School governors and academies

www.theguardian.com/education/2016/may/12/unqualified-daughter-of-minister-teaches-in-his-academy-schools

This is in Pimlico.

This is a disaster - but will the government learn from it and realise the precarious situation are schools are sliding in to with these MATs? - I doubt it; they are bound by political dogma.

Luckygirl That sounds most unfair and it could be argued that such a system will reinforce inequality because surely it will affect recruitment and retention rates in areas of high deprivation?

On top of the mess in the Perry Beeches Academy Trust that durhamjen has referred to, Toby Young - one of the most vociferous campaigners for free schools - has announced he is giving up his role of Chief Executive of the West London School Academy Trust. He was very critical of teachers and LA schools when he embarked on his mission but now says that "running free schools was harder than I thought".

www.theguardian.com/education/2016/may/10/perry-beeches-academy-trust-lauded-by-cameron-falls-apart-executive-head-quits

Another one down. How many to go?

Here is one of the government's little delights. There is a thing now called performance related pay, which means that a teacher cannot get pay increments without proving that they have been doing a good job - fair enough. They have to accumulate their own evidence, be observed teaching and - and here is the problem - the children in their class have to achieve a certain standard.

So here is the situation: teacher A has a class full of bright children, and they all reach the necessary level with the minimum of effort on her part. Teacher B has a class with a high preponderance of children with special needs, and she works extremely hard to get them to achieve their potential, but they are unable to reach the required standard. Teacher A will get the increment; Teacher B will not. How can this be fair?

This is more of the simplistic back-of-the-envelope policy making that does not look at reality.

He deserves it even more because he thinks that Zac Goldsmith has nothing to be ashamed of. Toby Young's dad would be ashamed of his own son.

This is brilliant.

blogs.spectator.co.uk/2016/05/yesterday-was-one-of-the-worst-day-of-my-life/

By Toby Young and what he said about free schools.
Now he knows what Jeremy Corbyn feels like every day. Except he will not realise it.

There are four schools in Weardale that were going to be closed, but the council has now decided to keep them open with a shared head.
That's a problem, too. From that happening at schools that I know of, the head is never in the places/he is wanted.

Small rural primary schools are often real gems - the sort of places and education that we might all wish for our children: peaceful, like a large family, caring..........but these things are not measured by OfSted. They do not fit easily into the MAT picture. Several small primaries here have gone down that route and they have lost a great deal in the process - the children are being bused around to different venues; the parents have no point of contact as the executive heads are 20+ miles away; the absence of a real head who has a finger on the pulse is felt etc. It is all a big shame - taking the best on offer and slowly chipping away at it until its best qualities are lost.

Our head is out there when school ends each day, chatting to parents, being visible and approachable.

Academy chains are not in a position to give the kind of support LAs used to give (and it was support, not control)
Local federations based around secondary academies are not a lot better as the leaders will not understand a lot about primary education.
LA teams varied in quality but they were an effective way of supporting schools in my experience .

Yes I read her weasel words, but I still think it is face-saving drivel.
Last week she said that nothing would make her change her mind, ever.
One issue is that they will never find academy sponsors for the small rural primary schools beloved of the Tory shires.
Of course it was never her policy in the first place it was Osborne's.

Sorry, Mamie, hadn't realised.

In a statement on Friday, Morgan said: “I am today reaffirming our determination to see all schools become academies. However, having listened to the feedback from parliamentary colleagues and the education sector, we will now change the path to reaching that goal.”

This is the important paragraph, as far as I can see.
It says all schools, not all secondary schools.

