Academy Schools & Selective Admissions: The Background

English: Grace Academy. The day before the schools first intake of pupils (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A report released in the New Year by the Academies Commission has proposed that some of the new generation of academy schools maybe using de facto selection methods to affect their respective intakes to the favour of their results and performance. There is no doubt that there have been some great success stories amongst the raft of new schools that have converted to academy status in the last few years but is there a question over how these results have been obtained and whether they are a true reflection of performance? The first instalment of this article recaps what academy schools are and when selective admissions are permitted.

What are Academy Schools?
Academy Schools were introduced as City Academies by the Labour government in 2000 with the aim of transforming the fortunes of failing city secondary schools in England by providing them with the freedoms of self governance together with the ability to team with partners from the public and private sectors who have experiences of delivering success in their respective fields. In July 2010, the current coalition government embraced and grew the academy project passing the Academies Act passed shortly after the start of its term. The act opened up and promoted the possibility for all schools to apply for academy status and as a result there are now 2,619 currently operating in England.

At the heart of their definition is the idea that academies are schools which continue to receive funding from central government - the same funding per head as a traditional state school would receive via the local education authority (LEA) - but they are free from the control of said local education authorities. Therefore, they have the freedom to determine how the school is run to a significant extent; namely, how those funds are allocated on school resources (including staff pay), the length of the school day and the dates of school terms, uniforms, how the school is structured and, most importantly, what and how they teach as they are not required to follow the national curriculum fully. However, despite being afforded many of the freedoms of privately run schools, academies are still defined as state schools due to their funding and as such are subject to Ofsted inspections and are prohibited from charging fees.

The Rules Concerning Selection
Schools that convert to academy status can continue to use selection processes such as the 11 plus if they did so before their conversion. Many Grammar schools for example that were previously run under the grant maintained scheme, which also gave them autonomy from local government control but access to central government funding, found a natural fit with the academy structure and so made the conversion. These schools exist on the principle of providing tailored education to the highest achievers irrespective of their social background and so relied on using the 11 plus to select these children and can continue to do so following their switch to academies.

State schools that convert to academy status and that do/did not implement any selection criteria as LEA controlled schools, cannot subsequently become selective in their admission however, because this would undermine one of their stated aims, to drive up academic standards throughout their local communities.

The forthcoming instalment of this article will look more closely at the Academies Commission’s concerns regarding selective admissions.

© Stuart Mitchell 2013
If you want to find more information about applying to become an academy then you can get advice from solicitors specialising in Education Law.

The Profile of 2013's Free Schools

The UK Government has recently announced that 102 prospective free schools have been given the go-ahead for 2013. It displays an increase in the adoption of this particular government initiative and so it is perhaps an appropriate time to look at what this means for the landscape of the English schools system.

Now in its third year, the initiative is certainly becoming more popular. The approval system had given permission to 65 schools last year, of which 50 will open this September (2012). The first batch of pioneers in September 2011 , however, only consisted of 24.

Who is Setting Them Up?
Of the 102 new free schools eligible for 2013 there is a mixture as to who is/will be behind their establishment. They are all being set up by either those in the education profession already or local communities but the full break down is as follows:

• 59: Existing education professionals; including teachers, headteachers, educational organisations, existing schools and universities, of which:
• 5 are private schools converting to free schools to access public funding
• 2 are backed by universities
• 43: Local community groups; including charities and, parent groups

What Are They?
The majority of free schools being approved will be defined as mainstream schools, however there are a number of specialist schools being set up alongside these, as would be expected due to the remit of free schools to satisfy particular local education needs. The schools can be defined as:

• 85 mainstream schools, of which,
• 40 are primary
• 28 are secondary
• 10 are all through (primary and secondary)
• 5 are for 16-19 year olds
• 1 is for 14-19 year olds
• 1 is for 5-7 year olds (i.e., reception school)
• 12 alternative provision schools for those who are unable to attend mainstream schools
• 5 special schools, of which,
• 2 are all through
• 1 is primary
• 1 is secondary
• 1 is for 14-19 year olds

Perhaps most controversially for the opponents of free schools in particular:

• 33 are religious schools, of which,
• 20 are faith schools which wil be permitted a degree of selectivity in their admissions based upon religious beliefs

The relatively high proportion of religious schools in the mix can be seen to bear out the concerns that religious groups will be more able and more likely to set up free schools. The belief is that this results from the fact that they are likely to already have access to the infrastructure as well as the organisational structure they need to get them up and running, in contrast to private individuals attempting to form organisations themselves from scratch.

Where Are They?
The largest concentration of schools will be in London (34, 1 in 3), followed by the South East and North West. Although one of their aims is to improve the education possibilities in particularly deprived areas, the North East only has 3 opening despite its higher than average levels of depravity. Interestingly there are pockets of the country where there are no new free schools opening at all such as in: the southern counties of Wiltshire, Dorset, Somerset & Hampshire (including the Isle of Wight); the central midlands (around Warwickshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire etc); South Yorkshire down into Derbyshire; North Yorkshires across into Cumbria.

