Avanti free schools in fresh battle with parents over uniform requirements

Children at former Steiner free schools controversially taken over by a multi-academy trust have been arriving on site this term not in uniform, as they and their families dissent against the chain’s newly-imposed dress code.

 

In the latest evidence of unhappiness with how the three schools in the South West are being run by the Avanti Schools Trust, some families at all three of these academies have continued to give their children the choice of whether or not to wear a uniform, despite the chain’s introduction of the new code, which it has been trying to enforce as a requirement since the start of term.

This is the first time that the schools, which opened from 2012 as Steiner academies but were transferred to Avanti in 2019, have had compulsory uniforms. Parents had been told by the chain before the takeover that it was “not wedded” to the “principle of school uniform having to be worn by all students”.

I understand that parents were called into meetings with senior figures at the trust last week, and have been receiving phone calls. However, families, who have threatened legal action should Avanti try to enforce its uniform requirements, have also been individually sent identical emails by the trust, saying that it acknowledges the “legal right” for their child to attend school “without consequence…based on their choice of clothing”.

The background

Avanti’s takeover of the three former Steiner free schools, in Frome in Somerset, Bristol and Exeter, after they failed Ofsteds has been controversial with parents on multiple fronts.

Central to this has been the feeling of much of the former schools’ communities that the alternative ethos parents opted for had been dispensed with by Avanti.

The schools, for example, no longer opt out of key stage 1 Sats tests. And the Steiner Waldorf model of a distinctive two-year kindergarten phase in the primary schools, and the practice of teachers staying with classes of children as they grow older, have been ditched, some parents adding that the general progressive approach to education, rather than it being specifically Steiner, was the attraction.

Avanti sold the takeover to parents on the grounds that it has retained a generally progressive approach, while the schools are classed as non-faith, despite the trust running Hindu schools elsewhere.

However, with many parents having withdrawn their children from the schools, the uniform issue has been a continuing point of dispute for many of those who remain.

The uniform row

As Education Uncovered reported last October, Avanti was forced into a partial climbdown after parents expressed outrage at the trust having broken a promise not to introduce uniforms at the schools during the last academic year.

Families had been told that formal uniforms, including Avanti-branded items, would be introduced in January 2021, on a phased basis, on grounds including that young people needed to “dress for success”.

Yet Avanti curriculum documents, remarkably still viewable on school websites at the time of the change of policy, had promised only that there would be “formal consultation on the possible introduction of a uniform from September 2021”.

A review of the schools’ curricula commissioned by Avanti following the takeover had reported the previous spring that parents at all three schools were not in favour of a uniform.

Petitions were started against the October move and, within two weeks, the trust had been forced into a partial climbdown, apologising to families for the way the proposals had been handled.

In a letter, it stated: “The Trust understands that this is a contentious issue, and we apologise to those of you who feel we have been high-handed or duplicitous in how we have dealt with this. This has not been our intention, but we accept that we could have handled the issue more sensitively.”

Uniforms were effectively made optional at all three schools during 2020-21, as the letter said pupils were expected to wear uniform “at the latest by September 2021”.

This month’s dispute

To bring the story up to date, those requirements, then, duly came in this month. Boys and girls in the schools’ primary phases would have to wear a white polo shirt and grey trousers or skirt, while a free jumper with Avanti logo would be provided. Secondary pupils would wear a white shirt, grey trousers or shirt, the Avanti jumper and an Avanti tie, while parents have highlighted other rules, for example on types of shoes and colours of socks.

Some parents and their children, however, have not been following these stipulations, with parents giving their children the choice of whether or not to wear the uniform. The revolt is reasonably large, with 20-30 children not in uniform at Avanti Hall, Exeter, I am told, and non-uniform also in evidence at Avanti Gardens, Bristol and Avanti Park, Frome.

Even before the start of term, some parents had signalled their dissent by writing to the trust under the heading “notice regarding school clothing”.

These letters had stated that the individual parents did “not give consent to any Avanti Policy on clothing that is fundamentally prejudice[ial] to my daughter’s and/or son’s lawful rights,” warning that the trust could face legal action if it disciplined a child for non-wearing of uniform.

Avanti sent individual parents brief emails in response, saying: “On behalf of Avanti Schools Trust I acknowledge that you continue to reserve your legal right for your child to access their place of learning and education without prejudice, consequence, punishment or exclusion based on their choice of clothing or how they may choose to appear. Regards, Avanti Schools Trust.”

Mike Younger, Avanti’s chair, and Molly Warrington, chair of its “South West Hub Board” – effectively the three schools’ joint governing bodies, also controlled by the trust – were sufficiently concerned that they also wrote to families reminding them of the uniform rules they were now expected to follow.

Their letter said: “Our policy makes it clear that our school Principals are willing to have open and honest conversations with parents and carers where a child is not wearing uniform, but we must be clear that we expect all children to wear the appropriate Avanti uniform and we do not condone or accept the non-wearing of uniform. Therefore, from Monday 20^th September, Principals, their leadership teams and staff will be applying the attached uniform policy to ensure all pupils comply with our uniform requirements.”

The trust’s uniforms policy, setting out a range of reasons for having a compulsory dress code including that “uniforms unite a school” and “uniforms make us all equal”, were also sent, with families reminded that they would be contacted and asked to bring in a uniform if their child was not wearing one, and that they would have to discuss the situation with the school at the end of the academic day.

