Schools make ‘positive noises’ about joining Shropshire Council academies trust

The county’s education system is set for its biggest shake up in years after the authority revealed plans to set up the multi-academy trust.

At a meeting of the council’s cabinet, David Minnery, portfolio holder for children and young people, said about 30 schools had expressed interest in joining the proposed trust, which would be run by headteachers and governors, with support from the council.

The cabinet agreed to support the development of the Shropshire Education Trust and meet the initial start up costs of £65,000 if it does not proceed.

A final decision will be made in June when it is known how many schools want to sign up. If it goes ahead, the trust will start from September this year.

Councillor Minnery said: “I am delighted to finally be able to present this paper.

“Nobody has come back with anything negative. I understand there are about 30 schools making very positive noises.

“We have set a date of June 9 for a final decision to be made.”

The development comes as a number of schools in Shropshire have been targeted to join academies from outside the county.

Council leaders fear schools are increasingly being run by organisations that have little knowledge of the county. There is also a fear that Shropshire’s best schools are being ‘cherry-picked’ by academy chains from outside Shropshire.

Academies are allowed to run independently of local education authorities, with control of their own budgets.

A number of Shropshire schools have already converted to academy status by joining organisations independent of Shropshire Council’s local education authority.

At the meeting of the cabinet, it was also agreed that members and trustees of the trust would include representation from the council, capped at 19.99 per cent and if a church school is involved, representation from the Diocese.

The new trust would run as an ‘arms-length’ organisation, separate from the council but supported by it.

Academies operate differently to state maintained schools and receive their funding directly from the government, not through the local council.

Staff are also employed by the academy trust rather than the council.

Councillor Alan Mosley, leader of the Labour group on Shropshire Council, said: “I am not going to oppose this as it is something of a phase complete.

“I do think it has been greatly to the disadvantage of education that in the last five or six years, staff have been forced to seek academy status rather than focus solely on providing the best quality education.

“There is no evidence that academies do better or worse than local authority schools.

“It has been a massive waste of resources and time for staff in schools that have gone through the process and it is all for nothing.

“However, this is a step in the right direction in line with current government policy.”

Academies do not have to follow the national curriculum and have the freedom to set their own term times, although they still have to follow the same rules on admissions, special educational needs and exclusions as other state schools. They also continue to be monitored by Ofsted.

The government had planned to introduce legislation which would have forced schools to become academies but the proposals were abandoned last year.

Liberal Democrat group leader Roger Evans said he didn’t agree with schools becoming academies but said it was not the council’s doing and blamed the government.