Useful resources:Academy conversion
decision-making toolkit (NCOGS 2010)
Topic 1: Academy Decision-making Process and Consultation
Topic 2: Academies – Considering the Differences and Implications
Topic 3: Academy law – notes on the emerging picture
Academies: research into the leadership of sponsored and converting academies (NC 2011)
Becoming an Academy (DfE) – heads talk about how they did it
Downloadable, along with many other useful documents, from www.thegovernor.org.uk
DfE website – search for “Academies” (www.education.gov.uk)
NGA Q and A on Academies (www.nga.org.uk)
NOBODY KNOWS EVERYTHING
CHANGES IN FUNDING
National budget deficits reduced education budget Budget uncertainty from April 2012 with changes to national
funding formula likely; impacting maintained & academy schools alike
Reduction in ring-fencing of funds means virtually all income will be received as part of one main grant (referred to as LACSEG monies)
Introduction of new pupil premium income for students eligible for Free School Meal (FSM), children of armed forces personnel and Looked After Children (LAC)
Increasing year on year costs even if things stay staticExpected 30% reduction in Post 16 funding over next 3
years
• Reduction in funding has led to significant re-structure and a traded services model • SIP role to be outsourced
from Sept 2011
•Many ex-SIPs will be in the market for work
•Headteacher PM must still involve an external expert
• Retained responsibility for:
•Champion for Parents and Families
•Supporting Vulnerable Children
•Champions for Educational Excellence
•General duties under 1996 and 2006 Acts
•Schools Causing Concern - Intervention
CHANGES FOR L0CAL AUTHORITIES
“We believe that governing bodies should be the key strategic body in schools, responsible for the overall direction that a school takes. In that respect, governors are also therefore the key body for school improvement.’
Lord Hill, 2011
Don’t leave it to the head or the DfE!
WHOSE DECISION?
STRATEGIC OPTIONS
1. Do nothing
2. Collaboration
3. Federation
4. Independent academy
5. Academy Chain
1. DO NOTHING1. DO NOTHING
Pros Cons
LA provide contingency / fall- back service if required
LA has less money centrally as schools opt out
LA focus is on less well performing schools
Cost doesn’t equate to VFM in terms of level of LA support delivered
Inability to ‘shape’ the landscape Underperformance will mean being
forced to become an Academy
2. COLLABORATION2. COLLABORATION
Pros Cons Defined areas for collaboration Collaborating schools can obtain
some economies of scale Not legally binding; each school will
retain its own separate registration and category (e.g. community)
No control over budget Lengthy negotiations to reach
agreement Additional meeting time
commitment No formal agreements/contracts &
variable levels of commitment
Informal partnerships with other local schools to share selected curriculum provision and resources
3. HARD FEDERATION3. HARD FEDERATION
Pros Cons
Legally binding - liabilities/assets are transferred but an exit process is in place
Potential to develop leadership opportunities that would not otherwise exist
Each school will retain its own separate registration and category (e.g. community)
Process & cohesion takes longer to evolve (typically 2 – 5 years)
Trend is for existing federations to convert to academy status
No opportunity to reduce duplication in support processes and systems
A formal and legal agreement by which two or more maintained schools remain separate legal entities but share a governing body
4. INDEPENDENT ACADEMY4. INDEPENDENT ACADEMY
Pros Cons Autonomy in driving school
improvement agenda Ability to expand mix of partnership
arrangements to achieve economies of scale on own terms
Sharing best practice, staff & leadership development opportunities through supporting a less well performing school
Full receipt of income i.e. no LA top slice
Increased VFM via procurement of bespoke services
input of external expertise provides additional controls & oversight
Increased governing body accountabilities
Increased statutory requirements & costs e.g. accounting
Need to fulfil all employer liabilities
Funding agreement commitment = 7 years
Some uncharted territory Isolation? DfE as boss?
Conversion to academy status as a single school
5. ACADEMY CHAIN5. ACADEMY CHAIN
Pros Cons
Broader range of opportunities and benefits for students and staff
Fit for future governance arrangements utilising best mix of skills, knowledge & experience
Cohesive strategic leadership through shared structures
Increased flexibility & operational efficiencies - less duplication of effort
Increased VFM & buying power greater economies of scale
Some loss of autonomy through shared accountabilities
Short term increase in costs before evidencing longer term benefits
Becoming a mini-LA without large economies of scale
Isolation from rest of system?
