Friday 25 April 2008

Dunn Deal and Accountability

Can you assure parents that, unlike other Academies, you would make available to current and prospective parents full results, subject by subject? What do you feel about the sponsor's unwillingness to release this data?

That would be for the principal of the Academy to decide, but I can see no reason why such data would not be available. Likewise I am not aware of ULT being unwilling to provide this data to parents at its existing Academies.Can we get a promise from ULT that they will make the data available? Please ask them to exempt themselves from the Freedom of Information Act, and then tell us this with some confidence. Researchers and Journalists have found it VERY difficult to access this information from all academies. If you are not aware of this, Cllr Dunn, please could you ask?
Academies are inspected by Ofsted, using the same framework as for any other state school. Prior to opening, the proposed policy documents for the Academy would be subject to inspection. A full Ofsted inspection – with the full results being published – has to be carried out within six terms of the opening. Prior to this inspection the Academy would receive regular visits from Ofsted inspectors.
Not the same as for any other school. This is the latest information we have: They are inspected by a specialist team, which is made up of 8 inspectors for the country, some of whom oddly enough inspected predecessor schools, giving them a rather hard time- classifying them as failing. In 2004, Ofsted agreed a Protocol for working with the DCSF ‘Academies Group’. Under this protocol, Ofsted is involved in providing detailed advice concerning the setting up of individual Academies. It was also agreed in the Protocol that their inspections should be “helpful in promoting the Academy’s progress”. Given that Ofsted is so closely identified with the development of individual Academies and with the success of the Academies programme as a whole, its independence from government has been compromised. This is inequitable: parents do not receive like-for-like reports for Academies and non-Academies.

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