From Mr Tim Render
Sir, - The article about the creation of the new King's Priory
Academy in North Tyneside (Education, 20 September) made interesting
reading, especially for those who, like me, are governors and
directors of other academy trusts.
The absolute priority for the academies programme, whether they
are formed from schools in difficulty, or conversions by already
successful schools, is the provision of excellent education to
young people in their communities. And the latter point cannot be
overlooked, which means that academy sponsors need to work with
their local areas on the provision of a whole education system.
I worry when Church-related organisations press ahead with
academy proposals that appear not to take account of the impact of
their proposals on the lives of other young people at schools that
may be adversely affected, and may even become unsustainable. And I
am not reassured that the Secretary of State - whose single-minded
aim is the conversion of all schools to academy status and the
creation of a market in publicly funded education - considers those
effects to be manageable.
But, above all, I worry that the whole arrangement appears to
involve the "underwriting" by the government of the substantial
debt (£5 million) of one of the predecessor schools. This was a
fee-paying school, and presumably to some extent selective in
intake. The details of what that underwriting means are not set out
in the feature, but what can be the justification for any public
funding support for previous debts of a commercial school to enable
it to become a state-funded academy, when there is such a shortage
of funds for capital investment to improve the rest of the public
school estate?
TIM RENDER
14 Jellicoe Way, Hinckley LE10 1PB
