NUT call for full DfE investigation into 'Panama to Kilburn' free school provider with off-shore connections

Wembley Matters covered the links between the Panama Papers and the Kilburn Grange Free School several weeks ago 'From Panama to Kilburn - time for some questions to be asked'  LINK

The NUT has now taken up the issue, uncovering further information which leads them to state that there are serious questions to be answered on the connection between Mossack Fonseca, Bellevue Education and Bellevue Place Education Trust, which among others runs Kilburn Grange Free School in Brent.

The NUT call for a full investigation and report by the Department for Education.

This is their dossier.  It is longer than normal articles on this blog but it is a thorough investigation that repays close study.  Brent Council currently has a policy of encouraging free schools in order to provide additional school places. They should pay particular attention and press the DfE about its due diligence in the free school application process.

Click on 'read more' to read the dossier in full.

NUT call for 2016 SATs to be suspended as ministers fail the 'test of competence'

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I have been hearing concerns from local primary teachers about the new SATs that are due to take place in May so I am not surprised to hear that the NUT is calling for them to be suspended.

This is what the NUT said today:

Nicky Morgan’s new system for testing and assessment of KS1 and KS2 pupils has come apart at the seams. As a result the NUT is calling for the 2015/16 SATs to be suspended.

In early February the DfE published its requirements in relation to teacher assessments of children’s writing standards. These have come far too late in the process. The detail in the exemplifications of the required standards and the number of separate pieces of evidence required for each individual assessment mean that they are impossible for teachers to deliver in the few months between February and June. Since these exemplifications are ‘interim’ and only for this year, they could also change completely again next year.

These proposals add to a chaotic heap of other demands. The reporting date for teachers’ assessments has been brought forward. The ‘expected standard’ that children are required to meet has been pushed upwards, beyond the reach of far too many pupils. The consequences of this shift on the requirement on schools to meet floor standards have not been thought through.

Ministers have failed the test of competence. Nicky Morgan’s pledge to give a year’s notice of substantial changes has been revealed as just a hollow promise.

The NUT is calling for the 2015/16 SATs to be suspended and will be meeting other teaching unions on Thursday 18 February to discuss a joint response.

The Gladstone story highlights risks attached to Brent's free school policy

The Brent Cabinet probably approved an officer report on school places provision this afternon at their Crest Academy meeting.  The report advocates providing the additional secondary places needed via free schools.

It may be worth looking at the example of the Gladstone Free School  in assessing the risks attached to this policy. The proposal goes back to  2014  when the DfE approved the application. There was a chaotic 'consultation' meeting inJanuary 2014 when it appeared the school wanted to build on playing fields agjacent to Gladstone Park. LINK

There have been huge problems in finding a site. In April 2014 the school advised parents of pupils who had been enrolled for a place in September 2014 that they should seek another school. It again failed to open this September.

The school has this week written to parents to say that after talks in 'high places' they have the support of Nick Gibb MP, Minister for Schools. They claim that he made it clear to ' DfE officials that he wanted this project to work'.

They claims that officers  from Brent Council are working directly with the Education Funding Agency and two estate agents to find the school a site. They say, as they have said before, that they understand there are several sites that 'may prove possible options'.

Gladstone state that once the EFA find a permanent site the school will be found a temporary site for the 'year or two' that it will take refurbishment, remodelling or rebuilding to be completed.

Desite this uncertainty the putative school announces that it is still open for applications: 'Gladstone School - Your Extra Choice!'

They assure parents that as Gladstone is its own admissions authority they can still make 6 choices through the Lacal Authority applications system in  addition to Gladstone. They have extended their first round admissions to February 2016 and ask parents to let others who are concerned about school places know about Gladstone.

In March this year Gladstone announced the day after children had been allocated their places that they would not be opening in September LINK

I asked at the time whether the DfE support for the school should be withdrawn to avoid the confusion and disappointment caused by enrollment but failure to open in 2014 and 2015. It ap;pears there is still a risk for September 2016 despite the active recruiting.

Another proposed  free school,  Gateway,  did not proceed after difficulties in finding a site LINK and it would be interesting to hear how Brent Council expects to get over this problem

Apart from the site uncertainties there continues to be concern  over Gladstone financial issues and the amount of money spent on the school without one child being educated. There are also suggestions of potential conflicts of interest. LINK

There are 6 current directors and 8 previous directos.

source: companycheck.co.uk

To read about other issues of concern over free schools follow this LINK








 

Are academy chains harming the progress of disadvantaged pupils?

