Labour MP hails government’s decision not to award schools to major academy trust

Academy controversies in Hastings, East Sussex, shine a light on struggle to bring local accountability to management decisions, say critics.

 

A backbench Labour MP has praised the government’s decision not to hand schools currently run by a soon-to-close academy trust to one of England’s largest, chains - Ark Schools – warning that the latter must work “with the community not against it”.

However, the statement by Hastings and Rye MP Helena Dollimore, on the future of institutions run by the University of Brighton Academies Trust (UBAT), came with the government having confirmed that they will move to one of six academy trusts, rather than return to the local authority sector.

 

The detail

Developments in Hastings, in East Sussex, shine a light on controversies around the running of the UBAT chain as a whole, and that of a school in the town – Ark Alexandra Academy, run by the London-based chain of the same name - as well as on the debate on local democratic influence in education.

In January, it was reported how UBAT, which runs 14 schools from its base in Burgess Hill, West Sussex, is to “hand over its schools to other trusts after a series of protests over its financial management”. 

The trust had been exposed, following a National Education Union analysis, as retaining up to 20 per cent of its schools’ budgets for central spending, with Ms Dollimore’s Conservative predecessor as local MP, Sally-Ann Hart, having stated in April last year that UBAT was withholding “staggering amounts of money” from schools’ income. NEU members at four schools then went on strike last summer over the issue.

Following the announcement that UBAT was to give up its schools, the NEU called on them to be returned to local authority control. Eight of the schools – two secondaries and six primaries – are in Hastings, meaning that the issue has been a live one for Ms Dollimore.

However, the MP revealed this week that, while the schools are not to be moved to the town’s other controversial academy trust – Ark – the government has lined up a potential transfer to one of six other chains. This seemingly rules out any return to the local authority.

In a post on Facebook, Ms Dollimore said: “Today, the shortlist of 6 academy chains being considered to take over our local schools (currently run by UBAT, the University of Brighton Academies Trust) has been announced.

“Those 6 trusts are Mulberry, the Diocese of Chichester Trust, Pioneer Academy Trust, Hurst Education Trust, Reach2 and Sussex Education Trust. Over the coming months parents and pupils will hear more about these trusts and have the chance to feed in their views and experiences.

“My message to new academy trusts is clear: work with the local community and we can improve our local schools and opportunities for young people…

“I have been standing up for our local community at every stage of this process. From day one, I have said that parents, pupils and school staff must have a voice in this process to determine who runs our local schools. Around 100 of you attended my public meeting on this and your feedback was handed in directly to the Department for Education officials in charge of the process…

“Lastly, a note on Ark. It will rightly be seen as a victory for our community that Ark has not been handed control over more of our local schools. I have fed your experiences and concerns directly to the Regional Schools Commissioner who will be taking these up with Ark’s leadership. In this process, these experiences have been heard, and Ark must now work with the community not against it, and be more responsive to the serious concerns raised.”

In the wake of the controversy the NEU’s Hastings district called on the government to amend the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which is currently going through Parliament, to allow academies to return to local authority control. There is, though, no sign as yet of this change happening.

Ark Alexandra

Education Uncovered is still investigating the situation at Ark Alexandra. However, an open letter sent from the NEU’s Hastings district to Ms Dollimore last month, also posted on Facebook, gave a remarkably blunt insight into issues as the union has seen them.

Alongside a call for Ms Dollimore to press the government on increasing funding for education, the union warned that “MATs are failing Hastings and Rye.”

As well as UBAT having “collapsed entirely,” the letter said, Ark Alexandra was “a school in crisis, [with a] mass student exodus, an authoritarian regime pushing out young people and demoralised staff, [a] constant turnover of teachers and senior leaders [and] zero community accountability.”

I put to Ark, which runs 39 academies from its base in White City, West London, the NEU’s claims. A spokesperson responded: “We do not recognise the description of the school that the NEU has shared. Ark Alexandra is not a school in crisis – rather the reverse. The school had its strongest ever outcomes last year*, and we continue to see progress in every year group.”

Justin Wynne, joint district secretary for Hastings NEU, told me that issues in relation to Ark’s schools in the town appeared to be specific to Ark Alexandra, including its behaviour policies which were “very very strict,” with its primary schools there not facing such controversy. A parent source who is heavily critical of Ark Alexandra also told me that the chain’s two primary schools in the town are excellent.

Ark Alexandra faced intense controversy last year over its policy of banning mobile phones and smart watches not only in class, but on the journey to and from school. Ms Dollimore raised the issue in House of Commons, saying that “many parents had been in touch” over the issue, and that, while they supported the reduction of mobile phone use at school, they worried about pupil safety outside of school and wanted the academy to look at alternative options, such as lock boxes. 

On the process of transferring the UBAT schools, Mr Wynne said that, while it would have been preferable for them to return to the local authority and that the transfer process appeared to be being “rushed,” a decision on the transfer would at least bring security to teachers’ jobs and clarity for pupils. However, he said, in general, the situation in Hastings underlined how academy trusts could operate without meaningful local influence over their management, with local governing bodies, where they existed at all, not having any power. “Multi-academy trusts are a law unto themselves, he added.

 

*However, the school’s performance on the key Progress 8 measure appears from DfE data to have been slightly better in 2022 than it was last year, at -0.55 to -0.79.