Pupils 'should be sent to private instead of free schools'

Leading headteacher suggests private schools already fulfil role set out for free schools

Ministers should abandon the idea of free schools and encourage parents to send their children to private schools instead, a leading headteacher will say today.

Andy Falconer, the new chair of the Independent Association of Preparatory Schools (IAPS), said the government's plans for free schools "reinvented the wheel".

Free schools, founded by parents, teachers and private firms, are a flagship government policy inspired by similar initiatives in Sweden and the United States.

Earlier this month, the education secretary, Michael Gove, gave 16 schools initial approval. Ministers hope at least some will be ready to open by next September. The schools will be run as academies, independent of local authority control.

But speaking at the IAPS annual conference in London today, Falconer will say that private schools already perform the role that ministers want for free schools.

"Many of us in the independent sector have remarked on the similarity between our schools and the Department for Education's vision for new free schools," the headteacher of St Olave's school in York will say.

"One of the reasons I feel that there has been a slow take-up on the introduction of free schools is that once people really start to look at how much it takes to be truly independent, to have no back up or safety net from the local authority or the government, then they start to glimpse the enormity of the challenge ahead."

Falconer, whose association represents more than 500 schools in the UK, will call on the government to give parents the amount it costs to educate their child through primary school – £6,000 – and allow them to choose the school they wish. He will say that parents should be able to supplement the sum if they want to educate children in the private sector.

"Why exactly is our government investing time and money in free schools when the concept of schools which are independent of government control alaredy exists?," he will say. "Surely widening access to our schools would do so much more than trying to reinvent the wheel. We already accept the reality of private health care, with the NHS using private hospitals to deliver some of its services. Why then could a similar process not take place in the education system?"

This would widen access to private schools and "give the system the freedom to which our government aspires," he will argue.

Meanwhile, the proportion of pupils attending independent schools has risen by 0.5% this year despite the economic climate, a poll shows.

The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference – a coalition of private schools including Eton and Harrow – quizzed 117 of its schools on their admissions statistics.

The figures show that the total number of pupils is up by 0.5% compared with this time last year. The proportion of pupils starting aged 11 has grown by 2%, while at the age of 13 and 16, it has risen by 4.4% and 6.3% respectively.

The proportion of pupils who were withdrawn from schools for financial reasons was the same as last year – 0.6%.

Jessica Shepherd
guardian.co.uk News Mon 27 Sep 2010 10:38 BST
http://bit.ly/9Mjn5F

#End
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Safe schools 'will cost billions'

At least £15bn is needed over the next four years to ensure structurally sound classrooms for all England's children, research suggests.


The government scrapped Labour's £45bn school building programme in July, saying it was wasteful.

The estimate is based on a survey of 40% of councils, with the results scaled up to represent all 152.

It is part of the Local Government Association's submission to the government's review of spending.

The Department for Education says it will set out plans for capital spending on schools after the comprehensive spending review on 20 October.

It has also launched a review into school building, chaired by Sebastian James of the Dixons group.

The survey was carried out jointly by the Local Government Association (LGA) and the Association of Directors of Children's Services (ADCS).

The two groups say it shows that £15bn in the period leading up to 2015 is the minimum investment considered essential by local authorities, to ensure that every child can be taught in a classroom which is safe and structurally sound.

They say that beyond the bare minimum - a wider total of £29.3bn is required.

The figures form part of the LGA's submissions to the comprehensive spending review and the James review.

"Everyone is well aware of the difficult financial climate in which councils are operating," said Baroness Margaret Eaton, Chairman of the LGA.

"We need to work even harder to ensure that the money that is invested in school buildings represents the best possible value for the taxpayer."

Marion Davis, President of ADCS, said the survey showed there was an urgent need for continued investment in school building.

'Red tape'

A spokesman for the Department for Education said: "We're clear that all future capital investment needs to go where it is needed most. Ministers want to target schools in most disrepair far better and deal with the urgent demand for primary school places - a problem we cannot afford to ignore."

The spokesman said all future investment must be "realistic and affordable, offer far greater value-for-money, and have far less red tape and bureaucracy".

Some 700 planned building projects were put on hold when the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) scheme was scrapped in July.

BSF was a sweeping plan to rebuild every secondary school in England.

Under it many ambitious, architect-designed premises were developed in consultation with schools.

But critics said it was overly bureaucratic and poor value for money.

Its initial budget of £45bn was later revised upwards to £55bn.


However, the cancellations were met with anger, partly because many projects had already involved costly and time-consuming planning.

Some were in dilapidated schools and institutions which relied on temporary classrooms.

The LGA has estimated that £203m has been spent by councils on BSF projects which were cancelled.

Ministers want to target schools in most disrepair far better and deal with the urgent demand for primary school places - a problem we cannot afford to ignore.

There was also anger sparked by mistakes in the list of cancelled building projects.

BBC 24/09/10 http://bbc.in/cFkDeN

Coalition plan to slash school bureaucracy

Controversial rules forcing schools to rate pupils and teachers are being scrapped under Government plans to cut red tape.

The Coalition said self-evaluation forms – documents often stretching to more than 100 pages – will be axed to allow schools to concentrate on teaching.

Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, insisted that the Government had to "trust teachers to get on with their job".

The move comes just months after the Coalition scrapped the General Teaching Council for England - the teaching profession's regulatory body.

Self-evaluation forms were introduced by Labour in 2005. Head teachers must update the documents every year in a move designed to aid the Ofsted inspection process.

Currently, schools must answer around 100 separate questions and show how they meet dozens of other legal requirements.

On a four-point scale they are forced to rate "the extent to which pupils adopt healthy lifestyles", how safe pupils feel, the effectiveness of the school's "engagement with parents" and how well the school "promotes community cohesion".

