General Questions About Academies

ACADEMIES – FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

ALL SAINTS’ CE(A) FIRST SCHOOL

This is an Academies Question and Answer Document, specially prepared to inform the parents of pupils as well as any other interested parties about academies, multi-academy trusts and the current intentions of the All Saints’ Governing Body regarding academisation.

The Q&A’s are grouped into the following sections:

A: / General Questions about Academies
B: / All Saints’ and Academies
C: / Consultation and Decision-Making Procedures
D: / Governance and Accountability Arrangements
E: / Impact on Pupils and Parents
F: / Miscellaneous Questions

A: GENERAL QUESTIONS ABOUT ACADEMIES

1.What is an Academy?

Academies are schools that are state-funded and state governed but are not under the direct control of the Local Authority and so they have more independence over what they teach, how they operate and how they spend their budget. All academies are charities and therefore entirely non-profit making.

2.What is a multi-academy trust?

A Multi-Academy Trust (MAT) is a group of two or more academy schools working in a legally agreed formal collaboration called an Academy Trust. The MAT sets the general ethos for all the schools in the MAT; it is the legal employer for all staff and determines a

number of common practices and procedures across the Trust, whilst still encouraging each academy to have its own individual identity. MATS are usually run by a Chief Executive Officer (or Executive Principal or similar title), with a Headteacher or Principal in each member academy. (See Section D about Governance Arrangements).

3.Where are there other local academies and multi-academy trusts?

Three local schools are already in the TalentumLearning Trust (Churnet View, Westwood College and Leek High). In addition, several other local schools (All Saints’ First School, Leek First School, Westwood First School, Beresford Memorial First School, Blackshaw Moor Primary School and Rushton Primary School) are exploring the possibility of joining Talentum.

Currently, in addition to the schools already in Talentum, several other schools have already joined multi-academy trusts locally. St Edward’s First School is now part of the SUAT Multi-Academy Trust, Waterhouses Primary is now part of the QUEGSmulti-academy trust, and Manifold Primary and Hollinsclough Primary are part of the Bursley Way Multi-Academy Trust. St Edward’s Academy is a standalone academy.

4.What is the position nationally on academies?

The Conservative-led coalition government moved quickly after the election in 2010 to offer academy status to all good and outstanding schools and introduced the free schools programme (legally a free school is an academy).

Up to the start of September 2015, over 5,000 schools had become academies and a further 782 had applied for conversion. This represents around two thirds of all secondary schools and about a fifth of primary schools.

The Government has repeatedly said that it hopes all schools will become academies.

Within the Staffordshire local authority, schools are becoming academies at an increasing rate, as the support from the local authority reduces.

B: All SAINTS’ AND ACADEMIES

5.Why do the staff and governing body think it is in the best interests of the school to join a multi-academy trust? And why now?

It may be helpful to know that three years ago Governors and staff carefully considered the arguments for becoming an academy. At that time the decision was not to go down that road. Now,three years later, governors feel that now is the right time given what has happened nationally and within the local authority since then.

PULL Factors

Joining the TTLT MAT will be positive because:

•It will enable us to work together with our partner schools to provide the best possible education for all the children within the Leek and the Moorlands; this is not just about All Saints’ and its children. It is about all the children within Leek and the Moorlands, and their education from 3-18. It gives us a real opportunity to work together to achieve the best outcomes for all our children.

•It will give us more flexibility and creativity with the curriculum that we provide because we are not obliged to follow every detail of the national curriculum; it will allow us to continue to teach in the way that we think is best.

•It will enable us to work with schools which have an understanding of the locality and the issues which are relevant to us, and most importantly it will allow us to work with schools which have shared visions and values.

•It will give us full responsibility for 100% of the finances.

•The structure and governance of the MAT will give us, and all the other schools, an active voice in the strategic direction of the MAT.

