Privatisation update
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- PRIVATISATION UPDATE THE LATEST NEWS AND INFORMATION ON ACADEMIES, FREE SCHOOLS AND PRIVATISATION ISSUES FROM THE NUT’S PRIVATISATION IN EDUCATION UNIT NUMBER 35, JUNE 2013
- ACADEMY CAMPAIGNS
- DEVELOPMENTS IN INDIVIDUAL ACADEMIES
- FREE SCHOOLS
- INTERNATIONAL NEWS
______________________________________________________________________ ACADEMY CAMPAIGNS Copland strike followed by action groups Following the strike action by teacher unions at Copland Community School in Brent on 23 May 2015, two action groups – one for staff and another for parents – have been established to coordinate their continued opposition to the imposition of an interim executive board (IEB) and forced academy conversion of the school. The Unions and action groups have written to the Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, requesting an urgent meeting. They are demanding a secret ballot of all staff and parents before any decisions are made about Copland's future and a commitment from the Government to rebuild the dilapidated school buildings that Ofsted have stated are not fit for purpose and have adversely effected pupils' education. The joint unions are considering a further day of strike action before the end of term if they cannot get agreement from Brent Council and the DfE that Copland will not be forced to become an academy. (Joint unions’ press release, 17.06.13) Strong parental support for Abbey Meadows remaining community school Parent campaigners at Abbey Meadows primary school in Cambridgeshire are celebrating the results of a parent consultation which revealed a huge show of support for their children's school. Parents returned 169 consultation forms and all but three voted to keep Abbey Meadows as a Community School. Two voted for a sponsored academy and one had no opinion. Parents say: “The scale of the response was overwhelming, and sends a clear message to the governors, Chris Beddow [the Head Teacher] and the staff: We and our children are happy at Abbey Meadows, we want to keep you, and we want to keep our school the way it is.” A group of parents meet with local Conservative MP Julian Huppert to express their concerns over the school’s recent Ofsted judgement of ‘inadequate’ and the proposed academisation. Parents asked the MP to support the school should it choose to remain a community school and he agreed to write to Michael Gove and ask that the DfE respect the decision of the governors. (Save Abbey Meadows campaign press releases) The campaign’s website is at: www.saveabbeymeadows.org.uk/ Roke to be handed over to Harris Roke primary school in Croydon, where parents put up a determined fight to prevent the forced academisation of their school, is to be handed over to the Harris academy chain. A letter from Lord Nash to the school’s chair of governors on 19 June 2013 announced that the school would become a Harris academy on 1 September. The letter acknowledged that 63 per cent of respondents to the official ‘consultation’, “were in support of Roke remaining a local authority maintained school” and that two parental polls and a petition organised by parents and the school outside the formal consultation “showed that the majority of respondents oppose the move to academy status”. An Ofsted monitoring inspection in January found that the previously ‘outstanding’ school was making ‘satisfactory’ progress but a further inspection this month judged that the school now requires special measures. What Lord Nash’s letter fails to acknowledge is the role that the forced academisation process itself has played in destabilising the school. The head resigned in April and it has been reported that 29 staff – including 12 of the school’s 17 teachers, two teaching assistants, five midday supervisors, three children’s centre employees and a librarian – will have left by the end of term. In their latest report, Ofsted cite high staff turnover since September 2012 as a reason why some teachers had missed out on training. Parent Becky Carrier, 31, told the Croydon Guardian: “How can standards not now slip, when children have been robbed of teachers often mid-way through term? These are good, inspiring, motivated teachers who have been put through the forced academy wringer, with disastrous results. This is exactly what we predicted would happen, that our good teachers would leave in droves. Forced academy is toxic and does more damage to a school than good.” (Croydon Guardian, 07.06.13 and Lord Harris letter to Roke chair of governors, 19.06.13) The campaign website is at: www.saveroke.co.uk/ Staffordshire schools’ petition against forced academisation Campaigners fighting plans to force two Staffordshire primary schools into academy status are to a deliver a petition to the local Conservative MP Aiden Burley who has spoken in favour of the move and has accused the National Association of Headteachers (NAHT) of “shameful scaremongering”. The Parents Action Group has gathered around 700 signatures opposing the forced academisation at Norton Canes and Heath Hayes primary schools in Cannock. The petition can be found at: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/stop-norton-canes-primary-school-becoming-an/ Colne Valley – No Academy! A new group has been established to build a campaign objecting to Colne Valley High School becoming an academy. The group’s Facebook page can be found at: www.facebook.com/groups/152630828246617/?fref=ts#!/groups/152630828246617/have any doubts about a school being turned into an academy, google, 'The Anti Academies Alliance'. It is Tory ideology to remove schools from the state sector ,effectively, turn them into 'businesses' by taking them into the private sector. Once an academy, heads can more or less do as they like to the detriment of teachers wages, terms and conditions. They are able to determine the admissions process (selection by the back door) , choose the curriculum and in brief, accountabilty and democratic control are lost. Please get your friends to join the campaign. ACADEMIES DfE creates new ‘middle tier’ to further academy programme A leaked internal DfE newsletter appears to show that the Department has set up what could be seen as a “middle tier” of officials and consultants to monitor the performance of both academies and non-academy maintained schools in nine regions across England. According to the website SecEd the newsletter, sent to staff in the DfE’s Infrastructure and Funding division, “talks about the amalgamation of separate offices within the DfE – the Office of the Schools Commissioner and the Academies Delivery Group – into one overarching academies group”. The move is being seen as a response to concerns about the Department’s capacity to provide effective oversight and support for academies as well a need to establish an administrative function between central Government and the operation of schools at a local level. But the proposals are