Councils and governing bodies to be forced to progress academy conversion under new Bill

Councils and governing bodies will be forced to actively progress the process by which academy sponsors take over running schools under the Education and Adoption Bill published today.

The Department for Education said the Bill would also:

• make clear that in the future every single school rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted – of which there are as many as 1,000 – will be turned into an academy;
• put ‘coasting schools’ on a notice to improve. Those unable to demonstrate a clear plan for improvement will be given new leadership. A consultation on implementation of these proposals will take place in the summer.

The Queen’s Speech last month signalled that the Bill will hand regional schools commissioners powers to bring in leadership support from other schools and headteachers.

On the adoption side, the legislation will give the Education Secretary a new power to direct one or more named local authorities to make arrangements for any or all of their adoption functions to be carried out on their behalf by one of the local authorities named or by another agency. This effectively means that regional adoption agencies can be created.

Education Secretary Nicky Morgan said: “Today’s landmark bill will allow the best education experts to intervene in poor schools from the first day we spot failure. It will sweep away the bureaucratic and legal loopholes previously exploited by those who put ideological objections above the best interests of children.

“At the heart of our commitment to delivering real social justice is our belief that every pupil deserves an excellent education and that no parent should have to be content with their child spending a single day in a failing school.

“Hundreds of schools, often in disadvantaged areas, are already being turned around thanks to the help of strong academy sponsors - education experts who know exactly what they have to do to make a failing school outstanding. This bill will allow them to do their job faster and more effectively, ensuring that thousands more pupils, from across the country, get the world-class education they deserve.”

The Department for Education claimed that an example of intervention being “unnecessarily delayed” was Harris Primary Academy Philip Lane, which opened in 2012 to replace Downhills Primary School.

“Before opening as an academy, Downhills was rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted with almost 40% of pupils leaving without good grades,” it said.

“Campaigners put up barriers to the process through a series of repeated unsuccessful appeals and reviews, which caused unnecessary delays. Under the sponsorship of Harris the school has been judged as ‘good’ with ‘outstanding’ leadership by Ofsted; and reading, writing and maths results have soared by a quarter.”

In August 2012 a High Court judge rejected a parent’s bid to halt then Education Secretary Michael Gove’s bid to covert Downhills into an academy.

The DfE also cited the City of Derby Academy, which opened in place of the Sinfin Community School in 2013.

“Despite a prolonged campaign that sought to delay the school becoming an academy, the school has since come out of special measures and improved its GCSE results in the first year of its academy status,” it insisted.

“Ofsted confirmed that since becoming an academy the quality of teaching has improved, pupils are progressing more rapidly and pupil behaviour and attendance have improved.”