However, the emails Avanti sent to the parents in response to their letter of dissent seem to cast doubt on whether it can enforce this position.

I understand that, in one of the schools, Avanti Hall in Exeter, parents were also last week being called in for meetings, including one due to be held with Carolyn Dickinson, director of the “South West hub” and its headteacher, Phil Arnold, though parents have said many of them are unable to attend, partly because of a lack of notice. Arnold and another senior member of staff have also been phoning parents, I am told.

Reactions

A group of dissenting parents told me: “The uniform issue is not just defiance or anarchy. It is fundamentally counter to our ethical, moral and ideological philosophy. It is also offensive on an ecological and environmental level, without even mentioning the fast-fashion, disposable, slave labour production of these cheaply produced and priced unnecessary garments as we are firmly into a climate crisis that will certainly affect our children! And beyond that, what message is this really sending to our children about education, core “British values” like democracy, liberty, freedom of expression…what exactly is education really for and how does a uniform serve our children?”

Another said: “The Avanti Schools Trust…is completely dismissive of many parents’ wishes and the local communities which it is publicly funded to support. The values that they very expensively market are at complete odds to their practice and allow no space for meaningful parental engagement.”

Broken promises

The latest developments seem to add another broken promise from this trust to the one I reported on last year. 

As mentioned above, Avanti had sought to introduce uniforms from January this year, despite having promised only that this might happen from September 2021.

After uniforms were effectively made optional earlier this year, they have duly been introduced. But earlier promises to parents that this would be following consultation have been broken. It is possible to track successive changes to its position in order.

1 Suggesting no compulsory uniform for all

In a question and answer page on its website, dated June 2019 but at the time of writing still visible, Avanti had played down the notion that there would be compulsory uniform at all. https://avanti.org.uk/sw-schools/

Under “Will students be expected to wear a uniform?”, this said: “This will be a matter for further deliberation, but our MAT Board is not wedded to the principle of school uniform having to be worn by all students.”

2 Possible compulsory uniform, but not till Sept 21, following consultation

Then, as mentioned above, after the takeovers had happened Avanti had promised, in curriculum documents for 2020-21, that there would be “formal consultation on the possible introduction of a uniform from September 2021.” However, this has not happened.

3 “It was always going to be about [detail of] uniform requirements”, but there would be consultation on that 

In a further apparent watering down of even this pledge, letters sent to parents in October 2020 had stated: “I am also aware that some parents have queried the lack of a formal consultation that they believe they were promised would take place. When we published the curriculum review in May 2020 we made clear that there would be no change to any uniform requirements from September 2020 but that we did intend to launch a formal consultation on the possible introduction of a uniform, from September 2021.

“Given that all of our other schools have a uniform the consultation was always going to be about uniform requirements, and not about whether to have a uniform or not. The consultation has now started…”

At the time, parents challenged the point in the paragraph above that any consultation “was always going to be about uniform requirements, and not about whether to have a uniform or not,” pointing to the mention in the curriculum documents that Avanti had said it had only been “possible” a uniform would be introduced.

4 No substantive consultation, even on all the detail of uniform requirements

It is now clear that no substantive consultation has taken place, even on the details of the uniform.

Parents told me that there had never been consultation on the entirety of uniform requirements. Two said that the trust had only consulted on one aspect of the uniform requirements – one saying this had only been with “selected parents” – and in the end the blazers had been made voluntary.

Formal parental complaint

I have also seen a formal complaint from a parent at Avanti Gardens school, backed by almost 70 parents in this school of 125 pupils, which was sent to Avanti in July. In this, the parent argued that the school and trust had “shown no interest in consulting, considering or respecting parents’ views, or responding adequately to…informal complaints”.

It called on the trust to carry out a “formal, transparent, inclusive and comprehensive consultation” on the introduction of a uniform. It argued that “the community of all three (SW) former Steiner Academies are philosophically against the tradition of a formal school uniform”, that this was a belief and that it was thus protected under the Equality Act 2010.

It pointed to an informal poll of 53 parents* at the school which saw 81 per cent stating they were against the introduction of a school uniform, with a further 13 per cent saying they did not mind either way and only 5.7 per cent backing uniforms.

AST’s compliance and governance officer wrote back in July, stating: “I am of the view that your concerns do not fall within the scope of our complaints policy. This is because the decision to introduce a uniform to the three SW schools was made in accordance with the Trust’s uniform policy statement…It is clear that the Trust did undertake some consultation about the introduction of a uniform and as a result of this consultation changes requested by some parents were agreed to.”

The complainant pointed to an open letter signed by parents on the issue which highlighted Department for Education guidance, dating from 2013, on school uniforms. This states that the government strongly recommends that school governing bodies “take into account the views of parents and pupils on significant changes to school uniform policy,” and that “we do expect the governing body to consult and work closely with parents to arrive at a mutually accepted outcome,” although it adds that “teachers can discipline pupils for breaching the school’s rules on appearance or uniform”.

The parent said the complaint fell within the scope of AST’s complaints policy and therefore needed to be investigated.   

Avant Schools Trust did not respond to a request for comment on the uniforms row last October. I will seek fresh comment from it on the current situation.

*I am told that similar polls and numbers were reported at the two other schools.