In another question, schools are told to rate their ability to promote equal opportunities and tackle discrimination.

Other sections of the form order schools to count the number of computers in classrooms, list the number of technicians and teaching assistants and confirm that they abide by health and safety, race relations and gender equality legislation.

Mr Gove has now written to Ofsted ordering the watchdog to ditch the form.

He said: "The Coalition government trusts teachers to get on with their job. That's why we are taking steps to reduce the bureaucracy they face and giving them the powers they need to do a good job. We believe that teachers – not bureaucrats and politicians – should run schools."

The move was welcomed by teachers.

Kate Dethridge, head of Churchend Primary School in Reading, said: "Removing the SEF will free up huge amounts of time – many heads spend most of their summer holidays updating the SEF, then you would need at least two or three senior management meetings to discuss it."

Amanda Whittingham, assistant head of Wensley Fold School, Blackburn, said: "Just to update the SEF took up two full days of work for the head, deputy and a paid external consultant brought in as an expert on filling in the SEF."

Russell Hobby, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said "This is good news. It will result in more self evaluation and more meaningful self evaluation, a process which is at the heart of school improvement.

"NAHT welcomes the removal of the bureaucratic, form filling one-size-fits-all approach. It is now up to schools and groups of schools to develop their own models of self evaluation, which suit their own needs and context; models which stimulate the deep reflection, challenge and learning which the profession is longing for."

By Graeme Paton, Education Editor Telegraph http://bit.ly/bSZIDH

UK and American school reforms: who is copying whom?

Mike Baker The Guardian Comment Mon 20 Sep 2010 http://bit.ly/cmWV4T

The US and the UK are copying each other school reforms, but they focus too heavily on measuring achievement

Nothing captures the flavour of the new school year in the US like the opening game of the high school football season – American football, of course, not the Limey version.

Last week, I joined the enthusiastic parents in the stands at Dexter high school in Michigan. This was only the "freshman" team (14- to 15-year-olds) but it still merited the full razzmatazz: a floodlit stadium, cheerleaders, electronic scoreboard, loudspeaker commentary, fussy referees in regulation striped shirts, and two teams of professionally uniformed, helmeted and shoulder-padded footballers.

It was a timeless ritual, one repeated at schools across the country for generations, as over 50 million children returned to the nation's 130,000 schools this month. But behind this tableau of stability, American schools are changing. And there are fascinating parallels with the reforms taking place in England.

For the US is going through the same navel-gazing crises familiar this side of the Atlantic: concern that the nation's educational performance is falling behind other countries, and growing frustration that successive school reforms have failed to narrow the achievement gap between rich and poor.

The trend in US education policy is towards "school choice". This is about increasing school autonomy and injecting market forces into a monolithic system in which schools were run by the states and districts, and almost every child attended their nearest elementary or high school.

Over the last 20 years or so, schools have gained freedoms and parents offered choices between schools within and beyond their local school district. Additionally, there are now more than 5,000 charter schools, serving 1.5 million pupils, which lie outside the traditional school districts.

Charter schools are new schools, initiated by parents, teachers or other groups, funded by the taxpayer, free to pupils, but autonomous from the traditional school authorities.

In short, they are one of the models for Michael Gove's "free schools", the main difference being that in the American model the charter, or funding agreement, is granted locally, not by central government. The Americans would never countenance giving central government the powers Gove now has over "free schools".

Like the proposed 16 "free schools" due to open in England over the next year, charter schools come in all shapes and sizes, with different educational philosophies.

In the 20 years since the first charter school legislation was passed in Minnesota, there have been some successes and some failures. Charters are generally popular with parents and their numbers have grown steadily, although two decades on, they still serve less than 3% of the school population, or about the same number as are home-schooled.

There have been numerous studies on the impact of charter schools and, to put it simply, they provide no definitive proof that they have raised standards overall. This is not very encouraging for the "free schools" here. Will we, in 20 years' time, still be looking for evidence that they have made a difference?

In fairness to the charter school movement, it joins a succession of school reforms, including George W Bush's No Child Left Behind programme, which have yet to show definitive improvements. That could be because these reforms have tended to focus on structural reform, or on assessment and monitoring, but not on the core of what happens in the classroom: the curriculum and teaching methods.

So attention is now focused on President Obama's Race to the Top programme. This involves a massive $4.3bn (£2.7bn) fund being distributed to individual states in return for competitive bids to improve educational performance. To get the money, states have to prove their plans will meet four aims: developing tough academic standards or targets for what pupils should achieve, building data systems that measure pupil progress, improving the professional development and evaluation of teachers, and turning around the lowest-achieving schools.

There is a strong echo of Tony Blair's school reforms in this programme. It suggests that, although Obama is continuing with the "school choice" reforms of his predecessor, he also sees central government intervention as the way forward.

But while the focus on teacher quality is new and encouraging, the emphasis is still very much on setting targets, and measuring achievement, rather than on curriculum innovation. It seems the UK and the US are copying each other's school reforms, each pushing market-based reforms, backed by targets and carrot-and-stick data gathering, but not fundamentally changing what happens in the classroom.

www.mikebakereducation.co.uk

'Why we're starting our own school'

Dismayed by lack of choice, London parent Penny Roberts will open one of the first 'free' primaries. But there'll be no place for elitism, she tells Jerome Taylor


When Penny Roberts began looking at primary schools for her eldest daughter Bethany she realised that almost all the other mothers she had met through maternity classes and playgroups had moved out of London. "None of them ever intended to leave but suddenly their children got to the age of two or three and they panicked," she recalls. "People are terrified because there's such a lack of choice. So they move out of the city."