not aimed at redressing the balance of power in favour of local accountability and democratic oversight. To the contrary, they appear to envisage the creation of a more extensive Departmental bureaucracy, albeit with a regional structure, and will further emphasise academisation as a solution to “underperformance”. The DfE newsletter describes the creation of a division whose “functions will be split across three divisions: the North … Central … and South … with small units within that structure focusing on the nine government regions.” It continues: “Each division will be responsible for monitoring and intervening in underperforming schools in their region, whether they be maintained schools to be brokered for an academy solution with a sponsor, or an open academy.” The proposed regional structure of the new system is explicitly linked to Ofsted’s recent adoption of regional directors and inspection teams, in a move that will reinforce suspicions that the inspection body and the DfE are increasingly working together to further the academy agenda. The newsletter states: “We will create a national sponsor function … looking at relationships and the future sponsor market. Later in the year we expect to be recruiting a new schools commissioner to further support the work of identifying and encouraging the sponsors of the future.” “These changes help the academies group align itself with the new regional structures in Ofsted and the (Education Funding Agency), ensuring a more coherent view of local issues with better intelligence about schools and sponsors.” Work on the new system was due to begin in April. In February the DfE also set up an internal “academies board” under Theodore Agnew – a DfE non-executive director and Conservative Party donor who is himself an academy sponsor – to link academy sponsors with schools and encourage more sponsorship. (SecEd News, 09.05.13) Academy chain forces move for year six pupils Year six pupils at an academy in the Devon village of Lapford may have to travel to a different school eight miles away under plans being imposed by the school’s sponsor. Lapford community primary school opted to join the Chulmleigh Academy Trust, formed of three other small primaries and the local secondary school, Chulmleigh Community College, in January 2012. The shift to academy status was initially welcomed by parents. However parents have rejected plans for older pupils to be taught at another of the trust's primaries for part of the week. Under revised plans announced by the head of the academy trust and Principal of Chulmleigh Community College, Mike Johnson, year six pupils at both Lapford and East Worlington will be expected to travel to another school in the trust, Chulmleigh primary, which neighbours the community college. Lapford parents have collected a 370-signature petition opposing the plan, an impressive level of support in a village of 250 homes. Nevertheless, the trust has rejected the parents' alternative for all Lapford pupils to be taught in their own school by two full-time and one half-time teacher supported by parent volunteers. When parents complained to the DfE they were told: "There is no statutory requirement for the academy trust to carry out consultation on the restructuring". The trust says that the move is necessary for financial reasons but that the main objective is to improve standards at Lapford and East Worlington. Both schools have ‘requires improvement’ verdicts from Ofsted and the trust claim that the quickest way to raise standards would be to have both classes taught at Chulmleigh primary, which was judged ‘outstanding’ when last inspected in 2006. The situation illustrates the power the Government has given to academy chains to take major decisions over the future of schools. It also shows the lack of accountability within multi-academy trust – there is no individual governing body for each school, and therefore no formal representation for Lapford’s school community among the trust's decision-making directors. (Guardian, 20.05.13) Academy brokers complaints The DfE has refused to release details of the official complaints that have been partially upheld against some of its academy brokers. The schools minister Elizabeth Truss answered a question by her shadow counterpart Kevin Brennan MP on 25 April 2013. She said the Department for Education had received six formal complaints about academy brokers, two of which were partially upheld. Mr Brenan tabled a follow up question on 21 May requesting “(a) the nature of the two partially upheld complaints and (b) the grounds on which they were upheld.” The response, provided by Conservative MP Edward Timpson, confirmed only that “the two complaints against brokers that were partially upheld regarded matters of conduct constituting minor procedural infractions.” No further information about the nature of the complaints or the grounds on which they were partially upheld was disclosed on the basis that this “would risk identifying individual cases and therefore jeopardise the confidentiality afforded to the complainant and subject, and be prejudicial to the effective conduct of public affairs.” It also appears that there is confusion within the DfE about the code of conduct to which academy brokers must adhere. Responding to a parliamentary question on 12 March 2013, Elizabeth Truss claimed that: “The Departmental brokers have contracts with the Department that state their terms and conditions. They are not paid on results, and they are subject to the civil service code of conduct.” However, a subsequent response to a freedom of information request made by Janet Downs, a member of the Local Schools Network appeared to contradict this, stating that: “Brokers are not employed by the Crown, therefore they are not bound by the Civil Service Code.” Ms Downs also points out that, contrary to the response from the DfE and the earlier statement by Liz Truss, broker contracts contain a clause which suggests the possibility of some form of payment by results since they state: “Post contract Award key performance indicators will be discussed and agreed with the Contract Manager”. (Hansard, HC Deb, 21.05.13, Local Schools Network, 05.06.13) Further ‘emergency funding’ for academies The total amount of emergency funding provided to academies has increased by 52 per cent, according to education finance provider Syscap. The Government gave £9 million in emergency funding to nine academy schools in the 2011/12 financial year, a substantial increase on the £5.9m provided the previous year. Syscap also warns that the correction of previous overpayments of Lacseg funding to academies could increase the financial pressures on them. While academies will not be asked to repay overpayments received to date, next year’s per-pupil grants will be lower as the payment is readjusted. (Syscap website, 16.05.13) Return to secrecy over academy finances Academy finances would be freely available to parents, David