Latest News:Latest News - September 2010
New style Academies are open – Will your child’s education suffer
The results are in – already 32 schools have opened as new-style Academies, with a further 110 set to follow suit over the next school year.
These new independent academies have taken up the government’s offer to opt out of local authority control and operate on their own terms as charitable companies.
But, there’s a problem. The Academies were first suggested by the previous Labour government and were to be focused on improving areas of underachievement including supporting children with Special Educational Needs (SEN). However the new coalition government has changed the direction of the academy programme - inviting the most successful schools to take on this independent status, operating outside the local authority. And this could be a disaster for pupils with SEN or those at risk of being excluded from school.
Because the academies will be funded by the state, with no control by or support from the local authorities, headteachers may be more inclined to exclude children, perhaps before considering alternative actions. We are also concerned that the new Academies will view specialist teaching staff trained to educate children with Special Educational Needs as too expensive, and therefore children with SEN will suffer as a result.
This is especially disturbing as the 32 new academy schools are all deemed 'outstanding' and schools tipped to be aiming for academy status include a number of grammar schools. So the very best education options could soon be off limits for children with SEN or young people at risk of being excluded from school.
The schools themselves are optimistic – David Hampson, principal of Tollbar Business and Enterprise College in Grimsby, said: "The benefits of becoming an academy will be enormous - less bureaucracy certainly but also more resources which we ourselves will be able to manage."
But the principle of schools opting out to take academy status has been strongly criticised by Chris Keates, leader of the NASUWT teachers' union: "The idea that a handful of governors or an individual head teacher can make such a serious and irreversible decision without having consulted fully with staff, parents and the local community will shock all right-minded people."
We will be keeping a close eye on how the growing number of academies affects the education of children with SEN and whether the numbers of children excluded from school rises as a result of this new era for education.
We specialise in handling cases involving Statements of Special Educational Needs and children excluded from school and our experts are on hand to give you informal advice and guidance on how to proceed legally should you have an issue.
Please get in touch with our team on: 01524 596080 or email us at office@mglaw.co.uk.
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© Maxwell Gillott 2008
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