Academies - not in Leicester!

Other parts of the country, including Leicestershire, have seen a rapid expansion of the academies programme, driven by Michael Gove's political aim to sell off the entire state education system. This has not happened in Leicester. No Secondary schools have converted in Leicester and we should be very proud that our city still values collaborative work between schools and not free-market competition between them.

Unfortunately, governors at Queensmead Primary School in Braunstone have voted to have their school become an academy and from 1st October control of the school will be taken over by The Greenwood Dale Foundation Trust. The brand new building, paid for only five years ago by the Local Authority, will be given to this Nottingham-based organisation.

It's important that staff in schools realise that despite assurances that nothing will change for them, it is possible that wholescale changes to conditions of service will result from conversion. Here are just three of the sixteen 'measures' proposed by Greenwood Dale for existing staff:

• Place of Work ... may be required to work at other locations/sites as required on occasions...
• Sickness ... internal self cert form to be completed for all sickness absence irrelevant of length...
• Disciplinary and Grievance ... will adopt GDFT’s policy.

Let's make sure that this is the last school in Leicester to make this awful mistake.