Henry Stewart looks at the latest report from the Sutton Trust. This was first published on the Local Schools Network website LINK

The Sutton Trust report Chains Effects 2015, published today, makes clear that there are serious problems with many of the academy chains: “far from providing a solution to disadvantage, a few chains may be exacerbating it”.

The government, and its supporters in the media, are likely to focus on the small number of high-performing chains that the report finds are performing better than schools overall. However these represent less than one in five of the sponsored academies that were included in the study. Even the strong results of these few chains may, as the report suggests, be explained by the fact that most are London focused and benefiting from the better performance of London schools.

The government plans to convert “inadequate” and “coasting” schools to sponsored academies. Yet this report reveals that 15% of sponsored academies covered by this report are currently rated “inadequate” by Ofsted (compared to 6% for secondary schools overall) and that no less than 44%, four out of every nine, would be classed as “coasting” according to their 2014 results.

This could be partly explained by the prior low attainment that led to these schools being converted. However the report only includes schools that had been academies for at least three years, and some for much longer. In this light it comments, in what may be an understatement, that these figures “seem quite disappointing”.

The conclusions are stark: While there are some chains demonstrating “impressive outcomes”, “a larger group of low-performing chains are achieving results that are not improving and may be harming the prospects of their disadvantaged students”.

Underperformance of the lower achieving

The most robust analysis in the report is that which compares the improvement in results in academy chains with schools that started with similar results in 2012. It is this analysis that leads the report to the conclusion that some chains are harming the performance of the most disadvantaged, and showing no capability to improve. The study split schools into five equal groups (or “quintiles”) by 2012 GCSE results.

Of the nine academy chains in the lowest quintile for results in 2012, four did significantly worse and none did significantly better than schools overall, in terms of the change in GCSE results for all pupils from 2012 to 2014. (Across all quintiles, six academy chains did significantly worse and five did significantly better than schools overall for the improvement in results for all pupils.)

 

Of the four academy chains in the lowest quintile for results in 2012, all did “significantly worse” than schools overall, in terms of the change in GCSE results for disadvantaged pupils from 2012 to 2014. (Overall, across all quintiles, nine academy chains did significantly worse and five did significantly better than schools overall for the improvement in results of disadvantaged pupils.)

 

This is a serious concern. For the most seriously “underperforming” schools, the fact they are part of an academy chain is resulting in significantly worse improvement than if they were still maintained, in the local authority sector. This is especially the case for the most disadvantaged pupils.

Will the government listen?

Those high-performing chains that are improving at a significantly faster rate deserve praise and recognition. However they are few in number. The performance of other chains is very worrying. For the most seriously “underperforming” schools, the fact they are part of an academy chain seems to be resulting in significantly worse improvement than if they were still maintained, in the local authority sector. The report is clear that action must be taken.

As the report recommends, will the DfE “act to remove academies from failing chains”? Will it put aside ideology and place those schools with whatever body is best able to help them, whether that is another chain, the local authority or a federation?

As the report recommends, will the DfE ensure chains cannot expand unless they have a track record of success? Or will they endanger the future of those schools by placing them with academy chains that are either performing at the average or underperforming?

I would not be surprised if the government’s main response to this report is to focus only on its praise for the small number of high-performing chains. If it does so, and fails to act on the reports recommendations to deal with the poorly-performing ones, then it seems it is unprepared to base its policy on the evidence and unprepared to act in the best interest of our schoolchildren.

From the Sutton Report LINK

Chaos as Gladstone Free School defers opening yet again. Time to call it a day?

Just the day after Year 6 children in Brent primary schools recieved their first offer of a secondary school place, the controversial Gladstone Free School has announced that for the second time it is deferring its opening as it has no school building or site.

This leaves the 120 11-12 year olds due to start Year 7 in September 2015 without a place. A writer on this blog last week unearthed some facts about the school and associated business interests, as well as the amount it has already received without educating a single child. LINK

The question now, surely,  must be should the DfE withdraw support for this school in ortder to safeguard public money as well as stop the confusion and disappointment suffered by Brent children as a consequence of this shambles,

This is the statement put up on the school's website today:

Gladstone School, the New Free School approved to open to serve NW2 and NW10, is today announcing that the Department for Education (DfE) has been unable to secure permanent premises in time for a September 2015 opening, and as a result the school has no alternative but to delay its opening for a second time.

