Contact: Chris Holt, Telephone: 01962 845673, e-mail: [email protected]

1 Summary

1.1 This report describes the proposed local authority stance on Academies - that is to examine proposals against the extent to which they will improve value-added performance without adversely affecting local collaboration and community cohesion.

2 Recommendations

That in meeting the County Council's requirement to promote choice and diversity within the context of school organisation, the Executive Lead Member for Children's Services (Education) will be inclined to support the case for the establishment of an academy where the following questions can be answered positively:

· Will the proposal raise standards for all children and young people rather than just maintain them?

· Will the proposal improve the well-being of ALL children and young people in the community served?

· Will the proposal improve community cohesion and collaboration without any loss of existing quality?

· Will the proposal improve the school's potential to meet the objectives of the Children and Young People's Plan (CYPP)?

· Will the proposal improve the potential to meet the objectives of the 14-19 strategy?

3 What are Academies?

3.1 Academies are independent schools, directly funded in terms of revenue by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF). They are governed by a company (known as the Academy Trust) which delegates functions to its directors, who have a similar role to the governors of a maintained school. The directors may be appointed or nominated by the sponsors, the Local Authority (LA), DCSF and parents.

3.2 The governing body is directly accountable to the Secretary of State (not the LA) in all matters, for example, standards and admissions arrangements.

3.3 Sponsors can be a single body, either set up for the purpose or a trust involved in more than one academy, locally or nationally. As well as private companies (industry / commerce etc), sponsors can include the LA, Further Education (FE) colleges, universities and other Higher Education (HE) institutions, dioceses and "successful" schools.

3.4 Sponsors are expected to contribute £2m towards the establishment of an academy, either towards the capital cost or as an endowment that can be invested and the income used to supplement the normal revenue funding. The government recently announced that this requirement will be waived where the sponsors are universities or successful schools.

3.5 The government target is for 400 academies (there are 46 at present), with the following reasoning:

· Academies will improve examination results

· They have received good OFSTED reports

· They are popular with parents

However, with the relatively small number and short length of time that most have been open, it is unlikely that these assertions could yet be supported by empirical evidence.

3.6 The DCSF expects local authorities to bring forward and/or support proposals for the establishment of academies as part of the duty to secure diversity of provision.

4 How are academies established

4.1 The establishment of an academy can either be planned from the outset or as the result of a competition.

4.2 The "planned" route involves the LA throughout the process, so it would be difficult to achieve unless the LA was fully behind the proposal (except, possibly, the creation of a "faith academy" to replace one or more VA schools). The main steps are

· Finding a sponsor (assistance is available from the DCSF / Office of the Schools Commissioner / Special Schools Academies Trust (SSAT))

· Sponsor and LA develop an Expression of Interest (EoI) with assistance from DCSF.

· EoI submitted to Minister for approval in principle

· EoI developed into full feasibility study by LA (involving sponsor and DCSF), and submitted to Secretary of State to sign funding agreement

· LA must go through statutory process for any school closures involved (approval to be conditional on establishment of the academy)

· LA and Academy Trust develop Outline Business Case (OBC) to secure inclusion of project in the LA's Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme (or funding in advance of BSF). At this stage the design of the academy buildings is developed.

· LA and Academy Trust produce Final Business Case (FBC). Once approved by DCSF funding is released.

4.3 In order to fulfil the objective of improving results, "planned" academies are expected to replace schools with less than 30% A* - C and those serving areas with a high score in the index of multiple deprivation.

4.4 For an Academy proposal to be supported by the Secretary of State, it is expected that there will be less than 10% surplus places in the area.

4.5 Academies are expected to cater for the full 11-19 age range, but this may be achieved by collaboration with other post-16 providers.

4.6 Sponsors can also propose the establishment of academies through the secondary school competition process. In such cases, the DCSF may be less prescriptive about the levels of attainment in any existing schools involved.

5 Issues to be considered

5.1 As with other school organisation changes, there are a number of key questions to be considered before the LA can give its support to an academy proposal (particularly where existing schools are being replaced):

· Will the proposal raise standards rather than just maintain them?

· Will the proposal improve the well-being of ALL children and young people in the community served?

· Will the proposal improve community cohesion and collaboration without any loss of existing quality?

· Will the proposal improve the school's potential to meet the objectives of the CYPP?

· Will the proposal improve the potential to meet the objectives of the 14-19 strategy?

5.2 Establishment of an academy will not, in itself, address the need to remove surplus places, unless it is part of a wider reorganisation or there is a downsizing of any particular school.

5.3 Discussions with the Office of the Schools Commissioner have indicated that ministers favour academies catering for the full 11-19 age range, although that does not preclude collaboration with another successful 16-19 provider. Discussions have also disclosed that ministers do not favour academies operating on a split site.

6 Corporate priorities

6.1 The proposals in this report are expected to maximise well-being in support of the County Council's corporate priorities by ensuring that Hampshire secondary schools capitalise on all opportunities to develop learners' understanding and appreciation of their role in society and their capacity to contribute.

6.2 The proposals support an aim of the Children Act, "enjoying and achieving" by allowing students to fulfil their potential through good academic progress and personal development.

7 Consultation

7.1 Discussions have taken place with Hampshire headteacher representatives and with teacher union representatives in the preparation of this report.

8 Legal implications

8.1 The establishment of an academy is covered by statutory procedures.

9 Financial implications

9.1 The provision of buildings for an academy is the responsibility of the LA, with the help of the sponsor's contribution. The expectation is that any such project will form part of the LA's BSF programme, or be treated in the same way as "one school pathfinder" projects in advance of BSF. It is no longer an expectation that academies will be established in completely new buildings, although substantial adaptation will be needed to fulfil the goal that the academy will be involved in innovative teaching methods. Since the funding target will be detailed in the business cases, any unforeseen additional expenditure may have to be picked up by the LA.

9.2 The revenue funding of an Academy is the responsibility of the DCSF under each Academy's funding agreement. The main budget of each Academy is calculated by the DCSF using the school funding formula of the local authority, within whose area it is located, as the underlying basis (budget share replication). However, the funding that each Academy will receive is on an academic year basis with forecast pupil numbers being used.

9.3 For academies established from April 2008, the deduction from the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) of the authority will be based on this budget share replication, using the January pupil numbers that drive the DSG. This is intended to make the creation of an Academy close to budget neutral. To this sum an amount is added for items funded centrally by the local authority. Those authorities with Academies have expressed concerns about the methods used to calculate the amount. There have also been difficult issues around the funding of excluded pupils.

10 Personnel implications

10.1 The replacement of one or more existing schools by an academy will mean a change of employer for any existing staff (although those appointed to the academy will be protected by Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment [TUPE]).

11 Crime prevention issues

11.1 None noted.

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background documents

The following documents discuss facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and have been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB: the list excludes

1. Published works

2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

None.