ELECTED MAYOR'S BRIEFING NOTE
EDUCATION THE CASE FOR ACADEMIES IN STOKE-ON-TRENT
To: MEMBERS,  MPs, MEPs, CHAIRS OF GOVERNORS AND HEAD TEACHERS IN BOTH PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS
24 SEPTEMBER 2007
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My starting point - our duty - to ensure the delivery of high quality state education free to every child in our city.

The extension of quality and opportunity in the state system, bridging the old private-state divide, is symbolized [sic] by the success of City Academies in some of the most deprived and challenging areas of the country. Creating Academy schools means not only do we get new buildings; they bring new hope and breathe new life into local communities.

When I see the superb work being achieved by Academies the length breath [sic] of Britain and neighboring [sic] cities of Derby, Manchester and Birmingham embracing the Academy ethos - not to mention staffs [sic] county council who are building the new JCB Academy up the road, I believe we should also take the opportunity to explore this growing and increasingly successful movement in our secondary schools sector.

First let me place it in context. Both the NHS and our education system are going through the most radical process of reform since the war. The NHS reforms were set out in the 10 year plan of 2000, supplemented by the 2005 five year White Paper. The education reforms, started with literacy and numeracy in primary education and then to expansion of specialist schools in secondary education. In each case, reform has been accompanied by substantial extra investment, which within just a few years will bring Britain up to the average of our main overseas competitors. In each case, the reform programme is roughly half-way through.

In each case, the means of reform is the same: to break down monolithic 'one size fits all' provision, encourage new providers, give users more power and more choice, create incentives to improve, allow far greater flexibility in the way the public services and the frontline staff work. To date supporters of education reform here in our city have failed to clearly explain the end purpose of the reform.

The purpose is very simple: fairness and opportunity for all. Public services exist so that those that cannot afford to buy good healthcare or schooling are not at a disadvantage. Collectively we pool resources and pay for universal services, access which is not based on wealth but on need. That's the theory. But, in practice, of course, the well-off can continue to buy services. And if what they can buy becomes greatly different in quality from what the state provides, this results in the very unfairness the public services we're supposed to correct.

So I want to be brutally honest. In schooling, the better off do have choice and power over the system. If they are sufficiently wealthy, they can send their children to a range of independent, fee-paying schools which, by and large, provide excellent education. Or they can move house to be next to the best state schools. Or they can buy private tuition.

In other words, for the better off, the British education system is full of options. But for a middle or lower income family, whose local school is the option and which is underperforming, there is nothing they can do, except take what they are given.

I do not believe we will ever achieve a situation where wealth does not matter in schooling. But I sincerely believe we can and must improve what we have in the state sector.

Actually over the past few years, across much of the country, there has been much improvement. Primary test results at 11 improved again last summer, producing the best ever results. 84,000 more pupils leaving primary school last year could read and write better and 96,000 more pupils could do basic maths than was the case before the introduction of the literacy and numeracy strategies. Being tough on failure has already ensured that more than 1200 primary and secondary schools have been successfully turned around.

Teaching is now one of the most popular career choices for graduates, as salaries have increased in real terms by 15%. And teachers are backed by almost 130,000 more teaching assistants and support staff, improving adult: teacher ratios and giving teachers the time to teach and prepare good lessons. Standards of teaching have risen too: according to Ofsted, the proportion of good or excellent teaching in schools has risen in primaries from 45% in 1997 to 72% last year and from 59% to 72% in secondary schools.

In the City 49% of primary school lessons demonstrated good or excellent teaching, whilst in the secondary sector. There is [sic] no comparable data.

Teachers can use the latest technology to deliver livelier lessons: the average secondary school now has 218 computers, compared with 101 in 1998. Most have interactive whiteboards and broadband access. In Stoke-on-Trent there is an average of 237 computers and 15 whiteboards per school as of PLASC 2005. All this is helping produce better results.

The number of all-ability secondary's [sic] where 70% or more pupils gain five good GCSEs has risen five-fold to more than 400, while those with fewer than a quarter of pupils gaining five good GCSEs has fallen by two thirds since 1997. In 1997, Stoke-on-Trent had no all-ability secondary schools where 70% of the pupils gained 5 or more GCSEs. In 2007 we had two such schools.

No London borough now has fewer than 40% of its pupils achieving five good GCSEs, whereas in 1997 seven boroughs were below 30%. In 1997 the city had 9 schools that were below 30% for 5 good GCSEs; by 2007 this figure had dropped to no schools being below this benchmark. With regard to 5 good GCSEs including Maths and English, Stoke-on-Trent had 14 schools below the 30% threshold in 1997, there are now only 5 such schools. In Stoke on Trent only 33.6% of pupils attained five good GCSEs, including maths and English, in 2006 and the gap between national and city performance is 11.3% Performance at key stage 1 between 2004/06 has declined.

The number of young people not in education employment of training (NEET) is the highest in the country. At 16+ there was an increase between 2004/05 of 1.4% leaving 11.2% NEET. For 17+ it stands at 15%.

