Visitors to the Academies Show were greeted by 2 cigar touting Fat Cats inviting them to ‘roll up, roll up, profits from schools this way”.
Protestors from the Anti Academies Alliance had gathered to highlight the real reason for the Academies Show – so that over 100 companies could promote their businesses. Such regulars on the educational landscape as Coca Cola Enterprises Ltd were vying for business with Virgin, fresh from privatising parts of the NHS. Private School company Lilac Sky Schools were offering ‘outstanding education solutions’ while DVS Property Specialists were offering to help you ‘achieving best value’ in disposing of public sector properties. Hillierhopkins LLP, chartered accountants and tax advisers announced “our passion is your prosperity”.
The main sponsor of the Academies Show were insurance company Zurich Municipal. The slogan on their bags is ‘Academy Insurance, make the most of your new found freedom’. Since Insurance charges to schools that have become academies have doubled and trebled, it is clear that the insurance companies are making the most of the freedoms academies bring.
For those of us who think schools should be run for the pupils not the profits the academies show was a depressing experience. We came away more determined to resist Gove’s project of academies, forced academies and ‘free’ schools. Let’s make sure we stand up for the education system our children deserve.
ATL hits out at the Academies Show http://t.co/lSc4VhjB
Charter academy ……..another link – former SLT at Mossbourne academy(ex wilshaw school), now Associate Principal at Charter !!!
Attainment isn’t just below the national. This is based on main headline figures and average point scores which will be a sig- on raise online.. It is well below the national. In terms of progress the VA is 971, so significantly below the national. Gove recently talked about standards in Maths. At this school, less than 50% of students make the expected progress in Mathis. Students ability on entry is very low but the progress measures take account of this. It has been a typically coasting school although things may well be improving, the three year trend DOES NOT justify a grading of GOOD. Other schools with similar performance data are in a category under the new Ofsted framework. So why the big variation with this school. we all know who the outgoing CEO of ARK was last year. But surely this can’t be reason? This report, now published on OFSTED’s website requires an independent review. I agree with the new framework, but it must be applied ethically to all schools. This report has undermined OFSTED and will invariably frustrate thousands of headteachers who are working in schools making much more progress, yet being judged by wilshaw as being coasting!
On Sunday evening ARK tweeted that following a recent inspection Ofsted had graded one of its academies,the Charter Academy in Portsmouth, as ‘good’.
I checked the Ofsted website and found no evidence of any recent OFSTED report.I found out that ARK had released the inspection report prematurely before it had found its way to the OFSTED website. This isin breach of OFSTED regulations.
Ofsted gave the Academy a ‘good’ rating despite the fact that attainment in Maths and English is described as being BELOW the national average!!Schools like Downhills were HAMMERED because the standards reached by the considerable number of non native English speakers were below the ‘floor standards’ Why the preferential treatment given to the ARK Charter Academy which doesn’t educate nearly the same number of non native English speakers as Downhills?
Whatever the reason,I’m sure that Baroness Morgan,Chairman of Ofsted and Director of ARK must be best pleased that her HMI’s who inspected the academy found it to be in such robust educational health!!
The inspection report duly found its way onto the Ofsted website on Monday.