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Ken Muller |
Secondary schools may face strain from
academy system
Rule allowing academies to exclude pupils ‘bizarre,’ says councillor
A HUGE strain could be put on Islington’s secondary schools after it was revealed that current regulations encourage city academies to exclude pupils.
Unlike other schools, city academies do not incur a financial penalty for excluding pupils – meaning an academy retains its funding while the council foots the bill for educating pupils at their next school or expensive special disciplinary unit.
The issue emerged after an Islington Schools Forum meeting earlier this month flagged up the council’s response to a government consultation on the regulations.
Academies are exempt from current regulations which allow the council to ‘claw back’ about £7,000 when a school permanently excludes a pupil.
In response to the national consultation by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, Islington objected to the current regulations – which they labelled ‘unfair’ and requested a change in legislation.
Ken Muller, from Islington National Union of Teachers accused the council of “lying” to parents, teachers and pupils. He said: “I’m appalled at the hypocrisy of the council – they have been telling us what a good thing academies are while behind our backs they have been complaining about the injustice of them. It looks like just another way that academies are privileged at the expense of other local schools.”
There are about 100 pupils at Islington’s four special disciplinary schools, known as pupil referral units (PRUs). These require high funding because of the staff to pupil ratios needed to provide specialist education for children with behavioural difficulties.
The cost of educating a pupil at a PRU is over £10,000.
Teachers are worried the regulations give academies an incentive to expel their most challenging pupils. Mr Muller said: “This will just encourage academies to exclude pupils and watch the money roll in. Statistics already show that academies exclude twice as many pupils as ordinary schools. If you were a parent at one of those schools you would be pretty annoyed knowing all the most challenging pupils were being dumped with your child and threatening their education. It is going to stretch the council’s resources even if they don’t end up in PRUs.”
The DCSF currently encourages councils to set up a voluntary agreement with academies to get the funding back, but no such agreement is in place in Islington.
Islington’s first academy St Mary Magdalene in Holloway Road, is in talks with the council about financing excluded pupils.
A headteacher of one Islington PRU, who asked to remain anonymous, said there was a worry about the effect of the regulations. The head said: “We are underfunded as it is and it would stretch our resources.”
Councillor Ursula Woolley, executive member for children and young people said: “I was not aware of these regulations myself but it does sound bizarre and is something that clearly needs looking at. In Islington all the head teachers know each other well and there is an understanding that the more difficult children are shared around and this includes academies too. It is only in exceptional circumstances that children need to go to PRUs so this is not a particular concern.”
Exclusion figures from Middlesbrough – one of the first areas to adopt the academy model – show a dramatic contrast between academies and maintained secondary schools. In three school years, two academies accounted for 71 exclusions compared with just 25 from six maintained schools.
Tom Peryer, head of the London Diocesan Board for Schools said: “It’s only fair that all schools are treated the same and I don’t think there is an agreement in place at the moment.
“But I would also say that you cannot draw too many comparisons between Islington and Middlesbrough, because of the specific circumstances of every school. I welcome a change in regulations.”
Islington Green School will follow St Mary Magdalene school to become the borough’s second academy next year.
The Islington Schools Forum was set up by the council in 2002 to debate and consult on school financial matters.
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