We also have some of the highest rates of teenage pregnancy. And only 10.4% of our looked after children attained five good GCSEs.

	FT Education	Work Based Learning	Positive Destinations	NEET	(TOTAL)	(Missing data for:)
1998	56.3%	17.1%	73.4%	19.6%	93.0%	7.0%
1999	65.1%	13.4%	78.5%	14.7%	93.2%	6.8%
2000	64.3%	14.2%	78.5%	13.3%	91.8%	8.2%
2001	64.2%	15.7%	79.9%	13.5%	93.4%	6.6%
2002	62.2%	16.9%	79.1%	12.9%	92.0%	8.0%
2003	65.9%	16.2%	82.1%	9.2%	91.3%	8.7%
2004	65.8%	17.9%	83.6%	10.1%	93.7%	6.3%
2005	67.4%	15.5%	82.9%	11.2%	94.1%	5.9%
2006	69.5%	15.3%	85.0%	10.3%	95.3%	4.7%
change 98 - 06	13.2%	-1.8%	11 .6%	-9.3%
change 01 - 04	1.6%	2.2%	3.7%	-3.4%
change 01 - 06	5.3%	-0.4%	5.1%	-3.2%

   
We are clearly failing our young generation - So what is to be done.

The improvements nationally and locally are a tribute to the leadership of good head teachers and dedicated staff. But it has relied, to a great extent, on central and local government direction. And it has tended to shy away from following through the logic of the reforms so far.

Recent discussions in Stoke have taken us along the first tentative steps of this logical path. The logic of changing to the specialist schools, of starting City Academies, of giving greater freedom to schools in who they hire, what they pay, how they run their school day, is very clear.

It is to escape the straitjacket of the traditional comprehensive school and embrace the idea of genuinely independent non-fee paying state schools. It is to break down the barriers to new providers, to schools associating with outside sponsors, to the ability to start and expand schools; and to give parental choice its proper place.

This will never mean every parent has the place they want for their child. But it will mean that their preferences start shaping the way the system works. Hence the case for City Academies. Independent State schools are what they are. And the test of their success will not come in media stories about the odd case of failure (and incidentally such stories could be written, but rarely are, about the non-Academy failures); it will come in the list of parents trying to get into school.

There is now a spectrum including specialist schools, faith schools, foundation schools and Academies. Any school can now become a foundation school with a simple vote of its governing body, giving it the freedom to manage its own buildings and employ its own staff. And the Academies movement continues to go from strength to strength.

I know some people still don't fully understand what Academies do and how they operate. Academies are independent schools, which are free to parents. In many cities, they are providing new hope and new opportunities in the poorest wards, helping to overcome the effects of generational disadvantage and years of school failure. A failure which has fueled the low aspirations of far too many of our young people.

Academies are about much more than state of the art buildings. What really makes Academies different is their ethos, their sense of purpose, the strength of their leaders, teachers and support staff, the motivation of their parents and pupils. And much of that comes from the can-do attitude of their principals and staff, and the drive that their business and educational sponsors bring to their development - backed by their willingness to innovate.

In practice, that combination means that things can be done differently if that's what's going to get results. For example, Mossbourne Academy, in Hackney has extended its school day so that every student gets an extra two hours study a week. They can take an extra language, an advanced maths class, join the debating society or learn about web design. Those who have fallen behind in the basics can use the time for extra literacy or numeracy lessons.

Another example is Walsall Academy, where they have followed in the footsteps of Thomas Telford CTC by opting for a new style of timetable where students do all their Maths or English in a single morning. The advantage is that time is not wasted moving between classrooms - and the clear focus on a single subject helps students to learn better.
And, at the City Academy Bristol, local business people have been brought in to work as mentors with school staff to help the school operate in a more business-like way. Bristol also has an outreach team drawn from the local community helping to persuade parents of the importance of their children staying on at school. It has already had results improving staying-on rates for Muslim girls.

I pose you the question. Do we want to deny Stoke on Trent's young citizens the right to these types of opportunities?

The 2006 GCSE results showed an average 8 percentage point improvement in Academies in the numbers getting five good GCSEs - at least four times the national average. Stoke on Trent's performance improved by 1.2%.

Particularly good results were achieved by Academies in Haringey, Bristol, Walsall and Manchester. All are areas where parents and pupils have been demanding the change that Academies can bring for years.

No wonder word is spreading in local communities across the country. It is not government edict that is determining the fate of city academies, but parent power -parents are choosing city academies, and that's good enough for me. Academies have many more applications than places. For example at the City of London school, which had 180 places in the 2005 year, over 3000 parents listed it as a preference, and 970 pupils took the fair banding test which gives it an all-ability intake. And I defy anybody to say that Academies aren't helping the poorest children, when a third of those attending the City of London Academy receive free school meals - more than twice the national average.

Academies are here to stay; more than 40 will be open by the end of 2007, and the Government have pledged to have at least 200 open or in the pipeline within five years.

