“As serving Haringey Head Teachers we condemn the proposals of the secretary of state to force some of our schools to become sponsored academies. We reject this model for any of our schools since we believe that it is a totally untried and unproven way of delivering school improvement. We believe that any forced changes, which are not supported by parents, community, staff and governing bodies, spell disruption and conflict in our schools.
We fear that schools will be forced to spend the academic year embarking upon, or fighting, this project, instead of focussing on standards and pupil outcomes. We also believe the selection of our authority and the seemingly random identification of schools has been arbitrary and politically motivated.
We expect the local authority to end all communications with the DFE regarding sponsored academies.”
Andrea –
Hackney schools (in fact all inner London boroughs) receive up to £1000 per pupil per year MORE than schools in Haringey. Haringey schools still need to pay their teachers inner London wages in order to attract staff. For a normal two form entry school, this is a yearly budget difference of nearly half a million pounds. There’s your answer.
Hackney doesn’t have a similar demographic to Haringey, actually. It’s has much less temporary accommodation and much lower levels of pupil mobility.
No, it isn’t simple or it would be easy to improve standards and maintain them.
Janet – I hate to say it but is is more straight forward than you think. If a Head, Senior Management Team and Governing Body have been running a school which is failing it’s pupils it should be removed from their control if they have been unable to improve it.
Learn from the lessons of Hackney, do not run scared of change for the good.
It is not OFSTED’s changes that have caused these schools to fail their pupils it is the current management teams.
Simple.
OFSTED has been adapted to simplify and ensure no school is judged outstanding if the teaching is not also outstanding. Most people active in education approves of these changes.
Of course those living in the past are against any change for the good if it means schools and teachers have to become more accountable.
If only it was as simple as that, Andrea. The Ofsted framework has already been changed and it will again in the New Year. The goal posts are constantly being changed to identify more schools as ‘failing’ for ideological and political agendas. Do you really think Haringey primary heads would all oppose something that they believed has realistic prospects of improving attainment?
Karen,
You should check out the educational success stories in a borough like Hackney which is similar in demographics to Haringey.
A school will only be told to convert to an Academy if it is failing its pupils and the current management have been unable to take the satisfactory measures to improve the school.
Remember this is all about the pupils !!!
Good to see such a strong statement from the Headteachers. This is a huge distraction for the schools, and totally undemocratic. It is really important that the schools stand together with each other, parents and our communities to defend our schools from this dangereous political game which is being played with our children’s futures. The Haringey electorate also expect and demand that our local councillors defend our schools from privatisation.
With about 1/3 of pupils being eligible for free school meals, it is wrong for the Government to play political games with their education. There is absolutely no evidence that forcing schools to become academies will improve education. Better the close link with the local authority, whatever its failings, rather than the dictatorship of a remote Secretary of State.