Multiple schools converting to academy status under one Trust
Pros & cons as per previous slide AND :
May 2010 Labour gov’t had established 203 sponsored academies
July 2010 Academies Act becomes lawSept 2010 First 32 “converting” academies
establishedMarch 2011 195 “outstanding” schools had
converted to academies
UPDATE
THIS MONTH
1244 schools have applied to be an academy since June 2010831 of these applications have been approved430 have converted and are now open, inc 99 primary and no
special schoolsThe total number of open Academies, including those opened
under the previous government, now stands at 704
In perspective:there are 3127 secondary schools and 16971 primary schools in
England 3.5% of all schools are academies0.6% of all primary schools are academies
Michael Gove announced plans for 200 more sponsored secondary academies in poorer areas
He now expects one-third of secondary schools to be academies by the end of the year
“As an urgent priority, we will start work on turning around the 200 primary schools that have most consistently underperformed by finding new academy sponsors for them so that most can reopen from September 2012”
Speech to National College 16 June 2011
LAST WEEK
“outstanding” and ‘good with outstanding features’ schoolsother schools need to apply in partnership with an existing
academy or join an existing academy trust with a proven record of school improvement in order to apply for academy status
from 1 January 2011, special schools became eligible to apply for academy status
Underperforming primary schools will be forced to become Academies
Free schools are Academies
WHO CAN BECOME AN ACADEMY?
Sponsored free from local authority control led by sponsors from a wide
range of backgrounds (eg, business and voluntary sector)
free (within certain limits) to adapt the national curriculum to suit the needs of their pupils
set their own pay and conditions for staff
change the duration of terms and school days
generously funded, often including new buildings (pre-Coalition gov’t)
Converting not necessarily serve areas of high
deprivation not required to have an external
sponsor (the academy trust delegates management of the school to the GB)
not required to establish an endowment fund
not be subject to routine school inspection by Ofsted (if they are rated as ‘outstanding’)
convert in a shorter timescale (typically less than one year)
receive project start-up funding of around £25,000 from the DfE
expected to support another school or schools
SPOT THE DIFFERENCE
Sponsored Initial grantCapital grantRunning costsRevenue funding to plan and
support changeActual sums vary from
academy to academy but are much more generous than for converting academies
ConvertingFlat grant £25000General annual grant (GAG)
funding based on the level of LA funding already calculated for the school prior to it becoming an academy
Grant payments to academies to replace LA services depend on the level of central spend in the LA
As LAs cut expenditure on central services, the amount schools receive may reduce
ACADEMY FUNDING
A challenge for all academies in the future, is to ensure that their GB is sufficiently rigorous in how it spends public money
The Public Accounts Committee noted that in the past, many academies did not have adequate financial controls, and that the GBs of all academies should comply with basic standards of governance and financial management. This should include segregation of key roles and responsibilities, and timely submission of annual accounts
NC 2011
GBS AND FINANCE
“Evidence shows that the academy programme has had a good effect on school standards” Michael Gove 16 June 2011
National Audit Office report (NAO, 2010): most (sponsored) academies are achieving increases in academic attainment for their pupils compared with their predecessor schools
Although still below the national average, the proportion of their pupils achieving five or more A*-C grades at GCSE or equivalent is improving at a faster rate than maintained schools with similar intakes
a small number of (sponsored) academies have made little progress, particularly when English and mathematics are taken into account
DOES ACADEMY STATUS AUTOMATICALLY LEAD TO
IMPROVEMENT?
PwC (2008) systematically reviewed and evaluated the distinctive features of academies, put them in their wider context and set them beside local and national comparators
Conclusion? There is no simple uniform academy effect, since there is a complex range of variables interacting within each academy
“There has been little specific research undertaken in relation to converting academies” NC 2011
DOES ACADEMY STATUS AUTOMATICALLY LEAD TO
IMPROVEMENT?
