Academy Consultation

Should Rushey Mead School become an academy?

10th September 2013

Presentation to community

The Governing Body of Rushey Mead School is exploring whether to convert to Academy status.

Any decision on whether or not to finally convert to Academy status will be taken by the Governing Body based on what is considered best for our school, our students, staff and the wider community.

As part of the decision making process the Governing Body is committed to undertaking full consultation with our stakeholders and will take their views into account before any final decision is taken.

The Governors also need to carefully examine wider financial and legal issues, especially surrounding BSF.

The BSF capital fund, which was funded by the previous Labour government as a lump sum for Leicester Secondary schools, has given us a wonderful new site and it is vital that we protect this resource for our community.

Academy ConsultationThe consultation period will run from 8am on 28th August until 5pm on

4th October 2013. The Governing Bodies are consulting with all our stakeholders including; Parents (existing and new)

Students

Staff including Staff unions and associations

The wider local community including voluntary groups associated with the School

Timescale Formal stakeholder consultation opens:

8am, Wednesday 28th August 2013

  StaffWednesday 28th August, 2.30pm

Presentation and information to staff

Wednesday 4th September, 3.15pm

Staff Forum/Question & Answer workshop

Tuesday 10th September, 7.50am

Staff Forum/Question and Answer workshop

  Parents/CarersWednesday 28th August, 6pm

Presentation/Question and Answer workshop

Tuesday 17th September, 2:30pm

Presentation/Question and Answer workshop

  Wider Community GroupsTuesday 10th September, 10am

Presentation/Question and Answer

  Students  Through assemblies

Student Council   

Friday 4th October, 5pm

Formal Consultation period closes

Monday 14th October, 6pm

Full Governing Body meeting to consider stakeholder consultation responses and agree whether to continue with conversion.

What is an Academy?An Academy is a state school, which operates

independently within the requirements of national codes of practice for state schools, funded directly by the Department for Education, instead of the Local Authority, and as a result directly receives the money that the Local Authority has previously spent on its behalf, giving the school more control over its funding and decision making.

What are Converter Academies?In the previous administration academies were

transformational academies, i.e. schools with significant issues, who were persuaded by the previous government into transforming. They often had radically different structures, staffing, timetables etc.

What we are examining is a converter academy route. This is when good or outstanding schools convert to academies, taking their schools through a process which in nearly all cases requires no changes for staff or students bar the actual accountability which becomes direct to the governors rather than the LA.

Sustainability rather than changeAn Academy would still be bound by the statutory codes

for Special Educational Needs and the Admissions criteria and catchment area would remain unchanged.

Just being an academy would bring no change to the start and finish times or length of the school day and no change to the school’s policy on student behaviour or the school uniform.

Current statisticsAs of 1 July 2013, there were 3,049 academies open in

England. Nationally 69% of outstanding secondary schools, are

currently academies with a significant number in the process of converting.

Leicestershire secondary schools and many primaries are largely academies.

Leicester City currently has 1 transformational , 5 converter academies, 4 primaries and 1 Special school, with others in discussion.

Factors for RMS to considerWe have a number of factors to consider but

fundamentally the most important things is to work in the interests of our young people.

Rushey Mead School is an outstanding school, a Teaching School, the home of the SCITT and with a great team of staff , wonderful students and a very supportive community.

Whatever decision is made this is what we want to sustain and protect.

Ethos and ValuesRushey Mead School will not change its ethos and for

parents, students and staff how we run will be very much the same.

Our school motto is ‘Make a Positive Difference’ and we are fully committed to continuing to uphold this.

We will continue to work in close partnership with our local schools and community and support other schools in raising standards

StaffingThe Governing Body of our school is committed to

ensuring that pay and condition for staff track national agreements .

Other Factors to considerCurriculum freedom but tempered by accountability

measuresAutonomy as a schoolBusiness factors such as the Teaching School and SCITT-

running these through company structures.

One key factor to considerIn uncertain financial times as an academy we would have

greater control over our finances and over the funding for Rushey Mead School.

Funding for maintained schools have historically been routed through Local Authorities who have ‘top sliced to construct and deliver support services, such as legal advice, across all maintained schools. LAs are adapting to a new climate by selling services in packages. NB So even remaining as we are and not moving to become an Academy the Local Authority would look different in the future than it does today.

There are some services which we would buy back from the Local Authority out of this additional funding, such as payroll, Health and Safety etc.

Rushey Mead Budget ProjectionsHistorically, budget has been very healthy.Including BSF ‘War Chest’ there had been a

carry forward of approx. £1mGovernors concerned when given projections

showing deficit within few years – wanted to know why?

Governors Hypothesis – 2 things had changed for RM – BSF and Teaching School, was it one or the other or both? Or other factors?

OutreachAll outstanding schools are required by Ofsted and the

DFE to support other schools.We have been heavily involved in this and continue to do

so as a National Support School and Teaching School.This has brought about measurable positive results such

as the Fullhurst workThe schools has also benefited significantly from this

outreach in both resources and in terms of professional development for those staff involved.

Local SolutionMany months ago when a number of local primary

schools were deemed at risk of forced academisation, the LA discussed with the DFE setting up a local solution for academy sponsorship, rather than having external sponsors ( who may have few local connections) working with Leicester schools.

Rushey Mead School and its Teaching School Alliance partners were asked to set up a company entity for the Teaching School Alliance and to use that vehicle to apply to be a sponsor for primary academies .

We put together the required company entity and application. This application was refused by the DFE on then grounds that Rushey Mead itself was not an academy.

A meeting between the DFE/ LA on 30th May 2013 confirmed that the Teaching School local sponsorship option was not viable without basing this around Rushey Mead or another school as an academy.

Rushey Mead Governors considered whether in the light of this, it would be beneficial for the school itself to explore academy status

DFE statement and Information “Government policy is very clear. Academy status led by a strong sponsor,

whether an existing Academy sponsor or a high performing Academy, is the best way of providing quick and sustainable improvement. There is a large body of evidence, both from pupil performance and independent reports that shows the sponsored Academy model is working. 

Rushey Mead School, as an outstanding school, would be ideally placed to act as a sponsor for local schools.   The DfE expects any school which wishes to be an academy sponsor to be high-performing and to become an academy itself.   The Teaching School Company cannot become an academy sponsor because of the legal requirements around companies set up by maintained schools.   

We welcome local sponsors like Rushey Mead School, familiar with the challenges of underperforming schools and who have a track record of working effectively with other local schools.  In fact, a study by The Schools Network published in March 2012 has found that almost all schools have maintained or improved their relationships with other schools since becoming an Academy" 

Process to dateGovernors held an Information meeting on academies to

examine pros and consGovernors at 2nd meeting debate pros and cons of

possible academy status for Rushey Mead School.Governors agree resolution to explore further via

applying for £25,000 funding through application to the DFE for a provisional Academy Order

Academy order application submitted in July1st August Academy Order granted by DFE in principle and £25,000 funding made available

DFE Project lead allocated. Legal firm commissioned to undertake exploratory work,

especially around contracts and BSF

 RMS is not obligated to become an Academy unless and until

a contract between the governing body and the Department for Education, known as the Funding Agreement, is signed.

The governing body has not even begun to negotiate the Funding Agreement with the DfE yet, and will not sign any such agreement until staff, pupils and the wider community have had chance to comment on the proposals.

The governing body will not sign any Funding Agreement unless they are content that conversion would be in the interests of the school taking account of all of the legal and practical ramifications.

FAQOn the website and will be updated each week to

respond top questions or additional information as it is made available.