Gladstone School Trust, the parent-led community group behind the school, are profoundly disappointed that the DfE have confirmed this position, and  that their hopes to secure a school site for their opening in September 2015 have been dashed. 

The school was previously forced to defer in June of 2014, disappointing nearly 100 pupil who had been offered provisional places at the school.

Plans for the new school, expected to take in 120 girls and boys, have been developed in detail since the approval for the school was granted in 2013. The Trust has been waiting ever since for news that the DfE and the Education Funding Agency, (EFA), have secure temporary and permanent sites for the school.

The DfE have been advising since August 2014 that certainty on a permanent site was imminent, but this afternoon admitted that negotiations to confirm a site in time for September 2015 had failed.

Paul Phillips, Principal Designate, said today, “This will be hugely disappointing news for pupils and parents hoping for places for this September. Governors have worked tirelessly for years now on plans for what promises to be a truly exceptional school. The DfE and Brent Council recognise the growing need for school places, and have already requested an increase in the size if Gladstone School for September 2016 to help ease the pressure in Brent. We will shortly be meeting as a Trust with the Department to agree what happens next”.

Chair of Governors and founder parent Maria Evans said: “This is heart-breaking news for us all. The loss of these 120 places will increase pressure on all Brent secondary schools to expand to accommodate the growing numbers. The fact is that spiralling London property prices are putting the needs of education beyond the reach of the public purse. We will of course continue to work with Brent Council and the EFA  to identify alternative premises to help relieve this problem and get this visionary school back on track for a September 2016 opening”.

I advise any parent offered this school yesterday to contact Brent Council Admisisons Service as soon as possible.

Insight into the business of Gladstone Free School: Are they doing it right?

Guest blog by Anonymous
 

It all started innocently enough. Jim Gatten and Maria Evans, a mum and dad from Barnet, decided to set up a new parent-led secondary school which they hoped the community would embrace. They applied to become a free school, a school independent of the local authority and accountable only to and funded directly by the Department for Education (DfE). They advertised for other parents and members of the community to join them in gathering enough signatures to show the DfE that it would be full for the first 2 years after opening, a box ticking exercise the DfE puts hopeful free school founders through. Off they went with their clipboards to various primary school gates gathering signatures. They got the required minimum of 250 signatures necessary for their free school application but there was never a groundswell of local support. Many parents who signed simply thought that a new school sounds like a good idea, after all, these are parents setting up a school and just need a simple no-obligation signature. No explanation was given as to the implications a free school has on the local communities and it was 2013, before the flurry of headlines of failing and undersubscribed free schools had hit the press.

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.

Proposers miffed as WHIF fails to get approval

In the flurry of announcements about new free school approvals from the DfE one school was missing.

The controversial West Hampstead International Free School is the brain child of Dr Claire Craig and was featured on this blog earlier in the year LINK

Today the following notice is on the WHIF website:

We submitted our application to government for a new primary and secondary free school in May 2014. Our petition included 1870 children eligible to attend the school including 719 who could attend in 2015 and 2016.  We had an interview with the Department for Education in July and have since heard that the West Hampstead International School has not been approved for opening in 2015.

We are immensely disappointed and very sorry to have let down our many supporters.

We are awaiting feedback before we decide how to proceed.

R.I.P COPLAND COMMUNITY SCHOOL 1952- 2014

Professionals and Mercenaries
 

Guest blog by ‘All in this together’.

Richard Marshall, the interim Copland Head hired by the Gove/ Pavey/IEB coalition to do their dirty work for them, this week  gave a new meaning to the much-abused word ‘professional’ when, in his last-day-of-term address to staff (and his first official recognition that any member of staff had left the school all year) he used it to describe the manner in which staff at Copland had responded to the one hundred and thirty three redundancies he had diligently imposed on the school since last July. By ‘professional’, Mr Marshall presumably meant that his sackings had been achieved without loss of life and, ultimately, with a kind of cowed resignation from the staff. In George Osborne’s  would-be-macho world of balding male willy-wagglers, where’ tough’ decisions have to be made with a fearless lack of concern for the comfort or security of any individuals (except themselves), this version of ‘professionalism’  can be framed as some kind of brave and realistic acceptance of the unavoidable new realities. 
                                                   