This year the borough has received 1,678 applications for 1,598 places. Over the next decade Camden will need between 60 and 120 new primary school places each year if it is to meet projected population growth for the area. The Government hopes that one of the answers to such shortages of school places will lie in their flagship "free" school policy. Charities, businesses, parent and teacher groups have all expressed interest in setting up this new genre of state school, which will be outside local authority control and will have much greater leeway in what, and how, they teach.

Roberts – who worked as an educational psychologist before becoming a mother to Bethany, 9, and six-year-old Ellie – is in charge of a group of parents and teachers who have submitted an application to the Department of Education to set up a primary school in the basement of St Luke's church, a gently evangelical church in Hampstead with a broadly young, middle-class congregation. On Monday, St Luke's was told it would become one of the first "free" schools to be established under the Education Secretary Michael Gove's programme. It was one of 16 to be given the go-ahead to set up from next September.

"We're absolutely delighted; it has been a real community effort," Roberts says. "People are elated, but we realise this is just the start not the end. There's a lot of hard work ahead of us but hopefully our community will finally get the school it desperately needs."

The campaigners are anxious to stress that the school will be open to all-comers. "We see this as a natural extension of our community involvement," says Dan Wells, a former teacher who is now the assistant minister at St Luke's. "The Church of England has a great heritage of being involved in education and we see this as a way to continue to give to our community and be involved in the local area."

Critics of the free-school programme say it will reinforce a two-tier education system, with pushy middle-class parents far more likely to set up schools than those living in areas of social deprivation where better schools are desperately needed. Detractors also say religious groups and private schools will be the first to jump on the free-school model because they already have the know-how, experience and resources. They believe their fears were reinforced with the announcement of the first 16 schools, five of which were faith schools (two Jewish, one Hindu and one Sikh in addition to St Luke's).

Aware that his flagship education policy could be derided as something that will only benefit the middle classes and the religious, Mr Gove is said to have told civil servants to hold back all but the most exceptional applications from faith groups that applied to be part of the September 2011 tranche.

Under current policy guidelines, which could of course change over the coming months, any faith group that wants to set up a free school will also have to reserve 50 per cent of its places to students of different faiths or no faith at all.

During the election campaign, the Conservatives said they hoped 3,000 free schools would be opened over the next 10 years, creating 220,000 new places with plans for 20,985 places in the first year of government alone. But budget restrictions now make those figures look hugely optimistic even though Mr Gove stressed the 16 were just the start of a programme which would be rolled out over the coming months. He told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show that there had been 700 enquiries about opening free schools, 100 of which had led to applications being made to the Department of Education. Education officials are expecting a further 50 free schools to open in 2012, and 100 the following year.

This week's announcement had the secularists up in arms. Andrew Copson, chief executive of the British Humanist Association, believes free schools will allow religious communities to set "unregulated faith schools" and says the Government must resist the temptation to reduce the 50 per cent quota. "[Free schools] will give [religious groups] complete power over the curriculum while unburdening them from the need to raise their own funds," he says. "Very few parents have the time, resources or local influence to set up a new school, but religious groups often have all of these." He adds: "While the 50 per cent rule for free schools doesn't go nearly far enough, it is at least an indication that Mr Gove believes religious discrimination should be curbed. By contrast, the recent lobbying campaign by religious groups demonstrates that many support segregation over inclusion. Mr Gove should cease trying to appease the religious lobby and instead use his powers to introduce open admissions policies for all schools."

In the case of St Luke's, Mrs Roberts says they will aim to have more than 50 per cent of their pupils from other faiths or no faith at all. "We want the school to be one that serves its community," she explains. "We will make it clear in our admissions policy that the children who come to the school will be local children. We certainly won't be encouraging a row of 4x4s from across the borough. This area is a lot more mixed than you might think."

Leah Pettingell hopes to send her daughter to St Luke's if it is given the go-ahead. The Australian-born former primary teacher already takes her one-year-old, Jemimah, to the church playgroup and says mothers of all different faiths are excited by the idea of having a desperately needed new school.

"The playgroup is just a regular playgroup," she says. "Christians run it but they're not on a mission, they're simply there to help out. I went to an evangelical Christian school. There were positive and negatives. We want to bring up Jemimah so that she knows what Christianity is about, but we see that as our responsibility."

There is, however, disquiet within the Jewish community over the current guidelines. The Jewish Board of Deputies has written to its members to ask them to lobby the Government and change the 50 per cent quota. Jon Benjamin, chief executive of the Board of Deputies, says: "Unfortunately it looks like free schools are not going to be the panacea Jewish parents thought they would be. This has been a bombshell for parents who had hoped to be able to set up new schools for Jewish children quickly."

But Adam Dawson, a 34-year-old barrister who runs the Mill Hill Jewish Primary School group – another given the go-ahead this week – said he would still press ahead with plans for a free school even if the 50 per cent quota isn't lifted.

"The concept of free schools is very attractive, but the 50 per cent quota could create difficulties," he says. "Our view is that it's not an absolute no, but we would need to find out more about how it will all work."

Different class: Other free schools

Five faith schools, two run by a charity set up by hedge-fund millionaires and one promoting teaching methods that would have had Charles Dickens's Mr Gradgrind turning in his grave. This is the new vision of schooling to be gleaned from the make-up of the first 16 independent "free" schools given the go-ahead by the Education Secretary, Michael Gove. Apart from St Luke's, the Church of England school in Camden, north London, the other 15 are:

Bedford and Kempston Free School

A proposal for an 11-to-16 secondary set up by teachers. They say they will concentrate on the "Stem" subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths) and set as their target every child achieving at least a C in maths and English.

The Childcare Company, Slough

A proposal to establish a primary school and attached nursery with a Christian ethos. Its director Sally Eaton is a former school inspector.

