WEST SUSSEX ACADEMY WATCH Parent-led campaign group against academies and free schools in West Sussex
Showing posts with label Academies in the News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Academies in the News. Show all posts
Wednesday, 20 November 2013
Sunday, 17 November 2013
Michael Gove a zealot, says shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt
Guardian, 15th November 2013
Labour's Hunt criticises Gove for 'crazed, burned-out investment banker model of teaching' where job seen as short-term career
Tristram Hunt has described the education secretary, Michael Gove, as a zealot and said that a string of recent high-profile failures – including the controversy over the Al-Madinah free school in Derby – meant that the public had turned against the coalition government's changes to the education system.
Continue reading...
Labour's Hunt criticises Gove for 'crazed, burned-out investment banker model of teaching' where job seen as short-term career
Tristram Hunt has described the education secretary, Michael Gove, as a zealot and said that a string of recent high-profile failures – including the controversy over the Al-Madinah free school in Derby – meant that the public had turned against the coalition government's changes to the education system.
Continue reading...
Saturday, 26 October 2013
Another flagship free school in trouble
Flagship free school 'misused funds'
Guardian, Richard Adams, 26th October 2013
More dodgy financial goings-on, more mismanagement. Guess what? It's another free school!
"It proves yet again that it is not possible for thousands of schools to be run directly from Whitehall". Hear, hear!
Sunday, 20 October 2013
Special report: Coalition in crisis over free schools and academies
Indpendent, 20th October 2013, Jane Merrick
Look at the Independent front page today! At last the Lib Dems speak out against Gove and some of the free school and academy policies. But is this enough to stop the rot?
Lib Dem leader attacks Conservative policy on educational institutions that don't have to meet core standards
Look at the Independent front page today! At last the Lib Dems speak out against Gove and some of the free school and academy policies. But is this enough to stop the rot?
Lib Dem leader attacks Conservative policy on educational institutions that don't have to meet core standards
Wednesday, 16 October 2013
West Sussex free school in trouble. Headteacher stepping down.
Head of failing free school to step down
Crawley and Horley Observer, 16th October2013
The headteacher of Discovery New School has agreed to step down as soon as possible after failing to create an adequate improvement plan for the school.
The Broadfield school, set up in September 2011 as one of the country’s first free schools, was judged as needing ‘special measures’ in its first Ofsted inspection in May.
This meant it would be subject to regular unannounced inspections.
Ofsted’s report of its inspection in September stated headteacher Lindsey Snowdon had agreed to step down from her role ‘as soon as a new headteacher can be appointed’.
Thursday, 19 September 2013
What's going on in Worthing?
What's going on in Worthing? Shortly after Davison School for Girls wrote to parents before the summer holiday, advising them of its interest in seeking academy status, Durrington High has done the same. There are also plans for a new secondary school in Worthing which will be an academy / free school. Is this more than a coincidence? What is the rationale behind this apparent new interest in academy status?
Davison and Durrington High are rated 'outstanding' and 'good' schools by Ofsted, respectively. Why do they feel it necessary to action this move, in addition to the massive transition that the change in age of transfer poses in 2015, as well as huge pressure on the number of school places going forward?
Parents at Davison and Durrington High, we urge you to write to the Heads / Governors and make your feelings heard. Ask questions and demand a public debate on these plans before irrecoverable decisions are made. Surely nobody wants a rerun of the Worthing High debacle!
Davison and Durrington High are rated 'outstanding' and 'good' schools by Ofsted, respectively. Why do they feel it necessary to action this move, in addition to the massive transition that the change in age of transfer poses in 2015, as well as huge pressure on the number of school places going forward?
Parents at Davison and Durrington High, we urge you to write to the Heads / Governors and make your feelings heard. Ask questions and demand a public debate on these plans before irrecoverable decisions are made. Surely nobody wants a rerun of the Worthing High debacle!
Saturday, 20 July 2013
New secondary school in Worthing
Joe Riddle, Worthing Herald, 20th July 2012
THE government has confirmed funding to build a new secondary school in Worthing to accommodate the growing number of children coming through the school system.
The Department for Education has set aside more than £13million for the construction of the new 900-pupil school to be built in Broadwater.
Academy chain under fire following revelation of payments made to bosses
This is an utter disgrace.
Academy Enterprise Trust paid almost £500,000 over three years to private businesses owned by its trustees and executives
Daniel Boffey, The Guardian, 20th July 2013
Academy Enterprise Trust paid almost £500,000 over three years to private businesses owned by its trustees and executives
Daniel Boffey, The Guardian, 20th July 2013
The country's largest taxpayer-funded academy chain, which was recently criticised for its poor performance in managing schools, has paid nearly £500,000 into the private business interests of its trustees and executives.
An investigation by the Observer has uncovered a series of payments over the past three years to companies in which those running theAcademy Enterprise Trust (AET), a registered charity, have a beneficial interest. The payments were for services ranging from "project management" to "HR consultancy", according to the academy chain's company accounts. AET, which is based in Essex, has not provided further details. In all the cases the services had not been put out to competitive tender.
