WORKING IN ARK ACADEMIES– AN NUT GUIDE (JULY 2011)

This guidance document gives a brief overview of employment in ARK operated Academies. It sets out information about:

  • ARK and its Academy programme
  • The national trade union recognition agreement
  • Pay and conditions of service
  • Employment policies and procedures

ARK operates common pay and conditions for employees and central negotiating machinery, within which the Union negotiates alongside the other recognised teaching and support staff unions. Arrangements have been established within the NUT for consultation and communication with NUT divisions, Academy representatives and members.

Detailed information about pay and conditions of service in Academies can be found in the NUT document Teachers’ Pay and Conditions in Academies: Guidance for NUT Members at

ABOUT ARK

Absolute Return for Kids (ARK) is a UK based organisation with charitable operations in health, education and child welfare in overseas countries including South Africa, India and Eastern Europe. ARK was founded in 2002 by senior figures in the investment industry.

ARK’s website for its Academies is

ARK ACADEMIES

At the time of writing (Summer 2011) ARK had 9 open Academies and planned to open a further 4. They are:

  • Hammersmith and Fulham - BurlingtonDanesAcademy (open Sept 2006)
  • Westminster - KingSolomonAcademy (open Sept 2007)
  • Southwark
  • WalworthAcademy (open Sept 2007)
  • GlobeAcademy (open Sept 2008)
  • Lambeth - EvelynGraceAcademy (open Sept 2008)
  • Brent – ARKAcademy (open Sept 2008)
  • Birmingham
  • St. AlbansAcademy (open Sept 2009)
  • HarborneAcademy (open Sept 2010)
  • KingsNortonHigh School (due to open Sept 2011)
  • Portsmouth - CharterAcademy (open Sept 2009)
  • Redbridge – IsaacNewtonAcademy (due to open Sept 2012)
  • Croydon – OvalPrimary School (due to open Sept 2011)
  • Southwark - St. Michael and AllAngelsAcademy will close in 2012 and reopen as an ARKAcademy in 2013

ARK also has plans to open a number of Free Schools. They are:

  • Hammersmith and Fulham - ARKConwayPrimaryAcademy (due to open Sept 2011)
  • Westminster - ARKAtwoodPrimaryAcademy (due to open Sept 2011)
  • Wandsworth – ARKBolingbrokeAcademy (due to open in Sept 2012)

ARK’s SMALL SCHOOLS APPROACH

Several of the ARK Academies are organised into a set of ‘small schools’. ARK claims it prefers the small school approach because unlike larger schools, in small schools every pupil knows and is known by every teacher and, ARK claims, small schoolsimprove behaviour, attendance and academic achievement. So, in an ARKAcademy, for example, there may be 1 or 2 lower schools, 1 or 2 upper schools and a post-16 provision.

NATIONAL RECOGNITION AGREEMENT

A national recognition agreement in respect of ARK Academies came into effect in September 2008.The agreement was signed by ARK, the teacher unions - ASCL, ATL, NAHT, NASUWT and the NUT - and support staff unions, the GMB, Unison and Unite.

The agreement provides for national determination of arrangements for pay, conditions of service and working time across ARK Academies. It also provides for a joint consultation and negotiation committee in each Academy as well as time off with pay and facilities time for trade union representatives.

The recognition agreement may be found in the pay and conditions>academies section at

PAY AND CONDITIONS OF SERVICE

In General

All Academies are able to set their own pay, conditions and working time arrangements for newly appointed teachers joining the Academy. In some Academies, pay and conditions arrangements for such teachers are similar or identical to those for teachers in local authority maintained state schools. In others, teachers’ pay and conditions can be very different.

Teachers transferred from predecessor schoolsreplaced by an Academy are covered by the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE). The TUPE regulations provide that, where an Academy replaces an existing school(s), teachers’ previous pay and conditions entitlements transfer. These include statutory provisions on pay, professional duties and working time and national and local agreements on teachers’ conditions of service, redundancy payments and recognition of the NUT as a trade union. Where the Academy is a new institution, however, all teachers are in the first category of newly appointed teacher and no teachers are protected by TUPE.