Discovery New School, West Sussex

This will be the first state-funded primary school to adopt the Montessori teaching methods, which teach the whole child and put less of an emphasis on preparing pupils for tests and exams.

The Free School, Norwich

A plan by teachers to establish an all-year-round extended school offering childcare facilities after school.

Haringey Jewish Primary School

A school for five- to 11-year-olds in Muswell Hill. It has a large Jewish community. It says it will be open to all Jewish denominations and non-Jews.

I–Foundation Primary School, Leicester

This will be the second Hindu primary school in the country to be funded by the state. (The first is in Hendon.) The school will have "a Hindu ethos and cater for pupils from all communities".

King's Science Academy, Bradford

This is being set up by the son of a local bus driver, Sajid Hussain. The scheme aims to lure the brightest graduates into teaching.

Mill Hill Jewish Primary School, north London

The second Jewish school for five- to 11-year-olds. The school will have a Jewish ethos. The group proposing it are still considering their admissions arrangements. Mr Gove wants all "free" faith schools to offer 50 per cent of places to non-faith applicants.

Nishkam Education Trust, Birmingham

This will be the first all-through Sikh state school to be established in the UK

North Westminster Free School (ARK), London

This is the first of two to be run by the Ark education charity, set up by the hedge-fund millionaire Arpad "Arki" Busson. It will be for three- to 11-year-olds.

Priors Marston and Priors Hardwick school, Warwickshire

Again a school with a Christian ethos, this primary already exists and is run through private donations after the local authority insisted it should close.

Rivendale First School, Hammersmith and Fulham

A primary school which states that it will have no religious ethos and offer an alternative to existing faith schools in the area.

Stour Valley Community School, Suffolk

An 11-to-16 school being set up by parents opposed to the closure of a local middle school.

West London Free School, Acton

Being set up by a group of parents headed by the writer and broadcaster Toby Young, it is a secondary school with an emphasis on the classics.

Wormholt North Hammersmith Free School (to be known as Burlington Primary Academy)

The second primary school being planned by the Ark academy.

The Independent
Thursday, 9 September 2010
http://bit.ly/c5Eaod
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Enfield's top primary school, Cuckoo Hall, in Edmonton, opens as one of Government's academies

AN "outstanding" Enfield school was among only seven of the Government's new-style primary academies to open this week.

The former Cuckoo Hall Primary School, in Cuckoo Hall Lane, Edmonton, was granted the special status by education secretary Michael Gove after meeting the criteria.

It means the primary school is no longer under the control of Enfield Council, and will manage its own budget using funds received directly from central Government.

Local authorities on average keep eight per cent or more of the funds they receive for schools in their area to support central services such as school buses.

Academies do not have to contribute to this, meaning it can channel the money to fund other projects. Headteacher Patricia Sowter said the the extra sum could amount to as much as £200,000 a year.

Ms Sowter said: "This is a real opportunity for our school, our children and our community.

"We will be able to reach more children and make a bigger difference to education in this area. We are an inclusive school and that will not change.

"These new academy freedoms mean we now have the flexibility to adapt and extend the curriculum, target more resources more effectively, use specialist staff and build a school infrastructure to ensure continued and long-term outstanding educational provision for our community".

Ms Sowter said the school would continue to work with neighbouring primaries and not "in isolation".

Cuckoo Hall was judged outstanding by the Government's education watchdog Ofsted in May 2009 and won approval to change to academy status by Mr Gove in June 2010.

Enfield Independent 06/09/10
http://bit.ly/brWWl5
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Enfield's top primary school, Cuckoo Hall, in Edmonton, opens as one of Government's academies

AN "outstanding" Enfield school was among only seven of the Government's new-style primary academies to open this week.

The former Cuckoo Hall Primary School, in Cuckoo Hall Lane, Edmonton, was granted the special status by education secretary Michael Gove after meeting the criteria.

It means the primary school is no longer under the control of Enfield Council, and will manage its own budget using funds received directly from central Government.

Local authorities on average keep eight per cent or more of the funds they receive for schools in their area to support central services such as school buses.

Academies do not have to contribute to this, meaning it can channel the money to fund other projects. Headteacher Patricia Sowter said the the extra sum could amount to as much as £200,000 a year.

Ms Sowter said: "This is a real opportunity for our school, our children and our community.

"We will be able to reach more children and make a bigger difference to education in this area. We are an inclusive school and that will not change.

"These new academy freedoms mean we now have the flexibility to adapt and extend the curriculum, target more resources more effectively, use specialist staff and build a school infrastructure to ensure continued and long-term outstanding educational provision for our community".

Ms Sowter said the school would continue to work with neighbouring primaries and not "in isolation".

Cuckoo Hall was judged outstanding by the Government's education watchdog Ofsted in May 2009 and won approval to change to academy status by Mr Gove in June 2010.

Enfield Independent 06/09/10
http://bit.ly/brWWl5
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Enfield's top primary school, Cuckoo Hall, in Edmonton, opens as one of Government's academies

AN "outstanding" Enfield school was among only seven of the Government's new-style primary academies to open this week.

The former Cuckoo Hall Primary School, in Cuckoo Hall Lane, Edmonton, was granted the special status by education secretary Michael Gove after meeting the criteria.

It means the primary school is no longer under the control of Enfield Council, and will manage its own budget using funds received directly from central Government.

Local authorities on average keep eight per cent or more of the funds they receive for schools in their area to support central services such as school buses.

Academies do not have to contribute to this, meaning it can channel the money to fund other projects. Headteacher Patricia Sowter said the the extra sum could amount to as much as £200,000 a year.

Ms Sowter said: "This is a real opportunity for our school, our children and our community.

"We will be able to reach more children and make a bigger difference to education in this area. We are an inclusive school and that will not change.

