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Redundancy warning as school bids to cut losses
Academy hopes hit by planning glitches and funding worries
PLANS to turn an Angel secondary school into a city academy are in tatters, with education chiefs threatening sweeping redundancies to plug a crippling £220,000 deficit.
Schools bosses have also floated proposals to make all 1,000 pupils muster for fire drills in a busy road outside Islington Green School, in Prebend Street, during building work for the new academy.
Confidential documents leaked to the Tribune reveal a catalogue of problems with the academy plan, including:
* Construction blueprints have still not been finalised as planners struggle to cope with the small site.
* Funding for the project, due to open in September next year, “currently looks bleak”, according to school bosses.
* New teachers could be offered less pay.
CEA@Islington, the company that runs the borough’s schools, is insisting on Islington Green’s current deficit being wiped out by summer next year when the school shuts to become an academy.
The Town Hall insisted earlier this month that planning for the academy was on track. But internal minutes from the governors’ finance committee meeting on March 19 state: “CW (headteacher Chris Walford) reported that the Academy plans have been delayed for various reasons.
“The first plan was rejected by the DfES… So funding currently looks bleak – it could be September/October before a funding agreement is signed.”
The school will reopen as an academy after summer next year with the City of London and City University as its £2 million sponsors, but the plans are still subject to judicial review.
The current crisis stems from CEA’s insistence that the £220,000 deficit is cleared before the academy opens.
The finance committee minutes state: “There had been a £226k deficit at the beginning of the year. CEA had been informed of this but insisted that there must be a nil deficit by the time of closure. This would only be achievable with further staff cuts – which Governors would be very reluctant to agree to.
“Staff cuts would involve redundancy charges to LEA (local education authority) so savings illusory.”
The minutes add that equipment the school needs “has not been budgeted for”. The school is to bid for £30,000 from the London Challenge, a government programme, to ease its cash problems.
The National Union of Teachers (NUT) last night (Thursday) again urged education chiefs to abandon plans for the academy. NUT spokesman Ken Muller said: “We will oppose any cuts and any attempt to cut back on staff pay. It would be divisive to have one teacher doing exactly the same job as another but on less pay.”
A council spokeswoman said: “We expect schools in deficit, including Islington Green, to set a budget that will eliminate their deficit over an agreed period of time.”
Unions fear that when pupils are moved into temporary buildings in the school playground, there will be nowhere for them to assemble in the event of a fire. They are worried the 1,000 children will have to muster in the road outside the school.
The council spokeswoman said: “Any temporary accommodation used during the rebuilding work will be subject to the normal building controls and risk assessments to ensure that children and staff are safe.”
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