Two private schools have rejected moves towards becoming academies, despite facing the growing financial strain of the credit crunch.
Salisbury and Lichfield Cathedral schools are amongst many independent schools that are being urged to consider academy status as the recession hits parents’ abilities to pay school fees. Last month saw the effect of this pressure on parents, with the closure of Bramcote Lorne in Retford and Brigg in Hull.
Salisbury and Lichfield Cathedral schools resolute dismissal of a crossover into academy status indicates behaviour that counters a potential growing trend for private schools to enter the state sector. A move embraced by Belvedere School in Liverpool two years ago and by Bristol Cathedral Choir School last September.
Many staunch supporters of academies, such as the outspoken MP Frank Field, have emphatically propagated its overarching benefits to schools, children and the community. Schools are considered not only to reap the financial benefits with the quasi-independent status academies, but also to benefit socially through the expansion of access to the most deprived, who previously would not have been able to afford a fee-paying school.
For the Beldevere School, at the public forefront of this switch, the move appears appealing in light of the reported additional £11million injection into the school. Moreover, the move from private school to academy defies the notion that academies are specific to failing schools as opposed to top performing schools. However, the true impact of conversion remains as yet uncertain, as it is still early days for cases such as that of Belvedere school.
The decision against the move by these two choir schools marks a concern that academies may not provide a utopian solution to the problems faced by independent schools. As Peter Allwood, head teacher at Lichfield is quoted in the Times Educational Supplement (TES) as saying: ‘it’s not a time to bring other changes in and we value our independence. ’
Despite support from both the Labour and Conservative parties, a growing scepticism about academy status reflects a long line of criticism around the role of sponsors. In today’s TES, Geoff Lucas, secretary of the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference argues that: ‘Once you take government money, there is no way back. Academies may be quite benign at the moment and gives heads and governors a fair bit of independence, but they are susceptible to further change.’
The long-term implications of academies still remain fairly unclear, yet this significant rejection of a crossover by Salisbury and Lichfield Cathedral schools shows that entering the state sector is not be the only option for private schools facing financial strains and pressure to broaden their appeal to disadvantaged children.
By Saima Tarapdar
Comments (1)
Thank goodness. This academy business is a Trojan Horse. We know that Balls and Brown with their egalitarian mania are unhappy with the degree of "independence" which even the semi-enslaved "academies" enjoy. How long will it be before they are reduced to the status of an ordinary "local" - or "sink" comprehensive? Even as they are, these so called academies look like a bad idea and for a choir school to be swamped with all and sundry in this way is tragic. I lament the fate of Bristol Cathedral and believe that the staff will rue the day they accepted defeat. Three cheers for Lichfield. The key to education of any kind is the identification and the cultivation of talent - otherwise called selection. If this takes place, moreover, in a small, traditional setting, it is close to educational heaven. Let us fight to avoid the roiling comprehensive hell to which the devilish Balls and his unsmiling master would subject us.
Posted by Simon Denis | December 23, 2008 11:43 AM
Posted on December 23, 2008 11:43