"These new academy freedoms mean we now have the flexibility to adapt and extend the curriculum, target more resources more effectively, use specialist staff and build a school infrastructure to ensure continued and long-term outstanding educational provision for our community".

Ms Sowter said the school would continue to work with neighbouring primaries and not "in isolation".

Cuckoo Hall was judged outstanding by the Government's education watchdog Ofsted in May 2009 and won approval to change to academy status by Mr Gove in June 2010.

Enfield Independent 06/09/10
http://bit.ly/brWWl5
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

School 'transformed' by becoming an academy

New figures suggest that most academy schools in England which were set up under Labour - are achieving greater rates of academic improvement than the schools they replaced.

However, The National Audit Office is warning that the rapid expansion of the scheme, planned by the coalition government, will put extra pressure on resources.

Sally Coates is the head teacher of Burlington Danes Academy in West London, she says that becoming an academy 'transformed' her school.

BBC news
10 September 2010
http://bbc.in/chV7QB
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

School 'transformed' by becoming an academy

New figures suggest that most academy schools in England which were set up under Labour - are achieving greater rates of academic improvement than the schools they replaced.

However, The National Audit Office is warning that the rapid expansion of the scheme, planned by the coalition government, will put extra pressure on resources.

Sally Coates is the head teacher of Burlington Danes Academy in West London, she says that becoming an academy 'transformed' her school.

BBC news
10 September 2010
http://bbc.in/chV7QB
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Michael Gove responds to the findings of the National Audit Office report on academies

Michael Gove has today commented on the National Audit Office report on the Academies programme.

He said:

I welcome the findings of this NAO report. It confirms our belief that the Academies programme is working, reporting a clear lift in performance after schools convert to academies, confirming that they are improving faster than other comparable schools and that they continue to serve the most disadvantaged communities and pupils. We also know that pupils on free school meals have improved faster in academies than similar pupils nationally.

The experience of the city technology colleges in England, and other reforms across the world, shows that giving schools autonomy successfully drives up performance, and that this improvement is sustained. The performance of the large academy chains is already improving at a rapid rate. This year the Harris Federation reports a ten percentage point increase across all their academies, and ARK academies have reported a 13 percentage point increase.

We have already taken prompt action on the NAO recommendations as we strive to strengthen the programme even further. The Academies programme is helping children from all backgrounds to get a better education – that is why we are allowing more schools to become academies, and are giving real power and autonomy back to schools and teachers.

You can view the NAO report on the Academies programme at the NAO website

DfE website 10/09/10
http://bit.ly/bWpTfH
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Proud day as pupils spend first day at the new Gloucester Academy

YOUNGSTERS dusted off their pencil cases and pulled on their blazers for the start of a new era at Gloucester Academy.

The controversial new academy opened its doors for the first time yesterday.

Children in Years 7 and 10 pupils were welcomed into the academy, with girls joining the school in Cotteswold Road for the first time.

Marketa Dunova, who was a pupil at Tredworth Junior School, was one of the first female students to join the academy.

The 11-year-old, who originally comes from the Czech Republic, said: "It is exciting. We have been talking about the school and the timetable and things on our first day.

"The uniform is nice, I like it and a lot of my friends have come here too which is good."

In February, education bosses announced that Bishops' College and Central Technology College would shut to make way for the academy.

Under the plans, Year 7 pupils will be taught on the Central site at Cotteswold Road, bringing girls to the school for the first time.

Older pupils will stay at their current schools at Bishops' College and Central, which will be known as 'schools of learning'.

Calvin Spencer, who is in Year 10, said he was getting used to seeing girls at the school and thought the academy would bring more opportunities.

The 14-year-old from Tredworth, said: "It is a bit strange to see girls walking around.

"But the academy is better than I thought it would be.

"I thought it would be a bit messed up for the first day but it is good."

Triplets Oliver and Alex Portillo – whose sister Christina goes to Ribston Hall High School – have been at Central for three years.

They said they were looking forward to the rest of the school joining them today. Alex, 14, said: "It is really exciting. There have been a lot of changes that have been made with new teachers, different classes and the internet cafe, but it is really good and I am looking forward to when everybody else comes."

His brother Oliver, who is also in Year 10, said: "It has been fun but nerve-wracking because we don't know some of the teachers. I have been here for three years so it is a bit strange that everything has changed."

It is hoped a new £21milion state-of-the-art building will be up and running by 2013 at Cotteswold Road to bring everyone together. The funding is up in the air however until after the Government's October spending review.

Jane Newns, who is teaching maths at the new academy, said she was enjoying her first day.

She said: "The children are doing really well. They have been very well behaved and I am looking forward to the rest of the year."

Jane Featherstone, deputy head on the Cotteswold Road campus, said the academy would be focusing on the transition from primary school to Year 7.

She said: "We have got tutors teaching the students a core subject and the students will predominantly be in their tutor rooms for many of their core lessons, with the teachers moving around like they would in primary school.

"For the other subjects like technology students will have to go to their classrooms.

"It is lovely to see them and it has been a good start to the academy."

Full Article (this is Gloucestershire)
http://bit.ly/biF6j9

Schools are lining up for academy status. But not enough for Michael Gove

On the face of it, the numbers are disappointing for the education secretary

How many schools does it take to herald an education reform? That was the question when the teaching unions and Michael Gove, the education secretary, battled it out over the latest figures for schools wanting to convert to academy status.

On the face of it, the numbers were disappointing for Gove, who believes standards will rise only when schools are freed from the control of local authorities and allowed to run their own affairs. The Tories' big idea for education is a country of stand-alone, independent schools funded by the state but run by their teachers and governors.

