During last Thursday’s full Council meeting, questioning from Deputy Labour group leader Cllr Ian Gilbert revealed that there are plans for two Southend schools to become academies.
Cllr Gilbert asked Roger Hadley (left), the Executive Councillor for Children and Learning, “Can the Executive Councillor tell me how many Southend Schools are now likely to become academies in September, and what the effect on the council’s school support and related services will be?â€
Cllr Hadley replied: “Only two schools have formally applied to the Department for Education to become an academy.
“It is not yet clear how quickly these schools will achieve academy status.
“A few other schools expressed an interest in becoming an academy, via the Department for Education web-site, as this was necessary in order to receive information about the academy process.
“It is not yet possible to determine the effect of any schools becoming academies on the Council’s budget because the Department for Education has not yet consulted with the Department of Communities & Local Government, and local authorities, regarding any recoupment from local authorities.
“We do expect that there will be an impact on the Council’s budgets and once this is clarified we will inform members of the situation.â€
Two words- Grant maintained.
Another two-Bad idea.
Care for some more?-Short memories.
Additionally-Two-tier System (a bit of a cheat using the hyphen though!!!)
Ha forgot, the two tier system already exists here. This will just make the gap more profound.
Well done to the many OUTSTANDING schools in this area who place their trust in the existing system and refuse to trade-up(!) to a model which even the Government have not finalised, funded, financed or facilitated (in terms of legislation)