The ethos guiding Academies and the best specialist and foundation schools should be one that every school can aim for. Heads need more freedoms to plan the future of their schools in ways that best meet the needs of their students. The Government is introducing multi-year budgets for schools so that they can plan ahead with confidence in support of their school improvement priorities. And the White Paper proposes more freedoms and flexibilities should be made available to every school.

We have a duty to ensure that as we invest £200 million in rebuilding or refurbishing every secondary school in the city, we achieve not only a step-change in standards, but increased diversity and innovation. This unprecedented investment gives us an unprecedented opportunity to reshape our school system so that it equips the young people of today and tomorrow with the skills and attributes they need to succeed in today's fast-changing world and competitive world. I believe we needed to move to a post-comprehensive era, where schools keep the comprehensive principle of equality of opportunity but where we open up the system to new and different ways of education, built round the needs of the individual child.

The improvements and results that Academies have managed to achieve - often struggling against apparently impossible odds - are a testimony to what can be achieved. Our task is to make sure that we invest tax payers [sic] money wisely by giving schools the freedoms and flexibilities needed to make a significant difference.

I have stated many times second best is no longer acceptable. We have a duty to ensure every child in Stoke on Trent has the quality of education which is increasingly available in our countries [sic] best state schools.

I welcome and invite your comments on my policy direction.

Mark Meredith
Elected Mayor




Dear Mayor Meredith,


Thank you for the briefing note which I received yesterday. I was fascinated to read it and your comments in Monday's Sentinel. I was particularly intrigued by your comment in the Sentinel: "we want to create a network of autonomous institutions committed to raising standards and to providing opportunities for all young people in the city." Also by your statement in the briefing paper, "any school can now become a foundation school with a simple vote of its governing body giving it the freedom to manage its own buildings and employ its own staff."

Are you aware that our governors voted for this on 23 May 2007 and from 1 September 2007 have become a foundation school, despite a very nasty campaign against me and the school for daring to show some forward thinking? Are you aware that Serco and the new Officers are still trying to undermine our new status as you will see from my attached letter to Ged Rowney. Are you aware that according to Ofsted we have already undergone the transformation change you aspire to? And yet you wish to close us! I will write to you again with a more detailed response to your briefing paper and what I believe to be dubious evidence about the successes of Academies.




David Dickinson
Headteacher
Haywood High School & Engineering College
Tel: 01782 853535 Fax: 01782 853537
email ddickinson@sgfl.org.uk

Dear Mr Rowney,


Yesterday I sat at our cluster 1 board meeting in the conference room at Port Vale Football Club literally just down the road from the school. A massive regeneration programme is taking place with the building of a Sure Start centre at the ground. Our parental co-ordinator is a member of the steering group.

There is land behind the Port Vale training ground adjoining the LA's Dimensions centre, which could be used by the school in conjunction with Port Vale and Dimensions. As you know, having been denied enhanced sports facilities by Jacqui Noble, Head of Sport and Leisure Services, supported by the LA Directorate, we continued to use Dimensions to become one of the most successful PE departments in the city. With joint use of this and other land, possibly as part of a Trust and with the addition of some new buildings, we would be able to offer the full range of sports for the 21st Century.

Staying on our site would also enable us to continue with all of our extended schools activities in and around the local community, as well as allowing the revitalisation of our Creative Partnerships Aiming Higher/BSF Project. Subject to governor discussions Creative Partnerships, as well as Port Vale FC and possibly the local hospital could also become Trust partners. There is also the local Co-operative store with whom we have fair-trade links and university and college links. As a Foundation Trust working with these organisations, continuing with our curricular links with local secondary schools and the college and developing further links with local partner primary schools we could all work together to transform Haywood into an outstanding school in all features by raising achievement. It would be helpful as well if the Local Authority worked with us as an equal partner not in opposition as it has done for many years.

Hopefully the pressure from the community as stakeholders of the school may have convinced Serco that it would be folly to take the school out of the local area leaving a massive vacuum in Burslem. It would also be an act of folly to attempt to close and reopen the school. The equality argument does not stand if, as is extremely likely, the faith schools remain open. Instead those schools with severe falling rolls which have to close should be protected by additional financial support whilst new schools in their area are being built. The disruption caused by closing all community schools and us, as the only Foundation school, will only lead to families deserting Stoke in the north, as they are in the south. Do you really want to be the first LA to close a Foundation school and make us the shortest lived Foundation school ever? This would also contradict the statements in the mayor's briefing paper about supporting self-governing institutions.

You know by now from the numbers who've signed our petition and made protests in other ways that parents, governors, students, staff and other stakeholders will fight any closure to the bitter end. Just as they will fight what is a very unjust and probably illegal reduction of our admissions limit to 180 whilst Holden Lane has been kept at 210.

Yours sincerely


David Dickinson
Headteacher

David Dickinson
Headteacher
Haywood High School & Engineering College
Tel: 01782 853535 Fax: 01782 853537
email ddickinson@sqfl.org.uk

11/10/2007