Cameron said last year, but the DfE have apparently taken steps in the opposite direction, failing to release the same level of financial information about academies as they did last year. In 2012 the DfE published a spread-sheet of per-student income and expenditure for academies for 2010/11 and displayed this information for individual academies on the Performance Tables section of the DfE website. At the time the DfE were heavily criticised by the Public Accounts Committee for not providing individual school expenditure data for academies that were part of a chain. But now no information for academies is available at all. In contrast DfE Performance Tables provide full financial information for maintained schools. (Local Schools Network, 17.06.13) Sussex academy pays £100,000 for US curriculum An academy trust which runs four schools in Sussex is paying its US parent company £100,000 a year to use its patented global curriculum, which has been criticised by Ofsted for lacking a "local" focus. Aurora Academies Trust took over the four schools – King Offa and Glenleigh Park in Bexhill and Heron Park and Oakwood in Eastbourne –after Education Secretary Michael Gove criticised the local authority for "failing actively to pursue sponsored academy solutions". Aurora also has "lead sponsor" status with the DfE, meaning it is consulted on policy decisions and is likely to run more schools in the future. Aurora was established by Mosaica Education UK, a subsidiary of Mosaica Education Inc, an American company which runs schools in 12 US states, the United Arab Emirates and India. Mosaica receives £100 per pupil per year in royalties from Aurora for the use of its Paragon curriculum, with around 1,000 children at the four schools, this means Mosaica receives about £100,000 a year from the arrangement. NUT General Secretary Christine Blower said: "This is taxpayers' money, which should be targeted directly at children's education in the classroom. What is most shocking is that no accountability mechanism exists to prevent this, nor is there any form of quality assurance." Mosaica’s US record has also been questioned. A comprehensive analysis conducted by Arizona State University in 2005 lists the first 36 schools founded by Mosaica since it began operating in 1997, of which 27 have since been shut down by local authorities or have ended their association with the company. In 2007 the governing body of Lafayette Academy charter school in New Orleans took legal action to break its contract with the firm. The school was awarded $350,000 because the curriculum provided by Mosaica was not aligned to state standards which resulted in students failing tests. In addition, it was claimed that Mosaica had failed to perform routine student assessments or create tailored student education plans. (Guardian, 18.05.13, Times-Picayune, 14.09.07, ‘Profiles of For-Profit Education Management Organizations 2004-2005, Seventh-Annual Report’, Commercialism in Education Research Unit, Arizona State University, 2005) NUT questions payments to academy chains The Yorkshire Post newspaper has reported on how expanding academy chains have taken millions of pounds from the county’s schools’ budgets while paying their own top bosses six-figure salaries. Around £9 million has been top-sliced in the past three years from Yorkshire’s primary and secondary academies in order to pay for chains’ central services – including the wages of several chief executives who earned more than £150,000 and a director-general whose take home pay was around £280,000 a year. There are now almost 300 academies in the region, with more than 60 schools operating within larger chains. Four of the biggest chains operating in Yorkshire – Academies Enterprise Trust (AET), E-ACT, School Partnership Trust Academies (SPTA) and Outwood Grange Academies Trust – are reported to pay their most senior figures salaries greater than the £142,500 earned by the Prime Minister. A Yorkshire Post investigation shows that E-ACT has taken £2.9 million out of its four schools in the region while paying its former director general Sir Bruce Liddington almost £300,000 as well as six-figure salaries to 15 members of staff. Liddington recently resigned his post following a critical audit report (see next story). Outwood has taken £3.8 million from six schools while paying four members of its team six-figure salaries – including chief executive Michael Wilkins, who earns £182,094. AET, the largest chain, has recently taken on eight primary schools in Yorkshire, from which it has retained £296,000 while paying 19 staff six-figure salaries, including a top wage of between £240,000 and £249,999. The SPTA did not provide exact figures to the newspaper but its latest annual accounts suggest it will have retained around £2 million from 23 schools last year – by taking a 3.9 per cent slice of each academy’s grant funding. Its chief executive, Sir Paul Edwards, was paid between £160,000 and £165,000. He too is an education adviser on contract to the DfE. (Yorkshire Post, 08.06.13) It’s not fraud but neither was it proper – the EFA’s verdict on Liddington An official investigation into the E-Act academy chain has revealed a culture of ‘extravagant’ expenses, ‘prestige’ venues and first-class travel. In addition, hundreds of thousands of pounds of public money has been spent on unapproved consultancy fees. The report by the Education Funding Agency (EFA), which was leaked to the TES, is critical of Sir Bruce Liddington who resigned as E-Act’s Director General last month following the revelation that the academy chain had become the first to be given a financial ‘notice to improve’ by the EFA. He is now working as an education adviser within the DfE. In 2010-11, Liddington received almost £300,000 in wages and pension contributions, making him one of the best-paid people in education. The EFA’s report said: “Expenses claims and use of corporate credit cards indicate a culture involving prestige venues, large drinks bills, business lunches and first-class travel all funded by public money.” It added that expense and card payments by senior managers had “occasionally stretched the concept of propriety and value for money. Controls have been lax and some payments have tended to extravagance. However, we found no evidence of fraud.” (TES, 24.05.13) Back to the future with state boarding schools Statistics collected by the State Boarding Schools’ Association (SBSA) show that there has been a rise in applications from academies and free schools to open boarding facilities for pupils. In the first four months of 2013, the SBSA said it had received 20 applications for new boarding institutions. This compares with only one application a year over the past five years. State boarding schools provide a free education but charge boarding fees that can be as much as £10,000, which it is said some parents regard as good value compared to the childcare costs they might otherwise pay. Three academies