Willesden C of E Primary School consulting on academisation

St Andrew and St Francis Church of England Primary School in Willesden is consulting on converting to academy status.

The long established schoool was put into 'special measures' after an Ofsted report at this time last year found that Achievement of Pupils, the Quality of Teaching and Leadership and Management were all Grade 4 Inadequate.

An Interim Executive Board replaced the previous governing body and an interim headteacher was appointed.

The latest Ofsted monitoring report published last week concludes that the school is making 'reasonable progress towards the removal of special measures' LINK:

The interim headteacher has added much needed capacity to the senior leadership team. Senior and middle leadership has been restructured to better match leaders’ skills and expertise to areas of the school. Staff and parents appreciate the greater clarity of communication which this has brought about. Staff morale has improved and staff express renewed confidence in leaders’ capacity to offer the support and development they need. Teachers and middle leaders feel increasingly empowered to develop new approaches in their work.

Despite this progress the IEB is consulting with parents on becoming part of an academy trust:

The Interim Executive Board believes that the best way to make sure that St Andrew and St Francis C of E Primary School continues to improve is for the school to become an academy, sponsored by the London Diocesan Board of Schools (LDBS) Academies Trust on 1 April 2015. The school would remain as a Church of England school, and the current staff and pupils would transfer to the academy.

We believe that becoming an LDBS academy is the best way forward for our pupils and staff, and will ensure that the St Andrew and St Francis quickly becomes a good school again whilst retaining its strong Christian ethos.  The LDBS Academies Trust is a charity which already runs six primary schools in north London. Of the six LDBS academies which have been inspected by Ofsted, all have been judged good.  Some of the Christian values which the Trust thinks are important and should underpin the work of all of its schools are: Reverence, Thankfulness, Humility, Endurance, Service, Trust, Peace, Forgiveness, Friendship, Justice, Hope, Creation, Koinonia (Partnership).

Although St Andrew and St Francis would be a standalone school, it would benefit from strong links with other academies in the LDBS network. For instance:

·       Staff would be able to share resources and ideas with staff in other LDBS Academies Trust schools.

·       The school will benefit from links with Grow Education Partners which offer an extensive range of educational support services to Trust academies.

To find out how the LDBS Academies Trust schools work, visit: ldbsact.org

The members of the IEB have researched what the LDBS Academies Trust can do for our pupils and staff.  This included visiting an LDBS academy which had been in similar circumstances to St Andrew and St Francis.  The school has rapidly improved as part of a federation with two other Trust academies. We were able to see the improvements first hand and talk to staff including the headteacher.  We have also met with LDBS Academies Trust staff to find out about the support that is provided by the Trust to its schools. This research, along with our consideration of the Trust’s track record, has led us to make our proposal.

The proposal is that if it goes ahead the school would become an academy on April 1st 2015. The LDBS Academies Trust would enter into a funding agreement with the Secretary of State. The deadline for responses is Monday February 23rd.

Copland staff and parents issue challenge to Michael Gove and Brent Council

The teacher unions at Copland High School, Wembley, which is facing forced academisation by the DfE and an Interim Executive Board imposed by Brent Council,, have issued the following press release:

Since the very well supported strike action on 23rd May, Copland Community School staff in Wembley have set up an action group. On Thursday 13th June at a lively parents meeting at the school parents decided to also set up an action group. They will be coordinating jointly to continue their opposition to the imposition of an Interim Executive Board (IEB) and a forced academy.

Key demands are a secret ballot of all staff and parents before any decisions are made and a commitment from the Government to rebuild the appalling school buildings that the HMI said were not fit for purpose and adversely effected pupils' education.

Parents and staff, as well as the Headteacher and Chair of Governors, were very disappointed that neither Cllr Muhammed Butt, Leader of the Council and a Copland school governor, nor Cllr Michael Pavey, Lead member for Education attended the meeting despite claiming that parents views were important. No-one came from Brent Children and Families either despite claiming to support the school and its Headteacher.

It was clear that the parents remain loyal to the school and are prepared to defend it. Questions asked by Hank Roberts, ATL President in his letter to Labour Councillors at the end of May (see below) remain unanswered. 

The Unions and Action Groups have also asked to meet with Michael Gove. The letter reads:

You will be aware of the situation at Copland Community School in Brent. After a parents meeting last week to discuss the Ofsted report and its ramifications, parents set up an action group which will be co-ordinating with the staff action group.

Representatives from these action groups request an urgent meeting with you before any decisions are made about Copland's future. We are aware that you have met with representatives from Gladstone Park Primary School. We would hope and expect, therefore, that such an invitation be extended to Copland as well.

 The joint unions are looking for another day of strike action before the end of term if  they cannot get agreement from the Local Authority and the DfE that Copland will not be forced to become an academy.

Questions yet unanswered by Councillors

1) What actual educational evidence, other than Government propaganda, do you have that turning a school into an academy improves teaching and learning?
2) Why would you seek to ignore the Ofsted Report's recommendation that there be “an external review of Governance” at Copland, which is not an imposition of an IEB?
3) How do you answer the detailed points raised in the Chair of Governors letter, written on behalf of the Governing Body, explaining what had been done and crucial background information?
4) If Brent is claiming to be acting in the best interests of pupils' education then will you be asking the Governors to call a meeting of parents and carers to actually establish their views, or do you intend to have no consultation with parents?
5) As the last IEB at Copland failed to overcome the school's problems, what leads you to believe, and what evidence do you have, that it will succeed this time, especially if the staff did not want to co-operate with this imposed undemocratic body with no proper staff or parent representation?
6) Why would you and a Labour Council be acting to implement Gove's policies and do his 'dirty work' for him?