Two Hove schools have dropped their plans to become academies after considerable opposition from parents, unions and the council.
The schools – West Hove Infant School and Hove Junior School – formed the Hove Learning Federation three years ago. Their joint governing body proposed joining the Aurora Academies Trust.
Aurora already runs City Academy Whitehawk which was created after Whitehawk Primary School was rated “inadequate” by the official education watchdog Ofsted. The school is now outstanding on most measures.
But in the two months since the governors started a consultation with parents, staff and the wider community, the political climate has also changed.
This week, MPs debated a draft law – the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill – which some have said could abolish academies in all but name.
The bill looks likely to end the freedoms that academies and multi-academy trusts currently have over the curriculum, recruitment and teachers’ pay and conditions. It could also limit increases in pupil numbers.
Hove Learning Federation issued a statement today (Thursday 9 January), saying: “We have been carefully considering the benefits of joining an academy trust as a means to support the future success of our schools.
“We believed a partnership with Aurora Academies Trust would secure the financial and operational sustainability of our schools and help us continue to raise standards for all pupils.
“Our pupils and school community have been at the heart of our decision-making process throughout and we know how much our families and stakeholders value our school and education offer.
“That is why we launched a robust consultation process in November to seek feedback and inform our decision.
“We have carefully assessed all responses, including from the local authority, and as a result we have decided not to proceed with the proposal to become academies at this time.
“Instead, we will work in close collaboration with the local authority to ensure the highest quality provision for children and would like to once again thank our community for their continued engagement and support.”
Academies were introduced by Labour in the Learning and Skills Act 2000 when Tony Blair was Prime Minister and David Blunkett was Education Secretary.
As with grant-maintained schools in the 1980s and 1990s, critics were concerned that academies lacked democratic oversight and accountability because they were not subject to local authority – or council – control.
One of the challenges that remains for West Hove Infant School is that it has had a six-figure deficit for the past two financial years. Some costs should reduce after vacating premises in Connaught Road, Hove.
The school took on the Connaught Road site only at the behest of Brighton and Hove City Council to address a shortage of places when primary school pupil numbers were rising.
Now, pupil numbers are falling across Brighton and Hove and the number of surplus places in schools is increasing but school funding is linked primarily to the number of children on the roll.
The governors are likely to come under growing pressure to balance the books, with extra oversight and support from the council expected.
West Hove Infant School has premises in School Road and the old police station in Holland Road, both in Hove.
Hove Junior School, formerly West Hove Junior School, has premises in Portland Road, Hove, and Holland Road.
Good news. A school is developed by hard-working staff and pupils whilst being funded by the taxpayer. If it’s a success, what are the benefits of privatising it with no recompense to the public purse?
Mainly internal benefits, like access to grant funding unavailable to councils, and greater efficiency.
Good news? We will not know for several years. The senior leadership team and governing body would not have entertained becoming an academy lightly and were obviously strategicly planning to protect the school from falling admissions accross Brighton and Hove. They may weather the storm or in a couple of years be talking about decreasing funds and class closures. Academisation is NOT privitisation but having greater control of the funds that usually go to the LA. It works for some and not for others. Great that parents protested but a fair number of them will have moved on to secondary school with their children and would be unaffected by what is too come.