The full breakdown by region is:

• 34 (33%) - London
• 16 (16%) - South East
• 12 (12%) - North West
• 10 (10%) - East of England
• 9 (9%) - South West
• 7 (7%) - West Midlands
• 7 (7%) - Yorkshire and Humber
• 4 (4%) - East Midlands
• 3 (3%) - North East

The DfE’s own research suggests that the Independence awarded to Academy schools in general is yielding dividends with their results seeming to outstrip the rest of the sector whilst the success of their US counterparts in New York also bodes well. However time will tell whether these burgeoning free schools can continue that success and fulfil their remit to plug the specific social and educational gaps in their local areas.

© Stuart Mitchell 2012
If you want to find out more about applying to become a free school or converting to academy status then visit Education Law Solicitors.

The Systems of Education in the UK - Scottish & NI Year Groups

Having previously looked at the structure of the school years within England and Wales the following article covers the equivalent structures across both Scotland and Northern Ireland with each following their own systems.

Northern Ireland
The school year system in Northern Ireland broadly follows the same core structure as the English/Welsh system and therefore is not as distinct as that of the Scots, although there are still few features which set it apart.

Each of the UK’s systems have a cut off date at which the child’s age determines the year group in which they are to join. Across the Irish Sea this date is 1 September, the start of the school year, however in Northern Ireland it is 1st July (c.f. 1 March in Scotland). Although the Northern Irish school year also begins in practice on 1 September, it effectively runs from July to July with the summer holidays covering the months of July and August.

Primary school years are referred to as Primary 1 through to Primary 7 (rather than using the English terminology incorporating Reception) and therefore year numbering is comparatively one ahead of the English system, with, for example Year 7 in England being equivalent to Year 8 in Northern Ireland. In many secondary schools, however, the colloquial ‘form’ naming convention is still used to refer to the year groups with the ‘first’ to ‘fifth forms’ and ‘lower’ and ‘upper sixth’.

• Primary School/Education
• Ages 4/5 to 10/11
• Primary 1 to 7
• Secondary School/Education
• Ages 11/12 to 17/18
• Years 8 to 14

The primary and secondary stages are again split into Key Stages which are broadly consistent with the English system although the Foundation Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 stages both start a year behind their English equivalents.

• Foundation Stages - Primary 1 & 2 (ages 4 to 6)
• Key Stage 1 - Primary 3 & 4 (ages 6 to 8)
• Key Stage 2 - Primary 5 to 7 (ages 8 to 11)
• Key Stage 3 - Years 8 to 10 (ages 11 to 14)
• Key Stage 4 - Years 11 & 12 (ages 14 to 16, ending in GCSEs)
• Sixth Form/College - Years 13 & 14 (ages 16 to 18, ending in A Levels or International Baccalaureate)

Scotland
As the governance of the Scottish Education system sits with the Scottish Parliament and outside of the control of Westminster, the school year system in Scotland differs considerable from those of England, Wales and Northern Ireland; from the structure of the school year groups to the process involved in determining each year’s first intake.

Although the school year in Scotland runs August to August, the date at which a child’s age is measured has been separated from these dates and instead the mid point, 1 March, is used. All children must start school in Aug regardless of when their birthday is in contrast with the structure south of the border. However, under this system children who turn 5 years of age between 1 March and 31 July will begin their education in the coming August alongside children who are due to turn 5 between the following 1 August and 28/29 February. Therefore, all children starting their first year of primary school should fall in the age range 4 ½ to 5 ½, with Spring-Summer borns aged 5 to 5 ½ and Autumn-Winter borns aged 4 ½ to 5.

However, this intake is flexible and so children born in January and February who would only be just over 4 ½ at the start of the school year can be held back in nursery for an extra year if the parent wishes, whilst it is also possible, although not guaranteed, to request a delay for those born in the three months preceding that. Prior to their Primary education children have access to Nursery as soon as they turn 3 years of age.

Akin to the naming convention in Northern Ireland (and contrary to England & Wales), Scottish primary school years are referred to as Primary 1 to Primary 7, however, the numbering begins again in secondary school with S1 to S6 year groups:

• Primary School/Education
• Ages 4/5 to 10/11
• Primary 1 to 7
• Secondary School/Education
• Ages 11/12 to 17/18
• S1 to S6 (S5 & S6 are optional)

Due to the variation of ages in particular year groups and the fact that children take their Higher exams in S5 which can qualify them for University, some leave secondary school at this point although most remain for S6 and take their Advanced Highers before progressing.

Most Secondary Schools are variably referred to as High Schools or Academies with a few referred to as Grammar schools (although this term carries no practical meaning), colleges or simply Secondary Schools. A few schools in more remote areas provide education through both the primary and secondary levels, either up to S4 known as Junior Schools, or in entirety, simply known as Schools. However, there are also a handful of privately run schools in Scotland which sit outside of this structure and instead follow the English system.

© Stuart Mitchell 2012
If you want to find out more about systems of education in the UK, particularly if your school is considering academy status then visit Academy Conversion.