What’s the obsession with merging schools when there’s a lack of school places?

[mmmmmmcheeeesssseeee]

Sorry this sounds a bit like a rant but I just don’t understand why it’s happening!

I don’t have DC at secondary but I have friends who do. Currently one of them has a DC at a school which is going to merge with another nearby one.

This isn’t the first time this had happened where we live. There have been reports in the papers and people affected every year for the past few years by academy chains merging schools.

What I don’t understand is why? You hear every year of people not getting the schools they want and having to go to one far away. Then there’s the whole “we need more school places” thing coming from the government. So why are we allowing academy chains to merge schools and reduce school places? This just seems like a really backwards move to me?

If the schools concerned are full and doing well, they won't merge - if they are however not financially viable because of falling rolls and low parental choice, and they can't keep staff, it makes sense to merge them into one school that is full and not have to split resources on two sites, sets of staff etc. That's why they are merged. And before a merger there is a consultation period, which anyone can input into. It's not an easy process.

Well there's no point keeping two half-full schools in South Yorkshire open just because London schools are full...

Well there's no point keeping two half-full schools in South Yorkshire open just because London schools are full...

Is merging actually reducing the number of places?

Putting two smallish schools under the same set of management may reduce costs - fewer senior management in total, and probably a reduction in admin staff, too.

If one school is struggling, they sometimes hope that merging with a more successful school will give parents more confidence, and numbers will pick up.

A complete merger between schools on different sites is not necessarily possible, but they might put KS3 at one site and KS4 at the other. Or they may sell off land for development at one site and use the money to build more facilities at the other. Or they may just run them as two separate sites, but sharing some staff and resources.

It’s about economics of scale and getting things as cheap as possible. Which tells you everything about educational priorities