MR GOVE HAS MISSED THE POINT OVER CRITICISMS OF ACADEMY SPONSORSHIP

Mr Gove was criticized by Mr David Laws yesterday for the Government’s plan to get the Independent education sector to bail out the State sector by encouraging them to sponsor academies, not the academies programme itself. Giving Head teachers more independence from Local authority control to deliver the best education possible for the children and young people in their schools, is very much in line with the philosophy and practice in the Independent sector. It is therefore not the idea but the way it is proposed to deliver it that is at fault.

As the Chief Executive of the Independent Association of Preparatory Schools (IAPS) says, The Prime Minister is 'wrong' to suggest that independent schools have a 'duty' to sponsor academies. "The sponsoring of academies is an entirely laudable role for any independent school which has sufficient resources and will not compromise their commitment to fee-paying parents", he told Attain magazine this week.  "But the Prime Minister is wrong to suggest that our schools have a 'duty' to sponsor academies.  It is well beyond the capacity of most independent schools to be a sole sponsor.  More fundamentally, those who can will simply scratch the surface of the problem the Government seeks to solve."

Hanson's comments follow pressure from the Government for independent schools to become lead sponsors of academies.  There is growing concern amongst Heads that the Government needs to move beyond the headline-grabbing 'quick fix' of persuading a tiny minority of rich and financially well-endowed schools to create academies.  Instead, they should be encouraging strong partnerships between state and independent schools.

"I believe that all our schools have a moral imperative to share best practice and establish lasting and meaningful partnerships with local state schools", suggests David Hanson.  "The potential benefits of greater partnership are legion.  Academy sponsorship however is sadly beyond the reach of all but a few schools."

A highly successful partnership scheme is the Dorchester Area Schools Partnership (DASP).  The main objective is to work together to assist all the DASP schools to improve academic results for all their children.  For the independent prep school involved – Sunninghill Preparatory School – the additional benefits have included access to expert advice, INSET support, and the sharing of best practice with state-sector colleagues.  The financial benefits have been considerable thanks to joint buying power across the partnership: Sunninghill saved £20,000 in IT costs in the first year and are aiming to save 10%-15% in utilities costs each year.

Sunninghill's Headmaster, Andrew Roberts-Wray, comments: "There has to be a better and less patronising way to develop academies and improve education provision across the country. As increasing numbers of state schools are converting to academy status, many state school heads are having to make business management decisions that they are not used to making.  I find that by working in partnership we are learning a great deal from our state school colleagues and they are interested in our broader approach to education, but that together we all able to offer a better provision for all the children in our local area. This does not mean that our staff or those of our State school partners are being taken away from caring for their own pupils."

"As well as the academic, behaviour support and financial incentives, the most important benefit for my school is that all the pupils gain enormously from the opportunities of working alongside their state school peers on science, maths, humanities, sport, music and enrichment activities."