The inconvenient truth, however, is that Copland staff did not behave at all in the manner which management clones mean when they employ the weasel word ‘professional’  to mean ‘that of which I approve’.  In reality, Copland teachers  used their collegiate solidarity to resist at every stage what Richard Marshall and his sidekick  Nick John had been hired to do. When the pair arrived last July and demanded of Copland Heads of Department that they nominate people they wanted sacked, apart from the odd shameful exception they refused to do so. When the Heads of Department were then threatened that they themselves would go unless they provided names, they still refused. That resistance, an expression of the self-confident autonomous decision-making which is the mark of real professionalism, set the tone which continued throughout the year. Teachers at all levels (except senior management, inevitably) have been united in their action against the surrendering of the school to Ark Inc and its removal from local democratic accountability.   In the end, the fight was lost, as any fight by a few hundred teachers, parents and pupils  against Cameron plus Gove plus their friends on Brent Council plus a hand-picked and craven IEB plus a couple of hired ‘tough’ guys was always going to be lost. 

However, there are defeats and there are defeats.  Ark and the spivs who own it have grabbed Copland. They will give it a new name and claim the credit for the new  building (which, in fact, was planned to go ahead whoever ran the school).  But Gove has gone from the DfE and, as a result of his perceived ‘toxicity’ in the eyes of the electorate (in large part a result of the loud and active resistance of teachers like those at Copland) his hopes of leading the Tory party, and God help us, the country, have gone too.  

Copland staff can feel  proud of the fight they put up in defence of the jobs of their colleagues (including dinner ladies, classroom assistants, mentors, support staff, sports coaches, caretakers, cleaners as well as classroom teachers).  Their professionalism was manifested in action not in apathetic quiescence and  this kind of professional engagement and concern  is a crucially important part of the checks and balances in any democratic society’s resistance to a bullying centralised state. 

So ‘professional’ is certainly what the great majority of Copland staff have been, particularly in face of the despondency and disillusionment which they inevitably felt as they watched their various ‘Leaders’ abandon them. But to use the word ‘professional’ in the way Mr Marshall used it on Wednesday was an insult.  However, there is another variant of ‘professional’’s  many shades of meaning  and it relates to an any activity performed primarily for financial gain. At this point the word almost takes on the meaning of ‘mercenary’, where any moral qualms on the part of the people hired to carry out the activity can be silenced by, to misquote a great British politician of the past, ‘stuffing their mouths with ten pound notes’. There were  people in the hall at Copland on Wednesday who maybe were worthy of such an appellation; but it was certainly not those teachers and ex-teachers who were having to listen to that ill-judged  speech.

Congratulations to all the staff, parents and pupils who fought so hard and persistently to prevent forced academisation. Although you didn't succeed it was a battle worth fighting and an example and inspiration to others.

Martin Francis 

Gladstone Free School opening delayed until September 2015

Paul Phillips, Principal Designate, has issued the following statement on Gladstone Free School, which was due to open in the Dollis Hill area in September 2014.


Gladstone School, the new Free School approved to open in NW2/NW10, is today announcing that it has been unable to agree terms on permanent premises in time for a September 2014 opening, and as a result is forced to delay its opening until September 2015.

The decision follows a recent policy shift by the Department for Education (DfE) that no Free School can be allowed to open until a permanent site has been identified and secured. The Education Funding Agency (EFA), the government agency responsible for Free School premises, has been in discussions on several proposed permanent sites but none has proved suitable for the school.

Announcing the news today Principal Designate Paul Phillips said, “At this late stage it is highly unlikely that permanent premises will be found to permit all necessary contractual negotiations to be finalised in time for a September 2014 opening. In the light of this the school has no option but to postpone its opening for a year. We know of many other Free Schools in London suddenly forced to defer for the same reason. As a parent-led group we are profoundly aware of the distress this decision will cause to parents and carers of year 6 children who had put their faith in the Gladstone School vision.”

The school had previously advised parents of the possibility of deferral soon after it heard of the DfE's policy change in early March. Several parents wrote to their MPs and to the Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove to express their concerns.

Gladstone School will now open in September 2015, with the continued support of the DfE. Mary Pooley, Deputy Director of the Free Schools Group at the Department for Education said, “We have been delighted to work with Groups, such as Gladstone School, which share our vision to provide more children with the opportunity for an excellent education. It is very disappointing for us all that difficulties in securing a site will delay the opening of Gladstone School for a year. We will continue working to secure a site, and extend our full support to the school for a successful opening in September 2015.”

