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Islington Tribune - by TOM FOOT
Published: 24 October 2008

Academy parents given lessons on managing money... from a bank

THE sponsors of Islington’s new City of London Academy have been criticised for allowing a high street bank to offer advice to parents at a weekend workshop in the school.
Parents of pupils at the academy, formerly Islington Green School, were invited to a “Managing Your Money” event on Saturday morning. The invitation read: “With all the current financial challenges we face, there may never be a better time to review your finances. NatWest have a fantastic opportunity to help make the most of your money.”
The presentation was from NatWest, owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland, which received a £20billion government bail-out after share prices tumbled.
The City of London, one of the new academy’s sponsors, provides local government services for the Square Mile and, according to its mission statement, is “committed to maintaining and enhancing the status of the business City”.
Anti-academy campaigners who opposed the City becoming a sponsor feared the school would become overly business orientated. Parent Julie Hunt, who has children at one of the academy’s feeder schools, said: “Shouldn’t they be concentrating on education? It has confirmed all my fears about the direction of the school.”
Alasdair Smith, secretary of the Anti-Academies Alliance, said: “It is an outrage that the City of London should be allowed to open up the school to gain NatWest favourable access to parents. There is a conflict of interest. Why has NatWest been chosen? It is because of business connections through academy sponsors, the City of London.
“The privatisation of education – of which academies are a key part – has created a £25billion edu-business sector. I suspect NatWest are interested in a share of it.”
He added: “The idea that the fat cats that have run our economy into the ground by gambling billions on the stockmarket can give working-class parents advice on managing money is quite frankly an insult.”
A City of London spokeswoman said the NatWest presentation and workshop was an entirely voluntary event. She added: “The advice given was impartial, and part of the academy’s plans to build links across the business community for the benefit of its students, their parents and the wider community.
“It is important students learn to manage their personal finances well and parents have often welcomed advice around finance and debt management. These workshops have been successfully run in other boroughs and have made good contributions to community knowledge. The academy will continue to be at the forefront of successful initiatives.”

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