opened boarding facilities last year, with five more announcing plans to do the same. The Harefield Academy in Hillingdon, west London, was the first academy to open a boarding house for 50 of its students in 2012. The Wellington Academy in Tidworth, Wiltshire, sponsored by the £30,000-a-year Wellington College, also offered boarding places to 100 pupils in 2012. Eton College plans to sponsor a state boarding school, Holyport College, which will open in 2014 just seven miles from the public school in a village near Windsor. Brixton primary Durand Academy plans to open secondary boarding facilities in West Sussex for 600 children. Melvyn Roffe, a senior member of the SBSA and the headmaster of the Wymondham College state boarding school in Norfolk, said: “It’s sort of going back to the future. It was a form of education that was very popular years ago and now it’s come back around.” (Independent, 12.05.13)
As an academy the local authority does not have direct powers over it. However, Andrew Christie, Director of Children's Services for Westminster Council, said: "We are extremely concerned by the financial weaknesses found at Quintin Kynaston. We would urge the Education Funding Agency and the governing body to take action as quickly as possible for the sake of the school, its staff and pupils." (BBC, 18.05.13) FREE SCHOOLS Another 102 free schools approved to open in 2014 Education Secretary Michael Gove has approved 102 new free schools to open from 2014 or beyond. There are already 81 open free schools and a further 94 are aiming to open this September. In addition, 15 projects that were approved in previous application waves are also scheduled to open in 2014 or beyond. There will be a total of 292 free schools if all pipeline projects come to fruition. Of the 102 most recently approved free schools: 78 are mainstream schools 8 are special schools 16 are alternative provision 33 are primary 36 are secondary 11 are all through schools 5 are 14 to 19 schools 5 are 16 to 19 schools 12 are other age groups The Government claims that 72 per cent of all free school approvals and 91 per cent of primary approvals will go towards meeting basic need. This means that, by the DfE’s own admission, 28 per cent of the newly-approved free schools will not be addressing basic need. While England faces an acute crisis in primary provision, the free school programme continues to create more secondary schools. Just 33 (36 per cent) of the 93 mainstream schools which have been approved to open from 2014 and beyond (including delayed proposals from previous application waves) are primary schools while 51 (55 per cent) are secondary schools (including sixth form and 14-19). Nine (10 per cent) are all through schools. The DfE has also provided a regional breakdown of the newly approved free schools which shows that the programme is continuing to be biased towards London. The regional breakdown of all 102 free schools is as follows: East Midlands – 5 East of England – 9 London – 46 North West – 11 South East – 11 South West – 3 West Midlands – 8 Yorkshire and Humber – 9 A significant number of the new proposals were from large academy chains. The Harris Federation alone will open a further seven free schools in 2014 while Oasis, Ark and the Schools Partnership Trust will also open three free schools each. Details of the approved schools can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/more-than-100-free-schools-applications-approved Just five per cent of new free schools are parent led Just five per cent of the 102 new free school proposals approved to open in 2014 or beyond are led by parents, TES analysis has revealed. The free school policy was initially trumpeted as a way of giving parents the chance to set up their own school if they were dissatisfied with existing provision, but applications for new free schools now appear to come predominantly from academy chains or existing schools and academies. Of the latest wave of free schools to be announced, 28 per cent are being established by multi-academy chains while 27 per cent are being set up by existing mainstream schools or academies. (TES, 24.05.13) More private schools convert to free schools Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School, Lancashire, Chetwynde School, Cumbria, and Holy Trinity International School, Worcestershire, will become the latest in a line of private fee-paying schools to convert to the state sector following approval of their applications to open as free schools from 2014. According to the Telegraph the decisions to drop fees in favour of state funding reflects a dip in parental demand for independent education in some parts of England during the economic crisis. The latest Independent Schools Council annual census shows that pupil numbers dropped in every UK region in 2012/13 apart from London and the south-east. Speaking last year, Simon Corns, the head master of Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, said: “The local economy is such that it’s becoming increasingly difficult, even for high earning parents, to afford fees for education and that got us thinking about how we can positively move forwards.” Holy Trinity International School failed last year in its bid to become a free school from September 2013 but submitted an application in the next round and has now been approved. Liberal councillor Fran Oborski, an opposition spokesman on education for Worcestershire County Council, said: “I still do not believe this is needed in the area and I am very worried about the knock on effect for Wolverley Secondary School.” (Telegraph, 22.05.13, Kidderminster Shuttle, 22.05.13) Islington free school will leave £3 million hole in schools’ budget A primary free school run by two private companies has been approved to open in Islington north London on the former site of a primary that was relocated because the cost of refurbishment was too great. Islington Council funded the rebuilding of Ashmount primary school on a new site close to the old premises on the borders of Highgate, but planned to recoup its costs by selling the old site for a housing scheme involving 50 per cent much-needed affordable social housing in the borough. A report by an independent inspector who considered the Borough’s plan for future land use supported the Council’s plans, stating: “Having carefully considered the question of educational need, I am satisfied that the Council’s evidence on this issue is robust and clearly demonstrates that the loss of this site for educational use will not undermine the future provision of school places either in Islington or in the adjacent London Borough of Haringey. Furthermore it is clear that refurbishment of the school buildings has been thoroughly investigated and has led to the conclusion that they cannot be easily adapted to meet modern educational standards. I conclude that the allocation is supported by robust evidence on the provision of educational accommodation."
