The cabinet has endorsed the Government’s national drive to develop the Academy programme nationally and bring fresh focus on the ways in which underperforming schools are supported to improve; as well as encouraging good and outstanding schools to achieve academy status.

The Government has said it wishes to see increased autonomy from local education authorities for all schools - with Academies being supplemented by a network of free schools and greater accountability for underperforming schools alongside the Academies programme.

Standards in Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire’s recent GCSE exam results slipped below the national average for the first time in 2011 and standards at Key Stage One were below standard – particularly within the city of Oxford.

The council is launching a campaign to improve standards with an Every Child a Reader campaign in primary schools and improvements in school leadership. The council set aside extra money when it recently set its budget for the 2012/13 financial year for these purposes.

The council views structural change as another key method of changing the culture in Oxfordshire and bringing about a wholesale improvement in standards. However it does want to help schools manage this process in a planned way – putting in place solutions that make sure no schools or pupils are disadvantaged by an unplanned, ad-hoc or piecemeal process.

How will the council work with schools to manage the change?

• The council will commission an outside organisation to produce a comprehensive report on the process by which schools convert to academy status.
• This process will assist in setting out options for the establishment of multi-academy or umbrella trusts across the county
• It would identify issues that might arise if changes happen in an unplanned way.
• The contracted organisation would work with the council to engage with schools to seek view and identify and report back on innovative solutions that are already being considered by groups of schools elsewhere in the UK.
• The council will establish an advisory board comprising leading educationalists and community leaders, brought together by the council, to help deliver the change which is sought.

The council will work closely in partnership with the Diocese of Oxford and the two Roman Catholic Diocese to manage change.

The current picture in Oxfordshire

• Almost 40 per cent of all secondary schools are currently expressing an interest with the Department for Education in becoming an academy.
• Two further schools have already converted as academies – King Alfred’s School and Wallingford School
• There are three existing sponsored academies – North Oxfordshire Academy, Oxford Academy and Oxford Spires Academy.
• The Department for Education has started discussions with three primary schools who do not meet basic national minimum targets – Berinsfield Primary School, Windale Primary School and John Henry Newman Primary School.
• Conversions to academy status are in train at Gillotts School, Hanwell Fields Community School, Rush Common Primary School, Bartholomew School, Langtree School, Chipping Norton School, Henry Box School, Burford School, The Cherwell School, Cutteslowe Primary School, Banbury School and Dashwood Primary School. There has also been a joint application from  Faringdon Community College, Infants School and Junior School (joint application)

If all applications are successful and sponsors are identified for under-performing schools, it is possible that more than half of Oxfordshire’s secondary schools and 10 per cent of all schools will be academies by the end of the year.

The current picture nationally

The changes that will happen in Oxfordshire are not unique to the county. They are happening and will continue to happen all over the UK.

• There are currently 1529 academies open in England
• 1194 of these are schools that have converted to become academies and 335 are sponsored.
• A total of 45 per cent of all maintained secondary schools are either open or in the pipeline to become academies.
• In many authorities, the majority of secondary schools are academies – over 90 per cent in North East Lincolnshire, 90 per cent in Buckinghamshire, over 88 per cent in Bromley and over 82 per cent in Swindon.
• Three in every five outstanding secondary schools nationally have applied to become academies.
• In total more than 1.25 million pupils now attend academies – this is the equivalent of one in seven pupils in state schools.
• In an average week, the Department for Education processes 20 applications from schools to convert to academy status.

Grasping the nettle

Councillor Melinda Tilley, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for School Improvement, said: “The Government is convinced that the status quo is not delivering for the children of the United Kingdom and Oxfordshire County Council is convinced that the current system is failing to raise standards to the high levels we require.”

“Change is happening all over the UK and it is happening here in Oxfordshire. Oxfordshire schools are already grasping the nettle in large numbers and taking advantage of the Government’s big changes. We need to help schools manage that change in a planned way and drive up standards here in Oxfordshire at all levels and in all schools.

“These changes are a much needed breath of fresh air for Oxfordshire’s education system. It is not good enough that our GCSE results are below national standards and that our Key Stage One results are so poor. I am sure people will want to present concerns about the proposed changes and we more than happy to listen. What we are not willing to do is countenance challenge to change itself. Change must happen. Standards must improve.”