•It will actively encourage the continuation and development of the Leek Education Partnership, to ensure continued collaborative partnerships with local schools who are in other MATs or are standalone academies or maintained schools.

•For staff, being part of a larger MAT means more career opportunities within that organisation and more opportunities for professional development. Talentum’s strategy of combining CPD opportunities, learning from each other and also outsourcing the very best CPD, is one which we feel will greatly benefit out staff and, in turn, our children.

•

PUSH Factors

Factors that are pushing us (and other schools) down this route include:

•The steady growth in the number of academies and the fact that this policy is here to stay for at least another five years. Within two years, the vast majority of all schools in Staffordshire will either already be academies, or be in the process of converting to an academy;

•The many conversations taking place in Staffordshire and the Staffordshire Moorlands amongst schools trying to work out who best to align themselves with in formal partnerships;

•The reduction in school funding over the lifetime of the present Parliament. The Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates that funding per pupil will fall by about 8% over the next 4-5 years which means that further collaboration and sharing of resources with other schools will be even more desirable.

•The continuing reductions in local authority budgets, meaning that Staffordshire will provide less and less for the schools under its jurisdiction;

•For all of the above reasons, the local authority are encouraging Staffordshire schools to form strong, sustainable collaborative arrangements (such as MATS) with other schools;

6.Why are you looking at joining an academy with a group of other local schools?

Part of the answer is that we already have very successful collaborations with many local schools. We want to continue to develop this and working towards joining a local MAT will continue to strengthen collaborative working.

In addition, and possibly more importantly, we are interested in the educational vision for the local area, and want to work to make the educational opportunities for all children at all ages as successful as it can be. Working together will help us to achieve this.

C: CONSULTATION AND DECISION-MAKING

7.Whose decision is it whether or not we became an academy?The decision to apply to become an academy rests with the school’s Governors. The decision as to whether the application is accepted rests with the Department for Education and the Regional School Commissioner. As we are a Church of England school, we also need the consent of the Diocesan Education Board to proceed.

8.Is everything already decided? No. Applying or even having the application accepted in principle does not automatically mean that we will become an Academy. At any point up to the signing of the Funding Agreement, the Governors or the DfE could decide to abort the process.

9.Who will the Governors be consulting?The Governors will be consulting with all staff at the school, parents and various other stakeholders such as Staffordshire Local Authority, Local Schools, All Saints Church and the Diocese.

10.How will you be consulting? How can I share my views?

We will be holding a consultation evening on Wednesday 14th June at 6pm where Governors and staff will be available to listen to your views and answer any further questions that you may have.

You will be able to submit your views into a comments box, which will be considered by the governors. You can also write to or email the governors at any time at . Most of the other key stakeholders already know of our intentions but we will also be contacting them again to allow them to communicate their views.

11.What will you do with any responses you get?

The responses will be read by the school governors, and will be a factor in the decision making process.

D: GOVERNANCE AND ACCOUNTABILITY ARRANGEMENTS

12.How are MATs governed and run?

MATs usually have three layers of governance to ensure accountability and scrutiny:

Level 1:

First of all there are the Members of the Company. Members are sometimes likened to shareholders (but of course as a Charity they do not own it or receive money from it). Members can be individuals or named bodies such as a diocese, or a local teaching school. Although they are ultimately responsible for all the schools in the MAT, they have very limited functions, although in the event of a crisis they would probably be called upon. Members vest the strategic functions of the MAT in the hands of Directors.

Level 2:

The strategic governance of the MAT is left to the Board of Directors (who are also known as Trustees); Academy Board’s usually have a representative mix of people with a composition similar to that of a regular school’s Governing body.

In the TalentumMAT each school will choose one representative from its local governing body.