So important is the academy policy to the coalition's education reforms that Gove used emergency powers to steamroller his bill through Parliament and wrote to every school urging them to take the leap. So the announcement that only 32 of the 20,300 secondaries and primaries in England will reopen as academies this term – and a further 110 in the course of the academic year – looked disappointing, not least because Gove had put the figure at 1,100 earlier in the summer.

But behind the apparent PR coup for the classroom unions that are campaigning against academies is the question of timing. The bill became law on 28 July. With everything else going on – exams, induction of new pupils, end-of-year form-filling in and leaving parties – perhaps the low figure does not say much.

The coalition, which inherited the academy programme from Labour, has dropped the requirements that schools wanting to be academies must serve deprived areas and gain the support of millionaire, business or institutional sponsors. Schools rated outstanding by Ofsted can now apply to be fast-tracked through the process and join the 203 academies created under Labour, regardless of the communities they serve. At the other end of the spectrum, failing secondaries and, for the first time, primaries will close and be replaced by academies.

First off the blocks when schools reopen will be oversubscribed schools in middle-class areas, including several grammars. Their headteachers have used the "ready reckoner" provided by the Department for Education and worked out that they will be tens of thousands of pounds better off when they get their share of the "central cake" of resources for local authority-wide services. Councils warn that the remaining schools could suffer from the loss of economy of scale.

Gove quickly has to persuade all schools to become academies or he will end up with a two-tier system and hand the cards to his union opponents.

Will schools flock to claim the extra money and freedom from policies such as the national curriculum and official guidance on discipline, no longer imposed by local authorities but by central government diktat? The dilemma was summed up by Nigel Burgoyne, the head of Kesgrave High School in Ipswich, Suffolk, an outstanding school that could be fast-tracked to academy status: "If we join, by default, everyone else is slightly worse off. We have a moral concern that this is not the best thing for the whole system."

Liz Lightfoot
The Observer News Sun 5 Sep 2010
http://bit.ly/9aNSE0

Really free schools

At the ASI, we like the Government's free schools policy. However, we agree with the outgoing chief of Ofsted's comments that it would be more effective were private firms allowed to establish and run publically funded schools at a profit.

Here are two good reasons why:

Adding the profit-motive to the mix would bring a host of new providers into the free schools fold. From entrepreneurs to private schools, many people and organisations currently lack the incentive to establish or run free schools. Allowing them to make a profit will change this, directing new talent at the provision of state-education. The rationale for free schools policies is the truth that greater competition for pupils lifts standards. Permitting more (and more diverse) providers to compete, as in Sweden, lifts standards to greater heights. Whilst having third sector groups competing with the state is good, having the third sector, profit makers and the state all competing with each other is better.

Private firms are better placed than most parent, teacher and charitable groups to finance capital expenditures on new school buildings, etc. Encouraging them to provide this finance, by, shock-horror, allowing them to make a return on it, will improve the policy in two ways. First, it'll ease its impact on the taxpayer, allowing more new schools to be established at less cost. Second, it will accelerate the creation of such schools. If their construction can be paid for privately, The Department for Education will not need to limit their number in line with its capital budget.

Despite these reasons, opposition to introducing the profit motive into state-education remains strong. It's worth scrutinising two of the more common objections.

'Having firms profit from children's education is wrong!' Really? Let's go back to basics for a second and consider why we have an education policy at all. A sensible answer is, unsurprisingly, in the name: to educate. It thus seems off the point to quibble about means; if we accept that private involvement with free schools will raise standards, it should not matter whether profits are made.

'Having firms take a slice of public funding as profit means that less money is spent educating the child than would be with state provision' So far so true. If the state provides, say, £3000 per annum for a child's education, the firm can only make a profit if it spends less than £3000 educating the child. However, we must be careful not to make the (rather New Labour) mistake of confusing money-in with education-out. Whilst profit-making firms may spend less per head than the state or voluntary groups educating the child, their expertise and greater incentive to minimise costs likely enable them to achieve better educational outcomes whilst spending less per child.

We have, then, a slight policy adjustment that would yield better results and isn't all that objectionable. Come on Gove, let's really set schools free

Written by Matthew Triggs (ASI)   
Wednesday, 01 September 2010 07:00
http://bit.ly/9EofPk

Blair's education revolution bears fruit

Not having read Tony Blair's book yet, I shall leave it to others to litter their blogs with extracts and index-referencing. But it is notable that his memoirs appear on a day when the government has published remarkable data confirming the success of academies.

This is not about Michael Gove's decision to focus his attention on persuading outstanding schools to join the movement, or the development of free schools, on which initial overambition has been replaced by cautious realism. Rather it is about the relatively unsung success of Blair's academies which were embraced (albeit with some pointless interference with their independence) by his successor despite earlier misgivings.

Today sees a lot of attention on the limited number of 'new' academies - there are 32 outstanding schools that heroically managed to convert in time for a new term, with 110 more on the way - but it is also the start of term for 64 academies that had been initiated by the Labour government. They are largely in disadvantaged areas, replacing failing schools and offering new hope and leadership for thousands of youngsters.

Early indications suggest that academies taking GCSEs in both 2009 and 2010 have seen their GCSE results rise by a fifth - from 35% to 42% of pupils gaining five good GCSEs including English and Maths - in a single year. This is three times the national average improvement rate (after several years of similar such improvements). Results in schools run by Harris and Ark have exceeded an 11% rise, and the remarkable Mossbourne Academy has stayed above the 80% mark despite a slight dip. When one considers that half of all secondary schools in England couldn't get 30% of their pupils to achieve the five good GCSE standard in 1997, and many inner city schools found 20% a challenge, this is a remarkable result. [Fewer than 200/3200 schools are likely to be below 30% this year]

The challenge for the coalition is three-fold. First, having devoted so much energy to encouraging outstanding schools to become academies, they must refocus their energies on failing schools and turning them around; there are fewer than before, but the challenge remains. Second, they must ensure that their pupil premium does not take money away from academies in disadvantaged areas, which it could well do if the Treasury has its way, and consider linking part of the premium to improvement. And third, they should be much more imaginative in encouraging the development of new academy trusts, particularly for primary schools but also to link outstanding academies with schools that need extra support. There has been a lot of rhetoric about social mobility: we have yet to see the real detail.