However, the DfE has now approved the Islington free primary school to open on the site in September 2014, leaving a £3 million dent in council finances that will mean the loss of financial support to other maintained schools. It will be run by the Bellevue Education Group and Place Group. Bellevue, runs two boarding schools in Switzerland and seven private schools in the UK. In 2011 it made profits of £1.5 million. The company’s website states that Bellevue does not have shareholders but instead enjoys “significant financial backing from a small number of British and Swiss families who are passive investors in the group and who wholeheartedly share Bellevue's aspirations”. Place Group is one of the DfE's "approved providers" of education advisory and project management services to academies and free schools. It has been at the forefront of the free schools’ programme. The company boasts that: "By September 2013, Place will have helped over 60 schools to open including 20 Free Schools." Bellevue and Place are working jointly on at least two further free schools – in Balham and in Windsor and Maidenhead, both due to open in September 2014. The two companies could soon be running a chain of publicly-funded independent free schools. Free school placed in special measures Discovery New School, a Montessori primary in West Sussex, has become the first free school to be placed in special measures by Ofsted, following an inspection in May. The school was given the lowest grade of "inadequate" in three of four categories, for pupil achievement, quality of teaching, leadership and management. According to the extremely critical report: "Too many pupils are in danger of leaving the school without being able to read and write properly. Unless this is put right quickly, pupils are unlikely to flourish in their secondary schools and future lives." Inspectors also said that “Senior leaders believe the school is far better than it is. They describe at length what the school is doing but do not check, systematically, whether or not the school gives its pupils a good enough education.” A spokesman for the Department for Education said: "We expect those in charge of Discovery Free School to take urgent action to address the failings identified by Ofsted. We will closely monitor the situation and will not hesitate to take action, including terminating the funding agreement, if the school does not make rapid improvements." Discovery was one of the first wave of 24 free schools to open in September 2011. So far Ofsted has published reports of inspections at eleven of these schools with Discovery the first to be graded inadequate. Of the rest, three have received "requires improvement" judgements and seven have been rated "good". No free school has yet been given an "outstanding" rating. (Guardian, 19.06.13) Hove beats Gove in the fight for the field Campaigners in Brighton and Hove have succeeded in their fight against Government plans to build a free school on playing fields used by local schools and residents. The Education Funding Agency had earmarked part of Bhasvic field for the development of a building for King's Free School, set to open in September, without any consultation of the local community or the four schools which share the field. A campaign group called Friends of the Field was quickly launched and gained significant support – delivering a petition with over 5,500 signatures to 10 Downing Street. Education Secretary Michael Gove had initially appeared unwilling to back down, claiming the proposal involved only a “sliver” of the green space. However, victory for campaigners was declared when Schools’ Minister Lord Nash confirmed in a letter to the leader of Brighton and Hove Council that the DfE was no longer pursuing the plans. Lord Nash cited the fact that the fields are owned by the council as a stumbling block but said that using the field was “not ideal and this option was considered as a last resort”. The King’s School will now initially open at Portslade Aldridge Community Academy’s sixth form site in High Street, Portslade, although larger premises will be needed after three years as it expands. (Argus, 05.06.13, Independent, 04.06.13) Military free school approved Rising like its mythical namesake from the ashes of initial failure the Phoenix Free School – a proposed secondary school and sixth form that will offer a military style ethos and be staffed entirely by former members of the armed forces - has won approval from the DfE to open in 2014. The school’s backers failed in their first bid when the DfE rejected their proposals in 2012, but departmental officials said they would work with the group to re-submit the application. The school now looks likely to open in 2014 with the backers focusing on a site in Oldham (or possibly Rochdale if their first choice is not secured). The proposal is the brainchild of Tom Burkard, a visiting Professor at the University of Derby who has been a long standing supporter of programmes to encourage ex-soldiers to become teachers. The Government has recently announced a “Troops to Teachers” scheme which will see ex-soldiers without degrees benefiting from an accelerated training programme to qualify within two years. However, The Phoenix School’s approach will differ in that, while they still hope that all staff will be former soldiers, those without teaching qualifications will work as "instructors" alongside qualified teachers. Nevertheless, it is anticipated that these instructors will be 40 per cent of staff and will "be totally in charge of PE and sport", as well as managing pastoral care, discipline, team-building and pupil data. A notable feature of the proposed school is the insistence that classes will be grouped ‘vertically’ by ability rather than age. The curriculum will also focus on a narrow range of academic subjects to the exclusion of vocational qualifications. The school’s website suggests that 75 per cent of pupils will be expected "to reach EBacc standards”. A number of dubious statements are made on the website. For example, a section of the site dedicated to teamwork makes