Academies bill
Luisa Sykes
Hi,
Just in case you haven’t read the article in the Evening Standard yesterday ‘Academies Bill puts grammar schools at risk say Tory MPs’.
‘Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee of Conservative backbenchers, has tabled an amendment to the Academies Bill to ensure that the status of the grammar schools cannot be changed without parental ballot’.
‘He fears that without this amendment or a similar guarantee, governors at a grammar school which had become an academy could seek to change its status without consulting the parents’.
Mr Brady also said ‘My amendment would ensure that grammar schools can take advantage of the additional freedom of academy status while continuing to benefit from the security of knowing that their grammar schools status cannot be changed in the future without parental ballot’. Mr Brady is backed by other Tory MPs Michael Fallon (Sevenoaks), Mark Field (Cities of London and Westminster), Eleonor Laing (Epping Forest) and even labour MP Kate Hoey from Vauxhall.
Mr Brady is the sort of person close to our way of thinking. Let’s see what happens to ‘this amendment’ – fingers crossed. If you know more about this issue please let us know.
Meanwhile have a happy summer holiday and celebrate the fact that THERE IS NO FUNDING available for the diocese proposed merger of St Bernard’s and St Joseph’s and the set up of a new Catholic College!!!!!!
Warm regards
Luisa
Paul Dodgshun
Your slightest wish is ...
Paul Dodgshun
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm100721/debtext/100721-0004.htm
Mr Gibb: I will deal with that, but I want to respond to all the
points in order.
My hon. Friend the Member for Altrincham and Sale West (Mr Brady)
tabled amendment 49. I pay tribute to him, not just because he is
chairman of the 1922 committee, and therefore chief of the men in
suits, but because of his highly principled support for grammar
schools in his constituency and elsewhere in the country. I was hugely
impressed by the quality of education in Trafford. I visited
Wellington high school, which has GCSE results that many comprehensive
schools throughout the country would envy. From memory-I visited the
school a few years ago-67% of pupils gained five or more GCSEs
including English and maths, and that school had experienced 40% of
the most able children going elsewhere. I also visited Ashton on
Mersey school, which is exemplary, as well as Trafford grammar school
for girls, which impressed me.
Amendment 49 would directly apply sections 105 to 109 of the School
Standards and Framework Act 1998 to wholly selective academies. That
legislation governs the mechanisms for removing selection from
maintained grammar schools either through parental ballot or by the
governing body introducing proposals to remove selection. Neither the
grammar school ballots legislation nor current provisions that allow
governing bodies of grammar schools to introduce proposals to remove
selection apply to academies. We do not believe that that means that
academies have fewer protections than maintained schools when removing
selection is an issue. Indeed, one could argue that the ballot
mechanism gives parents a route to removing selection in maintained
selective schools. I listened to my hon. Friend carefully, and
although the amendment might protect selection when that is the wish
of parents, we do not believe that it could necessarily frustrate
statutory proposals to remove selection that the governing body of a
maintained
21 July 2010 : Column 462
selective school made. He knows that the ballot process has a high
trigger threshold, requiring a petition from at least 20% of the
eligible electorate.
The Government's arrangements for academies are a more significant
protection of the ethos of any school, including selective schools. I
want to go into some detail about that because it is important.
Outstanding schools that convert will essentially be self-sponsoring.
That means that existing governors will become the new academy trust.
In the case of a foundation school with a foundation-a grammar school
with an ancient foundation-that converts to academy status, the
foundation will be responsible for appointing the majority of
governors on the governing body of an academy, a greater proportion
than currently exists in a maintained school. That will make it
possible for the foundation to maintain the academy's ethos, including
its selective ethos, over an extended period.
Mr Mike Hancock: Will the Minister give way?
Mr Gibb: I will in a moment. This section of my speech is fairly
technical, and I want to finish it before I give way again.
A similar arrangement would apply in the case of a foundation school
without a foundation-in other words, a grammar school that is
essentially a community school. The current governors would decide on
the members of the academy trust. The members would be responsible for
appointing a majority of the governors to the governing body by
electing members who are committed to a selective ethos. That ethos
would be maintained over time, because-in theory and, I suspect, in
practice-they would appoint a majority of governors who were similarly
committed. We are nevertheless committed to ensuring that the same
rights are afforded to parents, and the same rights and protections
are afforded to grammar schools on conversion, as were enjoyed while
the school was a maintained school.
I hope that that reassures my hon. Friend to some extent. No doubt he
will intervene, either now or later, if he needs further reassurance.
Mr Brady: I am greatly reassured by the tone of what my hon. Friend
has said, but it is not entirely clear whether he is giving me an
assurance that the ballot arrangements will be introduced at a later
date, or whether he is suggesting that other protections might be
introduced.
Mr Gibb: What I am suggesting now-it is as far as I can go at this
stage-is that we will include the provisions in the funding agreements
of academies. That will provide strong protection-as strong, in
effect, as it would be if the measures were on the statute book.
Mr Brady: Is my hon. Friend saying that if a grammar school
transferred to academy status, it would not be able to vary its
selective admissions under the terms of the funding agreement without
the support of a parental ballot?
Mr Gibb: According to my understanding, that is correct. All the
protections that currently apply under the ballot procedure would
still apply. If for some reason the governing body of a selective
academy sought to change its status as a selective school, the funding
agreement would require a ballot of parents to be held before that
provision took effect.
21 July 2010 : Column 463
Mr Brady: I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way a third
time. He has been immensely helpful, and I think that that final
reassurance will be of great help to the many excellent grammar
schools-including many in the borough of Trafford-that are keen to
proceed with seeking academy status. It is certainly sufficient to
persuade me not to press amendment 49 to a vote.
Mr Gibb: I am grateful to my hon. Friend. I hope that I can be equally
successful with other hon. Members.
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Luisa Sykes
Interesting reading- some quite amusing, some quite boring,'they' enjoy the sound of their own voices. I will do another quick reading later!
Many thanks for sending this..
Luisa
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm100721/debtext/100721-0004.htm
> happens to 'this amendment' - fingers crossed. If you know more about this