The strange case of Folkestone Academy

How can the control of a school completely change without anyone in the community –its parents, pupils and staff –being consulted?

Regular readers of this website will need no reminding that the issue of how schools can be distanced from those who depend upon them under the academies scheme is becoming an obsession of mine, fuelled in recent weeks by the Bright Tribe and Wakefield City Academies Trust cases.

But I’ve come across another example recently which is crying out for close scrutiny.

In April, Sir Roger de Haan, the longstanding sponsor of Folkestone Academy in Kent, sent a letter to parents in which he announced that he was stepping down from the school’s board. Folkestone Academy had been one of the earlier secondaries to take on the status, under Labour in 2007, before taking on a primary section in 2009. The two phases of the academy boast buildings which cost a reported £40 million-plus between them.

The letter saw de Haan beginning by saying that “after many years of involvement with the Folkestone Academy, I have decided to retire from my position as Sponsor and Chair of Governors”. He highlighted the school’s history – de Haan said he had begun lobbying the government to create the school 15 years ago – and recent progress which had seen it Ofsted-rated as “good”.