That is the same article that I posted on this thread yesterday DJ.
It will not be in the Queen's speech and they will not force all schools to convert. In practice many secondary schools are already academies but the vast majority of primaries are not and do not want to be.
They will be able to force "failing" schools to convert, but then they can already do that. They may, of course, lower the bar to force more schools to "fail", but I suspect that it is mostly a face-saving exercise and will be quietly dropped.
i wasn't in the least surprised to see the reaction from Hampshire. They have a huge number of highly successful schools and would be horrified to lose them.

www.theguardian.com/education/2016/may/06/government-backs-down-over-plan-to-make-all-schools-academies
I get told off for doing this, but this is the full article.
It is not a proper u-turn. They are still going to do it, but it will not be in the queen's speech.
That's all the Tory councils did, make them back down on it being included in the queen's speech, because they did not want to be forced to do it.

To be honest Elegran I think that people wildly over-estimate the amount of influence that LAs have over school improvement now. When I was an LA inspector I worked in a team of over 30 inspectors and advisers. I believe there are now fewer than 10 left from that team. The government talks drivel about "freeing schools from LA control", but in practice their powers are now very few. Most of the people I worked with are now independent and providing school improvement services to LA schools and Academy chains. They are still good, effective professionals, but I don't think it helps anybody to lose the support of a team working together.
The fact that LAs are no longer able to open new schools is causing immense problems in admissions.

Everything is more complicated than appears at first glance! There is no black and white dividing line between LA's which are wildly "successful" and ones which are "underperforming". Thee are are all shades in between, and the reasons for them struggling vary.

As Mamie says, the party politics of the LA don't control how well their area is doing, or the quality of their education, and blanket application of party differences axchieve nothing. "Underperforming" is a term which implies that whatever decisions and efforts a particular LA has made are not sufficient. They need either to change their policies and priorities, or to be helped to be more effective - whether that involves money , advice, or practical assistance in the form of training or monitoring.

Taking away their autonomy over academies is a last resort - threatening it is to hold a sword over their heads. In some cases, who knows, that may be the trigger that makes them rethink their plans and come up with one which is more effective - in others, that is impossible. Diagnosing exactly what the factors are could pinpoint what action will change things, not following a party line, whatever that party.

In addition DJ Conservative controlled Hampshire and Oxfordshire have been hugely influential in changing the policy on forced academisation.

I think you will find that it is a bit more complicated than that, DJ and Elegran.
Some underperforming schools will be in LAs where there are high rates of poverty and unemployment; some of these areas will be in Labour controlled councils. Many underperforming schools are in the "coastal fringe" areas which may be Labour or Conservative controlled. Some Conservative controlled rural schools and LAs will be underperforming, even though they have reached the "floor" targets.
London has many schools in areas of social deprivation where standards have improved enormously.
The data tells us that underperforming schools improve just as well (if not better) in LAs and academisation does not necessarily help.

Perhaps those Labour-controlled councils should stop "underperforming" and have a go at making their schools perform better, then.

"On the day of election declarations across the UK, the Department for Education (DfE) said that plans to force through the policy by 2022 would not now be included in the forthcoming Queen’s speech, arguing: “It is not necessary to bring legislation to bring about blanket conversion of all schools to achieve this goal.”

In a statement on Friday, Morgan said: “I am today reaffirming our determination to see all schools become academies. However, having listened to the feedback from parliamentary colleagues and the education sector, we will now change the path to reaching that goal.”

Instead, the new legislation will include sweeping powers for the DfE to force schools in “underperforming” local authorities to convert to academy status. Those councils with successful track records will be able to continue to maintain their local schools.

The abrupt change was praised by Conservative-led local authorities which had been vocal critics of the original plan."

This is the plot. They are still going to make all schools become academies, but only those in underperforming - i.e. Labour controlled - authorities will be taken away from authority control. Tory councils will be okay to run schools, but obviously they want all theirs to be academies anyway.

Surely there might be room for a few people in there, not just policies daphne - I am happy to make suggestions.

The Conservative policy Room 101 must be full by now!

TY has got his facts wrong. If the pupils usually have good attendance, one day won't make much difference.

Free school! Though fire school may be a good description.

The fire school that TY set up,has had at least 4 head teachers and lots of complaints from staff/ parents. Not exactly a success story.