the following assertion: "we saw … teamwork in action during the recent riots. Alas, these same children appear to be incapable of working in teams for any legal purpose." The website also says that discipline at the school will be founded on mutual respect, but that any serious misbehaviour will not be tolerated as "Phoenix will not be a refuge for juvenile felons". A section of the website dedicated to the UD ‘Troops to Teachers’ scheme claims that: Troops to Teachers is one of those rare programmes – such as selling council houses to their occupants in the UK – which has been widely acclaimed as a resounding success." (BBC News, 22.05.13, Guardian, 03.06.13) Villagers plan legal challenge to Sikh Free School Residents of Stoke Poges, a Buckinghamshire village, are threatening legal action over the proposed location of an 850-pupil Sikh secondary free school. Khalsa Secondary Academy is scheduled to open this September with an initial intake of up to 120 pupils. After failing to find premises in neighbouring Slough, the Slough Sikh Education Trust had settled on an office block in the village named ‘Pioneer House’. The plans mean that most of the pupils take a bus into the village of 5,000 people every day after being collected from a primary school in Slough. In recent months it had become clear that the planning authority, South Bucks District Council, would refuse planning consent for the school to open. One of the main grounds was the traffic congestion the proposal would cause in the village. A report to the planning committee said the site was “in an unsustainable location poorly served by public transport” However, appointed developers Willmott Dixon withdrew the planning application before the scheduled hearing, announcing that they would instead rely on new legislation, called the Permitted Development Right (PDR), which allows the Government to commandeer land for a free school for 12 months without planning permission. The DfE now admits to having purchased Pioneer House - reputedly for £4.5 million - but is refusing to confirm that the free school will be located there: “The Secretary of State has not yet made a final decision on the use of Pioneer House as a temporary site for the Khalsa free school”, a spokesperson said. Villagers have put together a petition against the proposal with nearly 4,000 signatures and say that they will apply for a judicial review of the plans. They deny allegations of being “white middle-class NIMBYs or even racists”, saying that they will lose the free transport provided by Buckinghamshire County Council to their nearest secondary school because there will be a school in the village. (Independent, 18.06.13, Buckinghamshire Advertiser, 18.05.13) Free school’s longer working day A free school approved to open in Norwich in 2014 is proposing to replace home work with extra school study time in a plan that would see pupils at school until 5pm each day. The proposed Jane Austen College for pupils aged 11-18 will specialise in English and humanities and is being proposed by the Inspiration Trust, a new academy chain based in Norfolk. Principal designate Claire Heald said she believed keeping the school open until 5pm would benefit working families and provide pupils with extra support. She said fatigue would be tackled by appropriate breaks and believed that truancy "would not be a concern" (BBC Norfolk, 05.06.13) Council accuses Government of free school deal with developer The Education Funding Agency (EFA) has made a deal which will see developers get a green light for additional housing if the construction of a planned free school goes ahead, according to the Labour leader of Stockton Council. Negotiations between the EFA and land owners had resulted in a proposal to build a secondary free school and sixth form along with 350 new houses on “green wedge land” which forms the boundary between Thornaby and Ingleby Barwick. However, these plans were rejected by Stockton Council in February on the grounds that it was unsustainable, that the land had not been earmarked for development, and that not enough affordable housing had been allocated as part of the housing plans. In a subsequent development the leader of Stockton Council Bob Cook has suggested that the developer, Tiviot Investments Ltd, and the EFA have done a deal which would see an even larger number of houses built on the site if the plans go ahead. The allegation was made at the beginning of a four-day public planning inquiry into the proposal. Mr Cook said: “For the first time it has become clear that a deal has been done between the Government and the developer. We heard at the inquiry that, whilst this planning application proposes 350 homes, the Treasury will in fact receive a financial contribution towards the cost of the school from the development of a further 950 homes proposed by Tiviot Way Investments Ltd. The people of Ingleby Barwick need to know that the deal on the table is a school and 1,300 homes - that shouldn’t be a secret.” The hearing has been adjourned to return on 28 June. On completion, the planning inspector will then produce a report to Eric Pickles, Secretary of State, who will make a final decision. (The Northern Echo, 14.05.13, Evening Gazette, 20.05.13) No need for Nottingham free school Vernon Coaker, Labour MP for Geddling in Nottinghamshire, has questioned the need for a new free school in the Arnold area of Nottingham. The Nottingham Free School, which has been granted approval by the DfE to open from September 2014, is a proposal from the Torch Academy Gateway Trust which currently runs two schools in Nottinghamshire and is also involved in other school partnership projects. But Mr Coaker believes that existing schools already meet the needs of the community and could be harmed by the proposal. "Why build a new free school when there are plenty of good schools achieving positive results all across Arnold" he said, adding: "Nobody knows where it's going to be, they are being very elusive. It is an ideological drive by the Government to marketise the provision of education, and what we will end up with