Friday, 5 July 2013
Business case for proposed West Sussex Durand boarding school questioned
Midhurst and Petworth Observer, 5th July 2013
PLANS to build a boarding school for inner city school children on the former St Cuthman’s site at Stedham have received a setback after the National Audit Office expressed concerns about the government’s backing of the controversial scheme.
The concerns have emerged in a letter seen by the Observer written from the auditor general Amyas Morse to the permanent secretary at the department for Education Chris Wormald.
He said he believed ministers had agreed £17m for England’s first free state boarding school, without looking at its long-term viability and the department for education approved funds without fully analysing risks.
Saturday, 1 June 2013
Swedish free school operator to close, leaving hundreds of pupils stranded
JB Education schools are to be sold or closed after private equity group owner pulls plug, raising fears over UK policy
Britain's adoption of Sweden's "free school" model has been called into question after one of Sweden's largest private sector school operators announced it would shut down, leaving hundreds of students stranded.
JB Education, whose schools educate around 10,000 Swedish pupils, said on Thursday that it would sell 19 of its high schools and close down the remaining four.
The decision, which follows four school closures announced by the company in February, came as the Danish private equity group Axcel, which bought the chain in 2008, decided it could no longer continue to cover the company's losses.
Thursday, 25 April 2013
WSAW press release of 22nd April 2013 - Woodard Academies and the Durand Academy Fiasco
Press Release... Press
Release... Press Release... Press Release... Press Release...
West Sussex Academy Watch
Monday 22nd April
Woodards Academies and the Durand
Academy Fiasco
West Sussex Academy Watch condemns in the
strongest terms the racist language used by Conservative county councillor John
Cherry regarding the proposed boarding school in West Sussex for
under-privileged London children. These remarks – bizarrely depicting a
national hierarchy of potential achievement, and a “sexual volcano” to be
unleashed by ‘escaped’ black school children - were a throwback to the
biological racism of the colonial era and have no place in modern society. A spokesperson
for the group said: “These disgusting comments are a distraction from the real
issue. It is current education policy that has led to a shortage of school
places and to the plans for this expensive boarding school in West Sussex. It
would be far better if this money was invested in good new state schools in
London and West Sussex so that families are not broken up for children to
receive a decent education.”
Tim Loughton, MP for East Worthing and
Shoreham, has heaped praise on Sir Robert Woodard Academy in Lancing for
appointing its third head in as many years. This school was placed in special
measures by Ofsted last year. In a recent Ofsted parents survey 33% of parents
think the school is not well led compared to 62% who think their child is
taught well at the school. Despite the adverse effects on the children, Tim
Loughton continues to praise the instability that academy status has brought to
this school.
In a bad week for the Woodard academy
schools, teachers have been on strike at Littlehampton Academy. In a joint
statement by NUT and NASUWT, they cited “the oppressive management policies at the school which is
part of the Woodard Academy chain” as the reason for the action. West Sussex
Academy Watch calls for Woodard Schools to review their leadership and
management practices to ensure their staff are not subject to onerous
micro-management, and so that pupils at their schools are able to learn in a
stable, well led environment.
A spokesperson for West Sussex Academy Watch said: “These
developments show once again that education is delivered best in a free,
democratically accountable state system. Local Tories are hopelessly out of
touch and West Sussex Academy Watch once again calls on West Sussex County
Council to abandon its policy of encouraging all schools to convert to academy
status.”
For comment or clarification please
contact:
Notes to Editors
· For more information on
the Ofsted Parent View results for Sir Robert Woodard, please see the following
link:
· For more information
about our group please see the following links:
Tuesday, 23 April 2013
Schools in well-off areas 'are failing' poorer pupils - who get better exam results in deprived areas
The Independent, Andrew Grice, 23rd April 2013
Minister says schools with more affluent pupils have disgraceful record for helping disadvantaged children
Read the article
Minister says schools with more affluent pupils have disgraceful record for helping disadvantaged children
Read the article
Saturday, 20 April 2013
Thursday, 18 April 2013
Another Head teacher appointed at Sir Robert Woodard Academy, Lancing
MP praises appointment of new Sir Robert Woodard Academy principal
Tim Loughton MP praises appointment of the new Head at Robert Woodard Academy in Lancing. This is the third Headteacher since becoming an academy. How can so much upheaval be a good thing for the school, its students or staff?
Tuesday, 16 April 2013
The Littlehampton Academy teachers' strike
Teachers at the Littlehampton Academy will be on strike on
Weds 17th April.
The strike has been called by both the National
Union of Teachers (NUT) and the NASUWT, unions that together represent the
overwhelming majority of teachers.
In a ballot teachers in both unions voted by
a big majority to start an ongoing campaign of strike action and protests
against the oppressive management policies at the school which is part of the
Woodard Academy chain.
Teachers say that The Littlehampton Academy management have refused to move an
inch from its regime of bullying micro-management of teaching staff. If
management refuse to listen to the majority of teachers at the school, the
strike will be followed by a two day strike and then further strikes adding up
to 6 days in total.