Sponsored managed by academy trusts,
companies limited by guarantee with charitable status. A trust may include one or more academies
a GB governs the academy on behalf of the trust. On average academies have 13 governors, similar to maintained schools
sponsor appoints the majority of governors
the GB should include an LA representative, the principal in an ex-officio capacity, and a parent
Converting not required to have a sponsor
but GB has to comply with legislation and take on trust status
no research on how this will affect converting schools
little change in the composition, structure and roles of the governing body
GBs need to ensure necessary challenge is generated either internally or by buying in external support, in order that educational standards continue to remain high
GOVERNANCE
“The establishment of academies and trusts has moved the governance of schools away from a stakeholder model…a corporate sector model is becoming more prominent and whilst there are still places as of right for parents, the governing body has taken on a more non-executive role, with individuals recruited for their expertise and experience”
NC 2011
GOVERNANCE
Since converting to academy status and experiencing reduced involvement of the LA, governors are expected to take on more responsibility (eg, for buildings and other assets)
One governor explained this as “the buck now stops with us”Need for additional training, in particular relating to the new
responsibilities and accountabilities that academy status brings
“The governing body is now running a small organisation. The school took advice on risks which are perceived to be different, but not more serious.” (Academy senior leader)
GOVERNANCE
SponsoredChallenging staff to raise
standardsRefining ethos, vision,
valuesRevising policies for
consistencyRealigning leadership
structuresEngaging with parents
and communityTUPE of staff
Converting
Managing stakeholders, especially if they disagree
Volume of admin and paperwork
Burden on leaders, especially bursar – against the clock
CONVERSION CHALLENGES
Previous experience of a change of status (eg GM or Foundation)
Inclusive pre-consultation and consultation: invest time and thought in it; prepare groundwork; consult; FAQs for staff, parents, young people – time consuming but “it’s all in the preparation”
Technical and legal expertise – but don’t rush to buy in; needn’t be hugely expensive; DfE help (variable!)
WHAT CAN HELP?
Durand academy in Lambeth: supported through conversion by "a communications agency and property and TUPE [specialist employment] lawyers"
Lampton academy in Hounslow: schools are given £25,000 to effect the conversion: fortunate to have a governor whose hard work cut down their legal fees: a colleague in Brent without any expertise received a bill from the same firm of solicitors that Lampton used for less than £10,000
Too much of a meal can be made of the difficulty of the paperwork involved, insists Jim McAtear, head of Hartismere school in Suffolk. He scrutinised the legal requirements carefully beforehand and decided a DIY approach was perfectly viable. "The way the DfE has set up the process actually strengthens the infrastructure of those schools," he says. "The difficulties entailed are largely illusory.“
Guardian 30 May 2011
EXPENSIVE LEGAL SUPPORT?
Independence and autonomy are key motivating factors in themselves for both sponsored and converting academies, but for different reasons:
financial autonomy and increased funding enabled converting academies to achieve better value for money and better student outcomes
primary motivation for independence in sponsored academies was to use their independence to help raise standards rapidly
NC 2011
WHY HAVE SCHOOLS CONVERTED?
The money the schools have pulled back – between 8% and 14% of their total budget – and what it would allow them to do is the central reason all these heads cite for choosing academy status
The Premier Academy in Milton Keynes has £330,000 more:"We probably don't get things cheaper, but we can move
faster…The enhanced funding allows us to purchase services that give best value for money, including those provided by the LA, but we will not be constrained by having one provider who has a monopoly on a service irrespective of quality or cost. It's this type of freedom that has made the conversion to academy status incredibly worthwhile“
How to become an academy: Guardian Monday 30 May 2011
WHY HAVE SCHOOLS CONVERTED?
The “new freedoms” are not new at all and pose problems:Freedom from LA control – LMS was established in 1988Set your own pay and conditions – but virtually no
Academies have done it – risks disruption and inflationFreedom from National Curriculum – NC is under review
to reduce prescriptionChange length of school day and terms – you can
already change day lengths. Changing term dates likely to cause local difficulties, esp for parents of children at different schools
REASONS FOR NOT CHANGING
Learn from the past
GM status – some leapt at it, got most of the money; others pressurised to follow (domino effect), got less; most chose not to; new government reversed policy
Moral issue
If many become Academies, what happens to all the other schools?
Less moneyReduced servicesTwo-tier system
OTHER REASONS
Very little research on converting academiesNo solid evidence that they raise educational
standardsNobody knows everythingPolitically-driven?Head-driven?Locked in for 7 yearsInsecure future funding and costs of servicesLack of open accountabilityAccidents waiting to happen: indemnity insurance
UNKNOWN UNKNOWNS