Academies are a success story for disadvantaged pupils - but they will only continue to be so if the detail of the policy focus is as relentless as it was when Tony Blair was Prime Minister.

Original Article
http://conorfryan.blogspot.com/2010/09/blairs-education-revolution-bears-fruit.html

Failing primaries to become academies

The Education Secretary says the worst primaries will be transformed into independent state schools with new head teachers amid claims too many children are struggling to master the basics at 11.

Writing in The Daily Telegraph, Mr Gove says that Ofsted will be given the task of identifying schools with "persistent serious problems".

Mr Gove says the Coalition will "methodically challenge" all struggling schools. "Either they improve fast or they will have their management replaced by an academy sponsor with a proven track record," he says.

"The schools with the worst records, including primaries for the first time, will have their management replaced."

Sats results increased under Labour but in recent years the number of 11 year-olds achieving the standard expected has stalled. Figures show about four in 10 pupils still fail to master the basics of English and mathematics by the time they start secondary school.

Mr Gove says that parents are still struggling to get their children into decent schools despite a doubling of the education budget under Labour.

More than one in 10 infants is believed to have missed out on their first choice primary this September. It is thought numbers could rise rapidly in coming years. "One of the tragedies of the last 13 years is that, despite record spending, there still aren't enough good schools to go around," he writes. "While we have some of the best schools in the world, we also have some which are struggling."

The comments come as the first wave of academies to be established under the Coalition opens this week.

Some 32 open this week with another 110 being developed in the coming months. It follows emergency legislation allowing outstanding schools to be fast-tracked into the academies programme.

Teaching unions called the reforms a "failure" and said most schools had shunned them. But Mike Harris, of the Institute of Directors, said: "Whilst the fruits of these reforms cannot come soon enough, reform will not happen overnight. To expect otherwise is, frankly, silly."

Graeme Paton, Education Editor Telegraph
Published: 02 Sep 2010
http://bit.ly/bHqQFH

Academies will offer real school choice - once the red tape is swept away

By Harry Phibbs (Daily Mail) 1st September 2010 http://bit.ly/cQcrB0

So the summer, such as it was, is over. It's time to go back to school.

From this term pupils at another 96 schools will be heading to academies - including 32 new-style academies resulting from changes brought in by the new Government.

But that's a modest number given that there are over 4,000 state secondary schools and nearly 22,000 state primary schools in the UK

The educational establishment, an alliance of the teacher unions, Councils wishing to defend their school empires, Quangocrats and Department of Education civil servants, seem to take encouragement that they will be able to thwart any change.

They hope that they will be able to retain centralised control to ensure progressive orthodoxies in the classroom are followed. They want to retain control of what our children are taught and how they are taught.

These people are convinced that they know best and therefore that the threat of parent power must be averted. Often they are uncomfortable about any reference to 'bad schools' or 'bad teachers' - and are most reluctant to support the closure of a school for having poor exam results or being half empty.

Yet they are all too keen for grammar schools, church schools or independent schools to shut down - it seems the more successful a school, the more they despise it. Even when a school remains non-selective and state-owned there is hostility when it gains Academy status - because of the modest degree of independence from bureaucratic conformity.

In the United States there is rather broader political consensus for school choice. President Barack Obama says: 'Charter schools are public schools founded by parents, teachers, and civic or community organizations with broad leeway to innovate - schools I supported as a state legislator and United States Senator.'

In many ways the Free Schools being proposed here are similar to the Charter Schools in the US - as well as the Free Schools in Sweden, which have also now won bipartisan support.

The concern in Britain is that unlike the Swedish operators (and some US operators) of such schools, the British versions will not be allowed to make a profit. Unfortunately the regulatory burden of setting up such a school is immense. This makes it a daunting prospect for a plucky group of parents using the local church hall to start their own school. Some, I hope many, will persist. But for others their initial enthusiasm could all too easily be drowned in a sea of form filling.

It is argued that the absurdly prescriptive and politically correct School Admissions Code should apply to the free schools as it applies to everyone else. Very well - in that case why not sweep it away for all schools?

Education Secretary Michael Gove either needs to clear away the bureaucracy or allow in the companies who can cope with it by opening chains of schools and employing managers to ensure all the boxes are ticked. Ideally, of course, he should do both.

The current issue of The Spectator magazine has an article showing what strong opposition there will be. One headmistress in an inner city school who expressed interest in her school becoming an academy got a letter from a union official which read: 'We are absolutely not seeking a conflict. Nonetheless [sic] we regard these proposals as a fundamental attack on state education and will, for the sake of our members and the children we teach, do everything we can to stop any school becoming an academy. And this includes industrial action and campaigning amongst the parents.'

A Labour amendment passed in the House of Lords required schools to hold 'consultation' before becoming academies. So the unions are demanding each schools provides, under Freedom of Information rules, details on what consultation they have undertaken.

Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, says that this amendment means that some 'schools that planned to become Academies by September will no longer be able to do so.'



In Camden an attempt by University College London to open a school resulted in a legal challenge that the new school broke EU procurement rules. The challenge failed - but only after £65,000 had been spent.

Astonishingly the challenge was funded on Legal Aid using taxpayers' money. UCL didn't buckle but would the same apply to others?

