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Anti-academy protesters outside Islington Town hall |
Academies, an idea that’s out of control
Murad Qureshi gives low marks to academies, with their private sponsors and lack of local control
IN principle, academies are wrong because they are fundamentally undemocratic and unaccountable. Academies are controlled by outside sponsors who are not representative of the community, and are legally responsible to the government and not to councils.
In Westminster, we have two new academies, Paddington Academy and Westminster Academy. Both these schools are having great difficulties in building new premises, so much so that many children are being taught in portable buildings on what are effectively building sites.
In November 2006, former Labour minister Karen Buck, whose son attends Paddington Academy, expressed her concern that the building was not fit for purpose.
Despite this background, Westminster Council has committed itself to a third academy, the King Solomon Academy.
This academy is to be run by Absolute Return for Kids (Ark), the private sponsor eager to control the new school planned for Camden.
My concern about Ark in Westminster is that the company clearly does not have any knowledge of the area and its population, otherwise it would have chosen a more appropriate name, such as Marylebone Academy, which would reflect the area. I would not be surprised if Ark has little appreciation of the diverse needs in Camden.
Additionally, an academy run by the Church of England, when so many members of the central London community are from other faiths or none, would not be appropriate as that choice already exists at secondary level.
Furthermore, league tables show that Ark’s first academy, in Hammersmith and Fulham, is not doing any better than other secondary schools in the neighbourhood. Burlington Danes in White City became an academy in January 2006 but it is not performing better than Phoenix High School, even though it’s got new premises and state-of-the-art facilities.
The truth is that nobody knows much about Ark, apart from its links with hedge funds and US finance and its attempt to learn from similar state schools in US cities. Yet councils are prepared to hand over the huge responsibility of running a secondary school in the middle of London to Ark for a few million pounds when most of the money comes from central government anyway.
It is also clear that Lord Adonis at the Department for Education and Skills is a man in a rush, before a Gordon Brown administration comes into power. For example, he is rushing through proposals for Holland Park Comprehensive School under the Building Schools for the Future programme. The playing field provision of the site is being completely overlooked.
I believe that Camden, with its excellent reputation for secondary education, should manage this new school right from the beginning.
Camden’s success has been independently confirmed by the Audit Commission, which has given its schools the highest rating under the Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA).
Such ratings are meant to give local authorities greater flexibility and freedom in their administration from central government control. Camden is in a strong position to get a new community school run by it, to deal with the demand for more places in the borough.
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