School's 'secret' academy vote worries Louth pressure group
A PRESSURE group is calling for a full public debate after it claims a primary school in Louth voted in secret on its intention to become an academy.
The Louth and Area Save our Schools Group claims it discovered that Kidgate Primary School in Louth voted in a meeting on January 19, to express their intention to become an academy, which could see the school no longer governed by Lincolnshire County Council.
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ACADEMY PLANS?:Louth and Area Save Our Schools group claims Kidgate Primary School has voted on its intention to become an academy without any pre-public consultation. The school has declined to comment.
The Save Our Schools group had sent out letters to the area schools to ask for a full public debate concerning the future of education in and around the town.
The letter, signed by 50 local parents and residents, for the heads and chairman of governors of all schools called for a full public meeting which would include contributions from the pro and anti-academy lobby groups.
Andrew Austin, joint chairman of Louth Save Our Schools said: "We have since discovered that in a secret vote, on January 19, without any consultation of parents or in fact any letter laying out Kidgate's intention to become an academy, they have voted to do so in a private meeting.
"As there is little precedent for a non-failing primary school to take this course of action, then why is the administration taking such a gamble with our children's education? We as a group are comprised of a large number of parents and as such are highly concerned with Kidgate's lack of response to our requests to discuss this matter with them and are increasingly worried by their lack of engagement with the parents who place their most precious possessions in their care.
"We in the group are vehemently opposed to any further privatisation of our schools and believe that local authorities who are aware of local issues and not central Government are best placed to look after our children's education."
The head teacher at Kidgate Primary School declined to comment to the Target and the chairman of governors Ian Watson was unavailable for comment.
Andy Breckon, assistant director of Children's Services at Lincolnshire County Council said: "The county council wants to work in partnership with all schools and academies in the county. The decision to convert to academy status is a decision for a school's governing body alone and it is up to them to consult with parents and other interested parties.
"The governing body have not confirmed anything with the county council about plans for academy status."
5 Comments
by Gnome_Chomsky
Monday, February 06 2012, 11:02PM
“Thanks for your comments folks. Very little I could disagree with.
I realise academies receive no additional money but, as CaptnP says, they have more discretion in how they use what they do get. My comment about stables was flippant and for illustration only. In truth, schools will be able to spend the money on things the majority of us would drop our jaws at, rather than use it to educate underpriveleged children, who can be 'encouraged' to apply elsewhere.
One reason the services were so expensive was that these were small teams covering a big area. They had been consistently cut, because they were used by a small minority of students. When part of that funding is removed, the services become unaffordable to the point where even the local authority advises schools to become academies.
Schools, in turn, cover the costs of these services by not accepting any children who might need them, or by trying to get help on the sly. Families who should be pursued by education welfare officers, for example, are instead reported to social services on the grounds of neglect by not getting children to school.”
by M_C_Donald
Monday, February 06 2012, 1:05PM
“The services provided to by and paid for by the local authority still have to be paid for and provided by a school when it becomes an academy. Can this be done cheaper and or better by the school rather than the local authority only time will tell.”
by CaptnP
Monday, February 06 2012, 9:34AM
“The drive is the money, the ideology is yours. The local authority take a "top slice" of money from schools. The top slice for lincolnshire is around 10% of the schools budget. By going academy you get the choice about what you do with that 10%. That's 10% extra on a budget that is 90% committed to salaries, so in effect it is a doubling of the discretionary spend of a school.
The services "funded" by the local authority were astronomically expensive before the academies started.
Going academy does not change the obligation of a school to provide SEN services or maintain its admissions policy.
How are traveler, children with SEN and children with behaviour disorders best served by average or satisfactory schools?
If local authority oversight is so brilliant then why does Lincolnshire still have any failing shools?”
by DufferBadge
Sunday, February 05 2012, 7:45PM
“Gnome you are right in saying the drive for academies is ideological, but I disagree with some of your other comments - in Lincolnshire the authority still offers viable services to schools, but there are huge pressures put onto individual schools to convert to academy status. However one of the myths about academies is that the school receives huge amounts of extra money. This was true with the original incarnations when they were used to tackle failing schools, but the current version doesn't any real increases in budgets (though noone is too sure exactly, as there has been huge problems telling schools what their new budgets will be).
Added to which moving away from the local authority removes oversight of the school management who can pick up signs that things might be going wrong and offer support or even intervention if things go wrong.
Governing bodies are fine, but they do not have to be educationalists and are not in school day-to-day, so may not realise when things aren't working. Interestingly I believe Kidgate have benefited from substantial local authority support not so long ago.”
by Gnome_Chomsky
Saturday, February 04 2012, 12:25PM
“The drive towards academy status is entirely ideological but has reached a tipping point. Schools no longer have a realistic choice, but must convert.
The services previously delivered by the local authority, funded by local education budgets, are no longer viable.
For the majority of parents, this is good news: the school has more money for planetariums and riding stables.
For children from traveller families, children with special educational needs, and children with mental health or behavioural disorders, this is an absolute disaster. They are being sold out by a government that simply does not care about the underpriveleged.”