The Spectator report adds: 'The formula - begin court action and claim legal aid - has been used in various other cases, the details of which can now be disclosed. Campaigners who tried to stop the creation of the St Mary Magdalene Academy in north London were given £20,000 of taxpayers' money.

Choice: But Christine Blower of the NUT is wary of academy applications

'A judicial review challenge to a new academy in the Isle of Sheppey in Kent was given £12,500 of taxpayers' money. One Rob MacDonald, a member of the Socialist party, secured an extraordinary £20,000 for his unsuccessful attempt to stop the failing Tamworth Manor School in Merton from becoming a City Academy. (Since its new ownership, the ratio of pupils winning five or more GCSEs has trebled to 95 per cent.)'

Another problem is finding premises for a new school. The New Schools Network wants a rule that when a local council closes a school, the building should remain for school use, thus allowing a Free School to be opened on the site.

They also want changes brought in to make change of use to a school building easier. 'Some of the best prep schools are run out of what were just private houses,' says Rachel Wolf of the New Schools Network. She also wants the government to deliver on their promise that planning delays at town hall level will be avoided by applications being fast-tracked by a National Planning Inspectorate.

Greater flexibility on rules for capital funding would also help. At present the Government provides capital funding upfront to own the building for the school. This is a big upfront cost and also makes for inflexibility for the school in terms of the number of pupils it can cater for.

But despite all these problems I remain optimistic. Rachel Wolf reckons that her organisation alone will help with 150 proposals for Free Schools over the next six months.

If the restrictions are removed then the school choice revolution will be delivered before the next election - and no future Government would dare to scupper it.

Daily Mail http://bit.ly/cQcrB0

Weeks after Academies Act passed, 142 schools to convert to academy status

Michael Gove, Education Secretary, today announced that 142 schools have accepted the Government's offer to become an academy since the Academies Act became law just over a month ago. These schools have made a commitment to work with other schools and share their expertise. This is the first wave of converters in a rolling process that allows schools to convert at any stage.

The running total of schools that will become academies this academic year is 216 so far. The current breakdown is as follows:

142 schools converting to become academies: 32 are opening this week and a further 110 schools have had Academy Orders signed which means they are on track to convert to academies over the coming months.

Of the 142, there are 7 primary schools which become the first ever primary academies to open. The Government has said that special schools will also be allowed to become academies from next year.

64 new academies replace failing schools this September plus a further 10 opening by April 2011. This is record progress; it took five years for 15 city technology colleges to open, and four years for the first 27 academies to open.

Michael Gove said:

This Government believes that teachers and head teachers, not politicians and bureaucrats, should control schools and have more power over how they are run. That's why we are spreading academy freedoms. This will give heads more power to tackle disruptive children, to protect and reward teachers better, and to give children the specialist teaching they need.

This year's GCSE results saw academy pupils improving at nearly three times the historic rate of state school improvement.
A full list of all schools becoming academies for this September term is available to download here. http://bit.ly/bZNmoP

For further information and responses from Heads of new academies, read the full press notice.

The list below gives the number of academies opening each year under the previous Government:
3 opened in 2002
9 opened in 2003
5 opened in 2004
10 opened in 2005
19 opened in 2006
37 opened in 2007
47 opened in 2008
70 opened in 2009
3 opened in January 2010
Total: 203

DfE 01/09/10 http://bit.ly/bZNmoP

First wave of 32 new-style academies open this week

There will be 32 schools opening this term as new-style academies in England.

The number was labelled a "failure" by teachers' unions - while the Education Secretary Michael Gove said he was "quite encouraged".

These were outstanding schools which have taken up the government's offer to opt out of local authority control and become independent academies.

Among the 32 schools, seven are primary schools, the first academies for this age group.

There are a further 110 schools which will convert to academies later - including about 40 primary schools.

This group of schools aiming for academy status also includes a number of grammar schools.

Lack of numbers

Academies are state-funded independent schools which will receive direct funding, outside of the control or support of local authorities.

Mr Gove said the greater independence would help schools to raise standards.

"This will give heads more power to tackle disruptive children, to protect and reward teachers better, and to give children the specialist teaching they need," he said.

Shadow Education Secretary Ed Balls said the "tiny fraction" of schools becoming academies represented a "further embarrassment for Michael Gove".
David Hampson, principal of Tollbar Business and Enterprise College in Grimbsy, which is expecting to become an academy later this year, said schools would profit from the greater autonomy.

"The benefits of becoming an academy will be enormous - less bureaucracy certainly but also more resources which we ourselves will be able to manage," he said.

But Christine Blower, head of the National Union of Teachers, rejected claims that they would raise standards - and said the low take-up showed the idea had failed to catch the imagination of schools.

There are more than 20,000 state schools in England.

"For a policy that was supposed to be a flagship change for education, it is something of a failure to have so few schools opening at this stage," she said.

First wave

These 142 schools, opening this week or later in the year, will be the first wave of a new type of academy.

Under the previous Labour government academies were focused on improving areas of underachievement - with academies having outside sponsors and high-profile buildings.


There are still so-called "traditional" academies opening under this policy - with 64 opening this term.

But the coalition has changed the direction of the academy programme - inviting the most successful schools to take on this independent status, operating outside the local authority.

Among the biggest regional groupings of proposed new academies are in Kent, Essex, Barnet and Lincolnshire. There are also a significant number of grammar schools among the new-style academies.

The principle of schools opting out to take academy status has been strongly criticised by Chris Keates, leader of the NASUWT teachers' union.

"The idea that a handful of governors or an individual head teacher can make such a serious and irreversible decision without having consulted fully with staff, parents and the local community will shock all right-minded people."

Schools taking academy status will become independent schools, with their assets becoming the responsibility of trusts, which will be run as charitable companies.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device