is a free-for-all." Nearby schools are also critical of the proposal. Robin Fugill, head teacher at Arnold Hill Academy, which has around 1,700 students, said: "When a Free School is approved in an area such as Arnold – served by great community schools which are already performing well – the results can be damaging. The Free School could upset the balance in our local schools, which are very successful at catering for their diverse communities.” (Nottingham Post, 04.06.13) Warrington free school cancelled The DfE has withdrawn its support for a Montessori primary free school in Warrington which was due to open in September because of concerns over the school’s progress in finding a site. A DfE spokesperson said: “Our priority has to be to open free schools with the best chance of performing strongly from the outset and delivering positive outcomes for pupils. In this case, we judged that the plans for Warrington Montessori free school had not progressed sufficiently for it to proceed.” NUT research reveals that the DfE made payments totalling £132,000 to the now cancelled Warrington Montessori School in October 2012. (NUT research and This is Cheshire, 14.06.13) Location of England’s biggest free school – is Gove crackers? Labour London Assembly member for Barnet and Camden Andrew Dismore has met the principal of a new free school to raise concerns about its planned locations. Avanti House – a Hindu free school which opened in Harrow in September 2012 – is set to become England’s biggest free school, taking up to 1,700 pupils by 2018, but it seems that the project was approved by the DfE with very little consideration for its eventual location or the feasibility of securing a suitable site. The school is one of three free schools (including a school set to open in 2013-14) which will be operated by the Avanti Schools Trust. Its year seven pupils are currently taught at Harrow Teachers' Centre, a site which is shared with Harrow local authority staff, while its Reception classes are based some three miles away at an academy which is also run by the Avanti Schools Trust - the Krishna-Avanti Primary School. The school’s website states that the Harrow Teachers' Centre site could accommodate 1,680 pupils by September 2018. However, the Education Funding Agency (EFA) has recently announced plans for new temporary and permanent sites for the school in the neighbouring borough of Barnet. The proposed locations are both likely to cause significant congestion and are being opposed by residents. Speaking after his meeting with Avanti House head teacher Gareth Jones, Mr Dismore said: “I made it absolutely clear to the school that both proposals were unacceptable to the residents and that the plans would be opposed tooth and nail. Both schemes would lead to appalling traffic congestion, being so close to existing schools. It was crackers of Education Secretary Michael Gove to award the school funding without first identifying its needs and locations.” Mr Dismore has also written to London Mayor Boris Johnson proposing an alternative site under London Assembly control. He urged Mr Johnson to work with the school to find another site. (Barnet & Whetstone Press, 30.05.13) OTHER NEWS Are reforms paving way for marketised curriculum? Amidst confusing and contradictory messages about the future of the National Curriculum, the Guardian’s Laura McInerney speculates that private companies are poised to exploit a potential market in providing schools with tablet computers pre-loaded with proprietary curriculum materials. When recently asked in Parliament about whether children would be better served by having the national curriculum revised at fixed periods rather than at the personal whim of ministers, Education Secretary Michael Gove provided only a vague response saying that he had a “sense of significant innovation coming" and that he didn’t want “to unnecessarily constrain it”. McInerney refers to a report in Marketing Magazine in March 2013 which revealed that Gove had been visited in 2012 by officials from the TabletsForSchools programme – whose staff includes Andrew Harrison, chief executive of Carphone Warehouse, and Sebastian James, chief executive of Dixons. Gove approved the project and instructed his officials to help Carphone Warehouse trial and then roll out tablets across the country. Trials investigating the effect of tablets on attainment will conclude in September, when exam board AQA will publish a report detailing any correlative improvement in the results of year-seven pupils. It may also be significant that Amplify, the education division of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., has recently unveiled a tablet pre-loaded with curriculum content and has already signed a deal to supply 20,000 to the state of North Carolina. Last year Murdoch admitted to the Leveson Inquiry that he, Amplify chief executive Joel Klein and Gove had met in 2011 to discuss several matters, including education. (Guardian, 27.02.12, 20.05.13; Marketing Magazine, 12.03.13; TES, 14.05.13) Senior DfE staff splash out on flowers, restaurants and hotels While the DfE is leading the way in the Coalition Government’s agenda to cut Whitehall spending by sacking staff, ministers and top civil servants have still managed to find a spare £8,000 for lavish meals, hotels and travel according to a report in the Daily Mirror. Demands by Labour MP Tom Watson using freedom of information legislation revealed the details of DfE spending between May 2010 and October 2012 using Government Procurement cards. During a visit to New Orleans in March 2012, £1,006 was spent on a stay at the city’s luxurious Roosevelt hotel. A bill at the Dooky Chase restaurant came to £180.35 while a meal at the Palace Café cost £107.84. When Mr Gove joined Prime Minister David Cameron in China in November 2010, £661.38 was spent at the opulent China World Hotel. Other purchases included £131.76 at wine-sellers Majestic, £51.94 on flowers and £119.81 on a meal at Westminster’s posh Italian restaurant Osteria Dell’Angolo. A year ago Communities Secretary Eric Pickles vowed to crack