Crest Academies to go co-educational from September

Crest Academies confirmed this morning that classes will be mixed gender from September. There was some confusion because the school website had an undated posting that said that although the staff of the hitherto separate Girls' and Boys' Academies will be united, girls and boys would contionue to be taught in separate classes.

The school will be updating that posting to reflect the decision to move to mixed classes.

The decision is controversial as some parents chose  the school originally because they were separate single sex schools.

There is a petition on Change.Org against the decision LINK. It states:

In June 2015, parents were informed of a proposal to fully implement and deliver mixed-gender education. The school leadership has not provided any conclusive evidence that a mixed school would better perform and provide equality for all.

Parents are highly concerned and are openly seeking to resist this draconian measure in the school’s delivery of learning and teaching.

 As the petitioner and as a Crest Academy parent I urge you to sign this petition in support of the above facts and information. As parents we have the right to exercise choice for our children, however, in this instance we have not consented to any changes nor been fairly consulted.

The London Borough of Brent’s schools are already impoverished and heavily oversubscribed.

 In final summation, oppose the plans of The Crest Academies (managed by E-ACT) for the following compelling reasons:

1. Sign, say ‘no’ and stand against the imposition of our school becoming a mixed-gender school
2. Sign, support us and show your dissatisfaction with such a short time to consult, in contrast to two months of consultation in 2013/4
3. Sign, share and speak the truth that we do not have a comparable girls’ or boys’ school in Brent for our children
4. Sign, stand together and support all the poorly served and let down children who have no choice or a voice
*Crest Newsletter - Edition 5 (published in year 2013-2014)

Phil Hearne, Executive Principal CONSULTATION RESULTS

“The formal consultation ran from 25 November 2013 to 24 January 2014, and an overwhelming 80% of those responding said they support the continuation of single-sex education. One of the issues that has concerned people though is whether girls and boys will mix. They will not: both classes and social time will continue to be single gender at all times.

The changes we are making are all about making the Crest Academies the very best single-sex school in the area. We want Crest to be the school of choice for any parent who values girls and boys being taught separately. This is something that both I and the Board of Governors are extremely passionate about Crest to be the school of choice for any parent who values girls and boys being taught separately"

At the time fo writing the petiton had only 219 supporters.

Phil Hearne has been replaced as Principal by Mohsen Ojja who told this week's Kilburn Times:

Our outcomes are significantly low. We have to do something about it. The two factors driving this change - a duty to ensure every single pupils can access the best education possible by managing the performance of teachers appropriately, and recruiting better teachers and leaders - and our duty to prepare pupils for life in modern Britain.

Single sex schooling is often controversial. In this case added to the arguments that mixed schooling during adolesence means loss of academic concentration, that girls suppress their ability in order not to 'show up' boys, that girls are used to 'soften' the behaviour of boys, that girls are more likely to opt for non-stereotypical subjects in girls only schools are religious arguments in favour of separation.

Some of the arguments in favour of girls' only schooling can be found HERE  Significantly, far fewer people argue in favour of boys only schooling, and it is often said that single sex schooling is 'Good for girls, but bad for boys' LINK

In Crest's case what is likely to be most significant is whether the school is able to make progress after its Ofsted failure.  The latest monitoring report dated June 2015 notes progress and says of the new Principal:

As Principal, you and the vice principal who was at the academy at the time of the Inspection have worked swiftly to begin to address the areas for improvement. Your own determination to improve the quality of teaching and raise students’ aspirations and achievement is very clear. Now that there is a full exec utive leadership team and other senior leaders have been appointed the academy is ready to build on the foundations laid in the post inspection action plan.

On the co-education issue Ofsted say:

The academy is currently undertaking a consultation with parents and carers, students and staff regarding a review of the provision for boys and girls. This has a clear focus, quite rightly, on ensuring equality of opportunity in the curriculum for all. There are already assemblies and some aspects of personal, health and social education that involve boys and girls learning together.

An  issue that will concern teaching and not-teaching staff is whether the changes will mean a reduction in staffing in a school that has already experienced  considerable job losses. LINK

There are two remaining single sex secondary schools in Brent which are both Roman Catholic as well as the fee paying (£6,700 per year)  Islamia Girls School. LINK

Gladstone Secondary Free School, a co-educational school in the same broad area as Crest, has failed to open as various sites have fallen through but still expects to open in September 2016.

Its website LINK still lacks certainty:

The Department for Education (DfE) has been searching for land or buildings to enable our school, a parent-led school, to provide places for Brent parents who might otherwise need to search for school places out of borough.

We have a temporary site suitable for at least three years, ready for development into a great building. We have lost out on four great locations for our permanent school site in Brent, as property developers have snapped up suitable accommodation for residential use. This has created an even greater squeeze on school places, and reduced further the availability of site options for our school. This has led to deferrals meaning over 200 families have lost out on their prefered choice for a place at Gladstone School over the last two years.

The DfE is looking for suitable sites right now, for our Autumn recruitment programme. Help us to help them find school sites.

DfE: High Risk Michaela Free School will impact on Crest Academy Boys and Ark Elvin

The Department for Education has just published Impact Assessment for free schools in terms of their impact on neighbouring schools.

The full document is HERE. The assessment is for Copland before it became Ark Elvin. The Gateway Secondary Free School is also planned in the area and is recruiting pupils despite having no premises as yet.


Extract:

Michaela Community School will provide an equal chance admission to prospective applicants living within a 5 mile radius of the school through a lottery. The trust want to ensure that all local pupils have an equal chance of attending the school regardless of exactly how close to the school they live. However, it is thought that any impact on secondary schools beyond 2.5 miles from the school will be minimal and likely to be highly dispersed so the impact on individual schools is likely to be very small. The free school is therefore unlikely to affect the long term viability of any secondary school further than 2.5 miles from the free school’s site. 

Based on the assessment above, opening Michaela Community School has the potential to have a high impact on the following two secondary schools: 

Copland Community School  has a substantial surplus (99 surplus places from a capacity of 1,585). The school has a below average level of attainment and has an inadequate Ofsted rating. Given it is less than a mile from Michaela Community School, it is possible that a significant number of parents may be attracted to the new alternative provider. Lower pupil numbers would reduce the school’s income and may make it harder to secure improvements.

However, the growing level of basic need for secondary places in the area (basic need in Brent is expected to rise to a 986 place shortfall by 2018/19) makes it likely that the school will remain viable in the long term.

The Crest Boys’ Academy(sponsored by E-ACT) has a substantial surplus (78 surplus places from a capacity of 698). The school has a below average level of attainment and only has a satisfactory Ofsted rating. Given it is less than a two miles from Michaela Community School, it is possible that some may be attracted to the new alternative provider. However, this may be mitigated by the appeal of a single-sex education for boys which will be attractive for some parents. Lower pupil numbers would reduce the school’s income and may make it harder to secure improvements. However, the growing level of basic need for secondary places in the area makes it likely that the school will remain viable in the long term.