ARK Academies

ARK does not apply the STPCD pay and working time arrangements.

ARK has, instead, its own separate pay and conditions structure which emphasises teacher performance rather than management responsibilities as the route to pay progression. Changes to the original pay structure have meant, however, that ARK now follows STPCD arrangements more closely than previously.

The ARK pay structure does not match the STPCD exactly - there are differences in particular with respect to the TLR payment system – but is much more familiar. It is also more tightly linked with performance and offers slightly higher pay (around 2.5% above STPCD scales) to reflect the extended working day in ARK Academies.

In ARK Academies, therefore, there is no automatic link to the national annual teachers’ pay increase. The annual increase for all ARK teachers is subject to annual negotiation.

The ARK pay agreement for 2010 increased teachers’ pay – for those on ARK contracts and those who remain on TUPE arrangements – by 2.3% from 1 September 2010 in line with the pay increase for teachers in schools. The Coalition Government has imposed a two-year public sector pay freeze for the years 2011 and 2012.

Classroom Teachers’ Pay

There are two pay scales for qualified classroom teachers:

  • Band AM (ARK Main Pay Scale)Teachers are placed ona 6 point main pay scale. Progression is dependent on a review of performance anda demonstration of “sustained high quality teaching” by the teacher.
  • ARK Upper Pay ScaleTeachers who reach point 6 on the main pay scale have an enhanced performance appraisal to determine whether they are eligible to move on to a further 3 point upper pay scale. Movement through the ARK upper pay scale is biennial and depends upon a review of performance and a teacher’s contribution has been “substantial and sustained”.

ARK also has an 18 point Advanced Skills Teachers pay scale and an unqualified teachers pay scale.

Other Payments and Allowances

ARK Academies pay structure also provides for TLRsawarded for sustained additional responsibility and specifies a number of levels and values. It also provides Out of School Learning Activity Payments and recruitment and retention incentive and benefits.

Leadership Group Pay

The pay spine for members of ARKAcademyleadership groups consists of 50 points. Principals and also heads of small schools are paid on seven point pay ranges as determined for individual ARK Academies. Other staff who are paid on the leadership spine are on five point pay ranges.Pay progression is dependent on a review to determine whether performance objectives have been met. “Sustained high quality” performance is required to progress.

Working Time

A major issue the unions have with ARK concerns working time. ARK does not apply the STPCD provisions limiting annual directed time to a maximum of 1265 hours and does not include any limits on teachers’ working time in the contracts for newly appointed teachers. The teacher unions remain concerned about the obvious lack of protection for teachers in ARK Academies and negotiations are ongoing.

EMPLOYMENT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

Agreements have been reached with ARK on a range of employment policies and procedures including adoption leave, absence management, drugs and alcohol use, capability, dignity at work, discipline, grievance, equal opportunities, leave of absence, maternity, parental leave, paternity, retirement and whistle blowing. Agreement has not been reached with ARK in respect of its probation policy or reorganisation procedure.

ARK does not, however, recognise previous service with local authority maintained schools or academies for sickness or maternity entitlements. Teachers appointed by ARK must start afresh in building up these entitlements and during the first year of service will have limited or no rights to the above benefits.

ARK has said that it does not believe that all employment policies and procedures which were in use in predecessor schools must by law continue in all cases to be automatically applied by ARK to TUPE transferred employees in successor Academies. ARKhas accepted that some procedures provide those employees with individual contractual entitlements subject to protection under TUPE provisions. ARKhas argued, however, that the majority of procedures are “procedural” and that their provisions, even if they were contractual, would fall within ETO reasons for variation. Where employment procedures are invoked by ARK, therefore, teachers and their representatives will need to ensure that the appropriate procedure is being used.

NUT representatives should have access to these documents via the ARK intranet or policy hub when established.

NUT SSEE Dept.

July 2011

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