SCARCROFT Primary School governors vote on Wednesday on leaving the local authority to become an academy.
This would be a step in the wrong direction, and I urge governors to vote no.
In addition to the 25 reasons I have already sent to governors, there are three new developments:
1 The Chancellor’s autumn statement withdrew the £87 per head extra funding that academies were planning on receiving. Parents were told last year that this money was one of the main reasons to become an academy.
2 To gain economies of scale, academies are increasingly being brought into academy chains. One such chain, E-ACT, announced this week that it’s doing away with school governors. Another chain has advertised for a chief executive stating “no educational experience required”. Becoming an academy – a private limited company - is the first step on this path. Is this the future we want?
3 The £6.2 million proposal to add 210 pupils to the school is surely a game changer in respect of budgets and management time and must at least delay academisation until these plans are clearer.
Governors have a choice on February 3 and they can say no. But will they?
Bob Scrase, Scarcroft Primary School parent (Year 1 and Year 3 children), Bewlay Street, York
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