down on the use of taxpayer-funded cards, after figures showed Whitehall departments spent £471million on them in the 18 months to October 2011. (Daily Mirror, 09.06.13) INTERNATIONAL NEWS Chicago confirms closure of 50 public schools The largest round of school closures in Chicago’s history is set to go ahead after the city board of education voted to close 49 schools from an original list of 53. Four schools were removed from the list and one was re-scheduled to close a year later, rather than in June 2013. The vote came after seven months of protests spearheaded by the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) and its President Karen Lewis. The campaign mobilised more than 30,000 people who came out at hearings and in other forums in opposition to the move. Opponents of the scheme point out that the closures disproportionately affect minority neighbourhoods and argue that they will endanger children who may have to cross gang boundaries to get to a new school. Despite claims by Chicago’s political leadership that the closures are necessary for financial reasons, the CTU has consistently argued that the move is in order to make way for the expansion of charter schools in the city. CTU and parents have now filed a law suit – their third so far – aimed at halting the closure of 10 elementary schools. They say that the Chicago Board of Education moved to close these schools despite a previous finding by Chicago Public Schools' independent hearing officers that they did not meet the board's guidelines for shutdown. (Substance News, 22.05.13; Huffington Post, 29.05.13). Swedish free school firm closes schools after financial collapse One of Sweden’s biggest free school providers faces bankruptcy and has quit all its schools as its profits were apparently hit by falling student numbers in its high schools. JB Education first announced that it would be withdrawing from seven of its schools in February 2013. Four of these were subsequently shut down. In May the company revealed that it would leave 19 of its high schools and close down the remaining four. The move 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. On 11 June JB confirmed that it would declare bankruptcy. The firm will now sell its adult education operations to Academedia, Sweden's largest education company. Staff members within JB Education's administrative roles have already been let go. Ibrahim Baylan, the education spokesman for Sweden's opposition Social Democratic party, said the closures should come as a warning to the UK: "Before you do something like this you have to really, really think about how you set up the system," he said. "The system here is not working as it's supposed to work. Nobody could foresee that so many private equity companies would be in our school system as we have today," he added. Two Swedish school companies, Kunskapsskolan and Internationella Engelska Skolan (IES), operate schools in England and both companies are owned by private equity firms. Kunskapsskolan runs two academies in Richmond while Internationella Engelska Skolan (IES) benefits from an unusual arrangement which allows the company to take a profit in relation to IES Breckland, the free school which it operates in Suffolk. The school was originally set up by Sabres Education Trust, but the trust then awarded a ten year contract worth £21 million for IES to manage the school. (Guardian, 31.05.13; The Local, 12.05.13) New Zealand charters face wide opposition The President of one of New Zealand’s largest teaching union has highlighted concerns that the introduction of charter schools could undermine efforts to improve education for Māori children and those from disadvantaged backgrounds. The New Zealand Ministry of Education is introducing Partnership Schools which, like charter schools in the United States, will be run by a sponsor organisation. The schools will have significant freedoms including greater flexibility over curriculum content, the ability to negotiate salary levels and employment conditions with employees as well as employ unqualified teaching staff, and set their own length of school day and year. The schools can also be run on a for-profit basis. A small number of Partnership Schools are being rolled in areas identified as being of “significant educational challenge and underachievement” over the next two years. Angela Roberts, President of the New Zealand Post Primary Teachers' Association / Te Wehengarua (PPTA), has underlined the level of opposition to the schools, noting that of the 2,193 submissions on the Education Amendment Bill, 2,100 were against the proposals. A number of these were from prominent voices representing what the Government refers to as its “priority learners”. These included Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu (the tribal authority of New Zealand’s largest Māori tribe), the Child Poverty Action Group and an educational expert who had previously supported Partnership Schools. Ngāi Tahu’s submission describes Partnership Schools as “creating an opportunity for the crown to opt out of its responsibility for positively increasing educational achievement for all Māori”. If the legislation goes ahead, Ngāi Tahu has called for clauses that ensure only qualified teachers are employed, that the schools are subject to National Education Guidelines and are required to follow the National Curriculum. (New Zealand Ministry of Education website; PPTA News, May 2013) Directory: files files -> Answer True False 2 points Question 2 files -> Integer programming and game theory files -> 4 Integer Programming files -> Bpa vehicle Window Repair Scenario #1 task: Procure vehicle window relacement. Objective files -> Pop Warner History files -> North Carolina Inclusion Initiative Mapping Where Children with ieps are Being Served Purpose files -> Fall 2013 Spring 2014 Program Data: Standard 1 Exhibit 4d files -> Hanban – asia society confucius classrooms network 2010 request for proposal files -> Northern England’s set-jetting locations Download 134.77 Kb. Share with your friends:
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