Academy status good or bad?

[Dontletthemgetyoudown]

Just that really. A local senior school is changing from a lea school to an academy.

This won't effect us for a couple of years dc that could go is currently yr3, but I've only really heard bad things about academies.

It's currently an ofsted good school with 98% a-c gcse at year 11.

Worked in an 'outstanding' one. Loved it when I started - 5 years later we had turned academy. Most of the staff (myself included) had resigned within the year, many with no job to go to. Working conditions were hell.

I don't think there was any difference to the children though. However, with all the new staff I do wonder how the school will do in the future, such a high staff turnover can't be good.

I don't think there's a single answer to this, it will depend on the individual circumstances of each school. My DCs secondary school is an academy from choice and as a parent I've seen no difference apart from a slight change of name.

There's been no change in uniform, no change in the timetable, obviously I have no idea about SLT salaries but I thought the changes to teachers pay meant they could get increases now anyway.

From threads I've read previously it seems that forced conversion is very different to a thought out planned change and you can't generalise.

Academy status good. Any school deemed to be 'good' by Ofsted, in the current educational climate, would be foolish not to change to an Academy. It will make very little difference. The website www.how-to-choose-a-school.org/summary/academies.html has a good section on this.

The outstanding upper secondary that my DC attend has become an academy. Nothing has changed apart from a couple of things on the admissions criteria but they aren't major amendments.