The revelation that three local primary schools – Roger Ascham Primary and Hillyfield Primary, both in Walthamstow, and Yardley Primary in Chingford – are set to become independent academies has sparked a wave of concern. It follows news that Higham Park School’s application for academy status was rejected, reportedly due to their £350,000 deficit.
The controversial academies scheme – where schools opt-out of local authority control and receive support from private companies or not-for-profit organisations – was originally introduced under the previous Labour government. Now, the new education minister, Michael Gove, has announced that all schools can apply to become academies if they want to. The coalition claims that having academy status will benefit schools by giving staff more control and eradicating unnecessary bureaucracy.
Union activists, teachers and parents have expressed fears that the plans for the three schools could put the quality of local education as a whole at stake. It is claimed that creating academies in the area will reduce the amount of money there is available for local schools and those which remain council-run will lose out. Currently schools use their budgets to jointly pay for borough-wide services such as educational psychology but campaigners believe these services will be unaffordable if several schools opt-out and become academies.
A group leafleted outside Roger Ascham Primary last week as part of the newly formed Waltham Forest Anti-Academies Alliance. Speaking to Waltham Forest Guardian, protester, Holly Smith, said: “What this amounts to is the irreversible privatisation of schools. These buildings are public assets which will then become private assets.”
She added: “Parents may think if their child goes to an academy it won’t affect them, but all the schools applying for this in Waltham Forest are primaries, so inevitably pupils will go on to secondary schools in the borough that have been damaged by the loss of money.”
Headteacher Matthew Hanks, also speaking to the newspaper, responded by saying: “I think we would be better placed to provide quality provision for our pupils and value for money. A school cannot stop improving. Given the opportunity to improve the school further I think we should not turn our backs on that and think it through very thoroughly.”
My child goes to one of those schools, and the staff there have been working on this for far longer than the current government being in power. To try to use the academy status being sought as a not-so-subtle way of attacking central government is actually not on.
The school feels it would be in a better position to develop and build on its excellent practice if it had more control over its own curriculum and finances; disagree with that perhaps, but please don’t take this down an idealogical path and start implying that this is just about privatisation.
Despite the tone of this article and the opposition claimed, the plans have widespread support from parents and governors, have been well discussed and consulted on and are being led by one of the best head teachers in the country. A more balanced perspective being reported would be very welcome, rather than solely coming from a campaigning and opposition-based angle.