Level 3:

Usually in MATs, each school has its own local governing body that will just be interested in issues pertaining to that particular school. Those LGBS’s will have a similar form of representation as is the case now ie parent, staff, headteacher and church etc

13.What if something should go wrong in the future? Who will step in to sort it out?Contrary to what some people allege, academies are still very accountable. Although they have more autonomy, they arguably have higher levels of accountability. So,

•The Executive Headteacher is accountable to the Board of Directors/Trustees

•The Directors/Trustees must report annually to the Members and must publish annual accounts as well as a report on their stewardship of the MAT over the previous year

•Individual academies are subject to Ofsted inspections and the regulations governing inspections; the MAT itself can also come under the scrutiny of Ofsted.

•If standards in any of the academies within a MAT are falling, the MAT can be challenged and scrutinised by the DfE through the system of Regional School Commissioners

•The Academies Financial Handbook governs the financial conduct of academies and the MAT. Budgets and accounts have to be submitted to the Education Funding Agency. The accounts and books have to be audited externally by auditors. Annual accounts and all details of Directors have to be submitted to Companies House.

If something did go badly wrong in the future, it would be picked up by more than one of the bodies listed above – the Members, the DfE, Ofsted, the Education Funding Agency, and the Charity Commission. Ultimately the Secretary of State for Education could intervene to appoint new Directors or to remove a particular academy from a MAT.

14.What happens when the present governors and senior staff move on?

Governors believe that by joining the TTLT MAT, we will be joining the kind of organisation that capable staff and Trustees will want to join.

In the case of senior staff, being part of a larger MAT means that they will have a wider pool of teachers, that are already experienced in our way of working and already share our ethos, who will potentially be able to step-up to fill any vacancies. New staff will, of course, be appointed on the basis of ability.

E: IMPACT ON PUPILS AND PARENTS

15.What will change if we become an Academy and what will stay the same?In terms of the educational experience that your children will witness, very little, if anything at all, will change. Being an academy will mean that we will always be able to continue to teach in the way that we want to, with the same high standards and strong focus on the performing and expressive arts. There are no plans to change the school uniform or the other day-to-day arrangements.

16.Does that mean that nothing will ever change?

No one can – or should – say that nothing will ever change. If we remained as a school maintained by the local authority, we could still make many changes in the future. Being an academy gives us the opportunity to change or develop slightly more aspects of the school but just because we can change, does not mean we will. If there is a need to make significant changes to the running of the school, staff, parents and pupils will be consulted, as we have always done.

17.Will my child’s education be better or worse?

Our strong hope is that it will be at least as good as it is now, if not better. We have an excellent record of recruiting, developing and retaining high quality staff. If the MAT grows, there will be a larger but still tight-knit group of staff who can share ideas and collaborate in initiatives. In a tightening financial situation, we will be better placed to make sure our financial and other resources are well and truly targeted on improving the education of our pupils.

MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS

18.How will becoming an academy affect the school finances?

Overall our finances will be either exactly as we are now or very slightly better than at present. This is because money that is held centrally by the local authority will now come directly to the school – but the school will also have to pay for some services which are now ‘free’ or not required eg an annual audit. The costs of converting to become an academy are covered by a conversion grant.

As is the case now, the school will be free to buy any external services it needs from whichever source it wishes: the local authority, other educational providers and organisations as well as companies and businesses.

19.Will All Saints’ still be a Church of England School?

Yes. We strongly value our Church School status and our link to the Lichfield Diocese, and we strongly feel that any decision to join Talentum would not negatively impact on our ability to maintain our Christian character, and our vision and values. This was a key factor in deciding to approach TTLT.

We will continue with the same characteristics of a Voluntary Aided school, which we are already.

20.Are we privatising our school?

No. We are proud of our state-school status and we will continue to be state funded. Private schools charge parents for their children’s education – we will not. Nor will we select our pupils.

21.What will be the impact on the staff?

At the initial consultations with staff about the proposed changes both teaching and support staff were strongly supportive of the move to academy status. Although academies have the freedom to set their own pay and conditions, the governors have no plans to move away from the present nationally agreed pay and conditions.