Chair of Governors and founder parent Maria Evans said, “This is heart-breaking news for us all, but there is still a vital job to do. The hundreds of Brent parents who have supported us over the last two years, and welcomed our ambitious and innovative vision, need the certainty that this school will open. We will be working in close consultation with Brent Council and the Education Funding Agency to secure the ideal site ahead of the admissions process for September 2015 entry.”

Potential 'Non-compliance' on 'schoolifying' of the early years

On the day that Michael Wilshaw called for more formal learning for two year olds it was good to see this letter in the Daily Telegraph. Signatories include Dr Richard House who is a member of the Green Party.

GRADGRIND FOR TINY TOTS

SIR – “The erosion of childhood” is becoming a theme of concern to citizens across the political spectrum.

The latest salvo in this “paradigm war” for the heart of childhood has been discharged by the head of Ofsted, Sir Michael Wilshaw. In a letter to all early-years inspectors, he instructs them to judge nurseries mainly in terms of preparation for school. They must “teach children the early stages of mathematics and reading”.

This utilitarian shift from experience to content betrays an abject (and even wilful) misunderstanding of the nature of early childhood experience. The determination to dragoon England’s young children into unconscionably early quasi-formal learning is catastrophic for their well-being, and is setting up many for failure at a very young age.

England’s early years education and care is safe in the hands neither of Sir Michael Wilshaw nor of the current incumbents at the Department for Education. We urge Sir Michael and the DfE to stop digging in their current “schoolifying” hole, and step back from this misguided drive to over-formalise England’s early-years sphere.

The alternative might be that these policy-makers end up precipitating the first wave of professional “principled non-compliance” with government policy that our education system has known in living memory. Any government that underestimates the strength of feeling on this issue, and the resolve to resist it, does so at its peril.

Letter and full list of signatories HERE 

Why a retired headteacher and current governor supports today's teachers' strike

It is simple really: teachers have no choice but to strike if they are to stop education spiralling into a crisis that will damage thousands of children. A one day strike is inconvenient - Michael Gove and the Global Education Reform Movement is a catastrophe.

The DfE and Ofsted would have us believe that the quality of education our children receive is dependent on tough 'super' head teachers and their senior management teams following government diktat. It is not.

What is important is the quality of the teaching force, their creativity and their commitment. At a day to day level is is important that they should not be tired, frazzled, over-burdened with paperwork and fearful of the next monitoring visit.

Labour and now the Coalition have put the teaching force under incredible strain in terms of workload and have accompanied this by attacks on their professionalism and their conditions of service. Pensions have been cut and contributions increased, take home pay has declined 17% since 2010 and they are now expected to work until the age of 68.

Imagine for a moment  teaching a class of  lively 5 year olds as a 68 year old! The fact is that it will be a huge strain and  bad for teacher and child. Governors and parents must realise this is something they cannot countenance. Teachers will end up retiring early due to ill-health or will be subject to 'competency' procedures that will end their careers on a sad and sour note. 

Teachers are leaving the profession in increasing numbers with many young teachers giving up exhausted and frustrated after five years. Recruitment of headteachers is in crisis. Morale is plummeting.

The introduction of performance related pay will tie teachers ever closer to target driven lessons related to spurious data based on testing. 'Standards' may go up but in reality will reflect more 'teaching to the test'.

But worse is waiting in the wings. The employment of unqualified teachers by free schools and academies is a wedge that will be used to increase the employment of unqualified teachers in local authority schools faced by declining budgets. This deskilling and deprofessionalisation is no accident because corporations such as Murdoch (Gove's ex-employer) and Pearsons are on hand to supply schools with ipad based curriculum packages for individualised learning - much cheaper than teachers and supervised by low paid teaching assistants.

I respect teachers and have seen their commitment over the years and now in the schools where I am a governor. I am not surprised that the research shows that they work a 60 hour week to keep up with the planning and paperwork. I am impressed that despite this they find time to organise and supervise residential visits with children, organise sleepovers at the Science Museum, run afterschool clubs and fund raise at the School Fair.

Their commitment to children and their learning is immense but continually undermined by government interference and bullying and an inspection system that induces fear rather than positive partnership for improvement.

Support the teachers today for a better tomorrow for our children.