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Academy status ‘not a silver bullet for failing schools’, Nicky Morgan warned

 
'Landmark bill': Education Secretary Nicky Morgan
Anna Davis @_annadavis|Education Editor
5 June 2015

Education experts today criticised government plans to force all failing schools to become academies.

It came as an investigation found 133 existing academies — 28 of which were rated as good or outstanding when they first converted — are now failing.

Education Secretary Nicky Morgan unveiled a “landmark” bill on Wednesday that paves the way for every failing school to become an academy.

She said: “We think a day spent in a failing school is a day too long when their education is at stake.” But she dodged questions about how many academies were failing.

Schools Week newspaper analysed the latest Ofsted data and found 133 academies are rated as failing.

This includes six in London — Willow Brook Primary school in Waltham Forest, Biggin Hill primary school in Bromley, The Brittons Academy Trust in Havering, The Crest Academy in Brent, Haberdashers’ Aske’s Knights Academy in Lewisham and Capital City Academy in Brent.

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The investigation also found 28 out of 1,953 academies fell from being good or outstanding to inadequate — a rate of 1.43 per cent. The rate for local authority schools was 1.57 per cent.

Becky Francis, professor of education and social justice at King’s College London, told Schools Week: “To suggest that academy sponsorship is a silver bullet it its own right clearly belies the evidence. The Department for Education needs to adopt a more measured approach.”

A spokeswoman for the Department for Education said: “We have consistently shown that where a school is struggling, we will not hesitate to take swift action to see it improve.

“Where we have concerns about an academy trust’s ability to improve performance, we will intervene to find a strong sponsor for the school.”

A separate investigation by Schools Week and Watchsted today revealed the highest paid academy chain leader was Sir Daniel Moynihan, chief executive of the Harris Federation, who earned £370,000 in 2014.

A spokesman for the Harris Federation said: “The Federation believes in employing the best teachers, best Heads and best leaders which is reflected in our success.”