Consultant who works “in the academies sector” involved in consultation response for controversial academisation plans

A consultant who has close ties to the academies sector has been appointed to collate community responses to controversial plans for two local authority schools to join a privately-controlled academy trust, Education Uncovered has learnt.

Rama Venchard is involved in the response to community consultation on plans for the Hove Federation, comprising an infants’ and a junior school in Brighton and Hove, to join the Aurora Academies Trust. He also took part last week in a meeting that federation governors had with unions.

Mr Venchard’s biography on his company’s website states that he has had “over ten years working in the academies sector,” without mentioning maintained schools. Official Department for Education governance records show him currently having governance roles at four academy trusts, though not at any local authority schools.

However, Mr Venchard told Education Uncovered that he had “supported maintained schools and academies over the past 19 years,” and has always acted impartially, and “to suggest that I won’t be impartial in this process is an insult to me, my reputation as well as to all the schools, staff and parents I have previously represented”.

The detail

As Education Uncovered reported on Friday, the two schools, which are rated outstanding and good by Ofsted, have been lined up to academise and join Aurora, which is ultimately controlled by an American firm whose other interests include for-profit charter schools.

Mr Venchard is founding director of a company called Silica Associates Ltd. On its website, his biography states: “Since 2005, he has worked with schools and [academy] Trusts to facilitate the set-up of Academies, University Technical Colleges, Studio Schools and Free Schools,” all of which are types of academy.

The biography adds: “He is a Trustee on two Academy Trust boards and a Member of two others. He has assisted in the set-up of several Multi Academy Trusts and is the in-house Project Director leading on Academy conversions and Free Schools for five Academy Trusts.

“Rama brings a wealth of knowledge from over twenty years in the retail, hospitality and banking sectors and over ten years working in the Academies sector.”

The biography does not disclose the academy trusts to which he refers, but this is discernible from Department for Education records. They show Mr Venchard as the chair of trustees at London South East Acaddmies Trust, as well as one of that’s trust’s members*; a trustee at STEP Academies Trust; a member at Westfield Academy; and a member at Activate Learning Education Trust. There are no records of current governance roles in non-academy local authority maintained schools. He is not a trustee/director of Aurora Academies Trust.

Mr Venchard was also appointed as an adviser to the Department for Education’s London regional advisory board, which presides over academy conversions in that area. This does not cover Brighton and Hove.

He was awarded an MBE in the 2023 New Year’s Honours List for “services to education”.

Union sources were incredulous that Mr Venchard could be closely involved with the federation’s response to consultation, given his involvement with the academies policy and the fact that academisation has been intensely controversial in this case, including the local authority coming out strongly in opposition.

One said that three unions – the National Education Union, the GMB and Unison – had asked to speak to governors about the proposals, and that governors had brought Mr Venchard with them for a meeting last week that followed. Governors had said this was to help the federation answer questions about the academisation move.

A union source said: “It turns out that it will be him [Mr Venchard] who will collate the results of the school survey.”

The consultation featured only two substantive questions: one a yes/no one on whether the schools should become academies, with a box for free text comments, and the second asking for “additional comments,” with respondents asked to “please tell us how you think the Academies could be even better for you and your community”.

The union source added that the meeting was also given extra details about the consultation.

They said: “It was also revealed that the emphasis will not be on the number of yes / no votes but rather the 'quality' of the argument or point made in the comment box.  The emphasis on this was never shared with parents.”

The union source then questioned whether the community could rely on someone who has worked on “advising/supporting  schools to become academies” to be impartial in their interpretation of these comments.

Even the perception of being too closely connected to one side of the argument rather than the other, even if Mr Venchard is committed to acting impartially as he has emphasised to this website, would increase the contention around the proposal.

Asked about this, Mr Venchard told Education Uncovered: “I have been commissioned to support the Hove Learning Federation in their process to consult on their proposal to academise and join the Aurora Academies Trust. It is my knowledge of the consultation process and my integrity for which I have been asked to support the Federation.

“One of my responsibilities is to collate the consultation responses and produce a final factual report for the Governing Board of the Federation, for them to consider next steps.

“To suggest that I won’t be impartial in this process is an insult to me, my reputation as well as to all the schools, staff and parents I have previously represented. I have supported maintained schools and academies over the past 19 years, with not a sniff of lack of impartiality being mentioned.

“My professional history involves working closely with academies, but this does not mean I have a predetermined position in this case. My role is to facilitate an evidence-based, balanced analysis of the consultation responses – and not to advocate for a specific outcome.”

Asked whether he had had governance roles in the maintained sector, Mr Venchard responded: “I was previously a governor in 2020 at Saffron Green Primary School in Borehamwood [Hertfordshire, which remains a local authority school],and I have advised several maintained schools on the pros and cons of academisation together with the assurances they need to secure from an Academy Trust prior to committing to a partnership.”

I have also asked the federation for comment, but have yet to have a response.

There was a public meeting on the Hove Federation’s plans on Monday night.

*Members are analogous to shareholders in a for-profit company, with rights including appointing and dismissing trustees and amending a trust’s constitution.