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More schools to be converting to academies

The Queen’s speech on the 27 May 2015, outlined new proposals under the new Conservative government for under-performing schools to be facing a more rapid intervention in the future.  This new education bill will mean that in the future more schools are likely to be converting to academy status.

The Queen said “Legislation will be brought forward to improve schools and give every child the best start in life, with new powers to take over failing and coasting schools and create more academies.”

Schools which have shown a prolonged period of mediocre performance and have been rated as inadequate by school inspectors are likely to have the barriers removed so they can convert to academy status rapidly. 

Any school deemed to be making insufficient progress will be asked to work with expert advisors and placed under high-performing sponsors.  Fears have already been raised, most recently by Ofsted’s chief inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, there may not be enough heads of outstanding schools to help turn the struggling schools around. 

He did however back plans for more interventions in weaker schools saying that children should not have their chances limited because of where they lived.  "Why should a child in London, or parts of Liverpool or Newcastle have a better chance of going to a good school than a child in Suffolk or Norfolk?" said Sir Michael.

The emphasis will be placed on so-called “coasting schools”, the definition of which is yet to be published, but is likely to apply to those judged as “requiring improvement” by Ofsted.  There are currently more than 3,300 of these schools across the country.

Malcolm Trobe, deputy head of the ASCL head teachers' union, accused the Education Bill of remaining "silent" on the practical issues facing schools - such as a funding shortage and difficulties in recruiting staff.

"School and college leaders already do and will step up to the plate on raising standards, but they will need the staff and funding to do the job," said Mr Trobe.

For any schools who are thinking about converting to academy status Moore can help you through this process in a number of ways, for example, accounting and regulatory requirements, budgeting, financial and governance procedures, training and support for finance teams, risk management and implementation of computer systems, so please get in touch using my contact details below or your usual Moore partner.

[email protected]