This is a sad and alarming situation for both the teachers and the students, who will be losing out on valuable school time. Unfortunately, we may see more of this kind of action, as the number of academies - out of Local Authority oversight - grow.
An Academic Debate?
"Great documentary exposing the fault lines running through Coalition's flagship academies programme" - Anti Academies Alliance
Nearly three thousand schools have taken up the government’s offer to become academies – but were they tempted by more than the simple promise of freedom? This documentary explores how financial equations have played their part in the success of the coalition’s flagship schools policy. As academy funding is overhauled, the programme estimates the final cost of a grant which should have meant academies got exactly the same budget after they converted as they did before – and asks why funding equality ended up costing hundreds of millions of pounds.
In a wide-ranging examination of the academies programme, reporter Paul Faulkner also talks to schools and local authorities about the changing education landscape. Are academy freedoms as significant as they are portrayed? And what future for the local authority as its traditional role in education is marginalised? One council leader has a tough message for Whitehall – “Leave us alone!”
Sunday, 17 March 2013
Tuesday, 12 March 2013
Are the wheels coming off the Gove bus?
Has anyone got any grease and a spanner to give them a hand?
The real thinking is coming from professionals, not policymakers
As Michael Gove learns that hasty policymaking can come back to bite, some good ideas are now coming from the professionals who do the job, says Fiona Millar, Guardian, 11/3/13
Are the wheels coming off the Gove bus? The once-Teflon secretary of state seems to be more on the back rather than front foot these days, not helped by the well documented and thoroughly unpleasant activities of a few key advisers. Very bad politics on the part of someone who aspires to be a party leader, in my opinion.
But it is the progress of his substantive reforms that, on closer examination, provide a textbook example of how hasty, over-promoted, ill-thought-through policies usually come back to bite.
The short-term legacy of the Academies Act – not in the coalition agreement, pushed through parliament using a form of legislation previously reserved for combating terrorism, supported by the supine Liberal Democrats and supposedly a cure-all for the nation's education ills – is distinctly mixed. The original Labour academies mission is so diluted that the performance of academies is now no different from similar maintained schools and conversions have flattened out. The vast majority of schools in the country are still maintained but there is still understandable widespread concern about what sort of middle tier can hold schools to account in an increasingly fragmented landscape.
Tuesday, 5 March 2013
With threats and bribes, Gove forces schools to accept his phoney 'freedom'
Guardian, George Monbiot, 5th march 2013
Through its academies programme, the government is creating a novelty: the first capitalist command economy
So much for all those treasured Tory principles. Choice, freedom, competition, austerity: as soon as they conflict with the demands of the corporate elite, they drift into the blue yonder like thistledown.
This is a story about England's schools, but it could just as well describe the razing of state provision throughout the world. In the name of freedom, public assets are being forcibly removed from popular control and handed to unelected oligarchs.
All over England, schools are being obliged to become academies: supposedly autonomous bodies which are often "sponsored" (the government's euphemism for controlled) by foundations established by exceedingly rich people. The break-up of the education system in this country, like the dismantling of the NHS, reflects no widespread public demand. It is imposed, through threats, bribes and fake consultations, from on high.
The published rules looked straightforward: schools will be forced to become academies only when they are "below the floor standard ... seriously failing, or unable to improve their results". All others would be given a choice. But in many parts of the country, schools which suffer from none of these problems are being prised out of the control of elected councils and into the hands of central government and private sponsors.
Monday, 4 March 2013
Dear Mr Gove: Michael Rosen's letter from a curious parent
Michael Rosen, The Guardian, 4th March 2013
How is having targets for four-year-olds 'improving children's lives'?
I see that the education select committee has asked you and your permanent secretary to reappear before them. I was surprised by your response: you seem to think that this is a waste of time. You wrote to the committee saying you were free to answer their questions: "Then, perhaps, the Department for Education team can get on with improving children's lives and you can consider where your own energies might be directed."
I had no idea that it was your job to tell the select committee what they should be doing. Isn't the idea of you telling others about how their "own energies might be directed" laughable?
I've been in several parts of the country that are reeling from the chaos of your top-down transformation of the structure of education. As was predicted, an academy can fail an Ofsted inspection. The problem is that you seem to think that turning a school into an academy is a cure and, following from that, you don't seem to have imagined a scenario in which the cure could fail or that the cure itself might ever need curing.
So what happens when an academy fails? Presumably, as your "energies" are "directed" towards this by the red light flashing on the map in your office, you as sole commander of Academy England issue instructions: "Switch sponsors! Chuck out AET, bring in Harris! Hang on, I sent Harris to that other place. How about a superhead? Any superheads around? No? Why not? No one wants to apply for the job? Tell the head in the next-door school, she's got to do the job or she's out on her ear. Federate!
"Now you're telling me that if she becomes superhead the deputy head doesn't want to be a stand-in head? OK, this is the plan: who's the local authority? Right, this might be tricky, but I want you to sidle up to them, tell them that I've never been against local authorities and see if they can ... er ... provide some assistance to this academy ..."
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