special higher funding for conversions made soon? Even if its funding that doesn't last long. There really has to be something to explain this speed.

Kez100; I am chair of governors of a 450 pupil school. I was a relatively senior manager in a large organisation, but am now a (virtually) full time mum. I have the extreme privilege of not only being well educated and able to analyse data effectively, but also to have had the freedom to spend about 50 hours researching the information behind the drive to academy status....and subsequently about 10 hours a week staying on top of things by reading papers from the Institute for Fiscal studies and (of all things) Hansard and others.

My board of governors is - as you suggest- populated with knowledgeable professional people, all of whom are too busy to attend all the governor meetings, let alone spend days and days researching one line statements about the transfer of pension deficits, in the middle of hundreds of pages of "legalese".

PS there is no additional spending! I think some GBs are seduced by the large numbers that the LA take to manage central functions that is transferred to the school.
The 2 things that scare me are that the pensions deficit transfers to the academy (maybe that is too far in the future for most GBs to worry about) and the line "Capital funding programmes for academies is entirely the responsibility of the academy."
Neither is shouted about by the pro academy proponents???

Ooh, can I weigh in too? We had 'the talk' from my headteacher this week and it looks like becoming an academy is a foregone conclusion for us too.

'Consultation' with parents and staff will be a box ticking exercise and what we say won't count for anything as far as I can see.

My understanding is that, since you're no longer a 'school' but actually a business/ charity, there are additional pots of money that you can bid for. Academies at the moment do have more cash than the rest of us but it's not inexhaustible and I think this is what will see everyone scrambling to get in on the deal. It'll definitely be the driving force behind my school's bid.

What was scary was that my boss - who is a shit-hot head and very good at understanding the politics of these things - wasn't able to get straight answers from anyone about some aspects of the funding and so was unsure himself. He said that, as far as he can tell, even the govt. have a bit of a wait-and-see attitude about it all.

The money that academies have at the moment is because the previous government took failing schools, pumped money into them, insisted they had a 'sponsor' (often a business or 'educational company') and tried to buy better education for the students. Sometimes this worked (and there was a lot in the press) and sometimes it didn't (and you never heard of these academies).

What the current government has done, that is clever, is to associate the old style academies (that were all previously failing schools and had lots of additional funding), with the new style academies (post May 2010 Academies Act) which are all already Outstanding or Good with Outstanding features.

There are no additional pots of money for new style academies.

I cannot stress enough; this idea of additional funding is a myth. I have met with our MP, Oliver Letwin (who is close to Gove and Cameron), and he was as emphatic as ALL the DfE information is - there will be no additional funding. Look on the DfE website if you don't believe me....

"The Government is clear that becoming an academy should not bring about a financial advantage or disadvantage to a school." source DfE - Academies - FAQs

PLEASE DO NOT BECOME AN ACADEMY BELIEVING YOU WILL HAVE MORE MONEY - you will control your own 'top slice' and no more

cat64; AAARGHH why so many people so disinterested?
I am putting time into this because I have real worries and don't know what to do.
Politicians either don't reply to or (more often) don't answer my questions.
I am not a natural activist but this (and the NHS, about which I am much less informed) 'sheep being dragged sleeping slaughter' attitude makes me want to weep

I wonder what the long term implications of the pension deficits are? The LEA must be rubbing their hands at the thought of some numpty happy to have it transferred to their balance sheet.

Does "Disenfranchised of the World Unite" sound like the start of political movement?

And, in a time of falling funding, the LEA will be delighted that someone else takes on the risk of redundancy costs of future staff losses.

Thinking more and reading more, the ticking timebomb risk is a definite worry, which I bet no one will be prepared to answer straight.

Might even consider becoming a Governor actually!

YAY!

It makes me want to weep - we didn't sleep properly for about two weeks all about the time it was being bulldozed through.

Someone mentioned "if you trust the senior team" - but how long will that team stay? Guarantees like that aren't worth anything.

Anyone thinking of organising public meetings/protest - if the MP is something other than a Coalition MP, engage them in the process too and let them know this is happening almost by stealth in their constituency.

Until October of this year, academies are exempt from the Freedom of Information act, so anything you need to know right now about existing academies, is not publicly accessible info.

But its been mentioned on this thread that the legislation says consultation but that is at the Governing Bodies discretion. Also, to be fair, every school is different so, without knowing their position via a five year business plan/forecasts/cashflows/risk assessments for future outcomes, consultation quality and outcomes, independant actuary valuations of deficits and repayment of deficit requirements, it's not possible to know whether it's a good thing for that school or not.

I really mean it about joining as a Governor. Then I will have access to information and be in a position to vote. Am I allowed - as a parent - to ask the school what the next retirement dates of parent Governors are? I remember getting a letter in September 2010 about 1 space being available and then it went quiet. I guess that may still be available or could it possibly have been filled without election?

Ring up the LEA governor service and ask them if their is a vacancy.

Even though you're a parent you can still be a community or LEA governor if their is a vacancy.

Will do. After allthis, I'll probably end up being a Governor of the only school that doesn't try to convert! Still, hopefully that will be a rewarding exercise in itself. Being there for the good of the childrens education.

....or a foundation governor if your school is Voluntary Aided (VA) or Voluntary Controlled (VC). Usually this is a church school (although not always) and usually they are really keen to get 'foundation' governors. You do need to be able to demonstrate a commitment to the religious values of your foundation however....

If your school does convert and you do become an academy you do realise that you will have to 'act in good faith to avoid being liable in the future..!

The team thing is a real concern for me too. Today's governors (and school management in many cases) are pushing through a change that will be in place in perpetuity. The consequences of which most, if not all them, will not need to to be accountable for.

Capital and pensions costs will be the legacy for future generations.