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Janet Downs: Lincolnshire advises all its schools to become academies – but parents not consulted

Lincolnshire County Council  is abdicating all responsibility for the county’s schools by advising them to become academies under the aegis of CfBT, an education charity which already runs Lincolnshire’s school improvement service. The Conservative council admits that the number of converted schools will leave the council with insufficient money to support the rest, especially the small village schools.  Opposers of academies ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Stephen Mayo: "Perfect! Many thanks...."

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Nigel Gann: What to do when your school goes academy

In April, I posted about the school where I was chair of governors. In August, that school became an academy. From the 1st August, for the first time in more than one hundred years, there will be no local authority maintained community secondary school in Yeovil, Somerset and its surrounds. Four of our schools have turned themselves into independent state-funded companies ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Marc Draco: "I believe Gove has retracted the statement about profiteering... at least, that's what I understood. I'm against academies because they are divisive and remove local accountability. In fact, I fail to see ANY reason why a school would convert other than ......"

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Sarah Dodds: No More Fear….

We have just returned from our summer holiday. It gave me very much needed relaxing and thinking time to evaluate the campaign. On one of our day trips we took our four children to a fun fair. We have a very gutsy five year old, who goes on rides that I would never dream of going on! Knowing how brave she ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by chris: "I am not saying they don’t. I am just saying that if you want to have any hope of infuencing the future, opposing academies is the place you need to be at the moment...."

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Melissa Benn: School wars

Below, a piece that appears in today's G2 about possible links between the inequality in our school system, and government policy, and the summer's disturbances. Also, a trail for my book, to be published on September 5th, on the battle for a fairer system of education.   The crisis facing Britain's education system The gulf between schools educating the well-off and the disadvantaged ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by stephen: "yeah that was to prepare for the schools to use ...thank you......."

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Margaret Tulloch: Time to respond to the Government on school admissions

From Margaret Tulloch Secretary Comprehensive Future, the campaign for fair admissions Code on school admissions – still time to respond The consultation on the Government’s proposed new School Admissions Code ends this Friday (19th August) – so there is still time to respond. Comprehensive Future has now responded. The response is on our website – The Draft Code is much shorter than the last ... read more and comment →

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Janet Downs: Michaela School meeting raises odd questions

Do schools swap badly-behaved pupils for a day? And can Mr Gove appoint free school heads? These are just two of the many questions raised at a meeting on 18 July about the proposed Michaela School in Lambeth, but they may have been the oddest. Ms Birbalsingh, proposer of the free school, claimed that schools routinely swap ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Janet Downs: "Dr Rob Higham has researched free school proposers and discovered that almost a quarter of proposals are from teachers of middle-rank who aspire to become the head of the school. This, he claimed, would be a rapid promotion. ......"

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Allan Beavis: Were Gove’s meetings with Murdoch to enable News Corp to set up schools in Britain?

Andy Burnham was right to question Michael Gove’s priorities in meeting Rupert Murdoch and other News International executives. It would surely have benefited the Education Secretary to seek advice about curriculum, school governance, behaviour, special needs, streaming and all the other day to day concerns of schools by visiting schools and talking to teachers and headteachers? What perspective could an ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Janet Downs: "A Murdoch paper, The Wall Street Journal, conducted a poll in autumn 2010 and found that only 30% of New York City residents believed public schools had improved under Klein and Bloomberg. I couldn’t access the poll as ......"

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Janet Downs: Academy chains can grow as fast as possible, says Mr Gove

Andy Burnham responding to Mr Gove’s announcement about school funding said: “His consultation talks ominously about “chains of academies”. Can he tell us today how big he expects these chains to become, and whether he will place any limits on their expansion?” This was Mr Gove’s answer : “He asked about the sustainable level of growth of chains. I ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Marigold Doyle: "Also, chains like Harris and ARK aren't doing particularly well at all. Beneath the veneer, there's lots of informal exclusions, manipulation of data through the excessive use of vocational qualifications and not a lot of substance...."

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Janet Downs: “Schools should be free to choose their own resources to suit the literacy needs of their pupils,” MPs say. Will the Secretary of State listen?

Schools are being pushed into buying phonics products available from only one supplier, says an independent cross-party group . The MPs recognised that schools should be able to match resources with the needs of their pupils. The cross-party group also warned that teaching reading by blending sounds could cause pupils to “switch-off” from reading. However, the Education White Paper makes it ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Geraldine Carter: "Thank you Janet for clarifying the fact that you were not the author of the TES material Andrew Old referred to. I hadn't been aware that this was clarified earlier when AO again raised the issue. "Anyone who expresses concern ......"

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Fiona Millar: Academy chains may be no more than private local authorities, without the accountability

For anyone who doesn't read Guardian Education, I am linking to my piece today which looks at how academy chains work. I have spent several weeks visiting chains, talking to people who work for them, reading their accounts on the Charity Commission website and it has proved illuminating. Firstly because it confirmed my suspicions that, far from being autonomous, academies in ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Allan Beavis: "What I found most chilling in Fiona Millar’s excellent report in the Guardian was the realisation that, with so many schools being handed over to the tight control of a handful of Edu chains and much responsibility devolved away from ......"

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