Academy still awaits green light

By Hannah Richardson
BBC News education reporter

Some local parents say much more has to change than the name

Time is getting tight for the Shene Academy project.

The current school in Richmond, south-west London, may re-open as an Academy in less than nine months' time.

But the scheme has not yet got the green light from government officials.

The expression of interest - the pre-nuptial agreement between the existing school and the would-be sponsor - Edutrust - was set to be approved before Christmas.

Department for Children, Schools and Families officials have not offered any detailed explanation. They simply say they are still working through the pre-feasibility phase.

Edutrust insists the delay has nothing to do with claims of financial mismanagement that emerged during a recent employment tribunal. These are strenuously denied by the charity.

Edutrust's chief executive Krishna Sarda says it has done nothing legally wrong and says before a newspaper report on the claims was published, the charity was due to open eight Academies in September. Since then nothing has changed, he says.

Closure is the big issue for the parents. What needs to be shown is clear, distinctive and quantifiable change

Shene school campaign

Edutrust says it normally takes about 18 months to set up an Academy.

The creation of this one will be squashed into half that time, with the feasibility and implementation stages being collapsed into one.

These accelerated Academy development programmes, while wholly possible, can be "stressful and painful" for a lot of parents, says Mr Sarda.

But it is crucial that the sponsors and the school win the support of parents during the consultation period, and beyond, if the Academy is to succeed and serve the community.

This is particularly key in the case of Shene, where many of the local, fairly affluent parents have turned their backs on the school, which was issued with a notice to improve in September 2007.

Although the school has made much improvement since then, and was recently rated "satisfactory" by Ofsted with good in 11 out of 22 sub-categories, many parents are not convinced that it is good enough for their children.

Last year just 40 pupils moved up to Shene from its four closest Richmond primary schools.

Getting organised'

Parents of those who might in the future go to the new Academy are now involved in a self-styled campaign for an "excellent secondary school" to serve Barnes, Mortlake and Sheen.

They see the opportunity to influence the way the Academy is formed as their big chance to achieve their goal.

Paul Mason, who has two children at a local primary school, founded the campaign.

He said it had been prompted by people's real concern for their children's education and a wish to make the school work.

Shene School is located in a leafy London suburb

But negative comments on the petition on the campaign's website have soured relations with the school.

"It's never been about knocking Shene. Of the 1,000 names on the petition there is probably only about 20 that you would say are really wrong," says Mr Mason.

"I didn't want to censor it because it is a forum for people to say what they feel and get it out. Now we can move forward.

"Most parent groups are about saying 'no' - this is about saying 'how can we help?'"

'Inherent tensions'

But it is quite clear that for these parents nothing short of a complete re-working of the school will be enough.

The campaign's website states: "A huge concern is if the school is to open in Sept 2009 as an Academy with the same staff and students what would be the difference from the present situation?

"Closure is the big issue for the parents. What needs to be shown is clear, distinctive and quantifiable change."

Despite their high degree of organisation, these vocal, local parents are not the future Academy's main stakeholders.

The primary stakeholders are firstly the parents of the children that already go to Shene School - 80% of whom are not from the immediate local area and tend not to reflect the middle class nature of the affluent suburb where Shene is located.

As a result the student body has deprivation levels far worse than the English average.

'Next generation'

Mr Sarda said: "Communities that do not have the skills and experience to engage take longer to engage in consultations.

"We have to manage the tensions that are inherent in that process."

Although Mr Sarda says that the "next generation" of Shene parents with children at local schools have a right to be heard too.

As yet there is little detail on what Edutrust has planned for Shene. Mr Sarda says the work of creating a vision for the Academy comes in the next stage.

Once its outline plan has been approved, Edutrust is planning to hold a string of meetings, send out hundreds of consultation leaflets and create an information website.

Mr Sarda is confident that he can win the support of both the existing parents and the local potential parents.

"If we create a good local Academy, an Academy that has an exciting vision for education, an Academy that is going places, then by it's very nature we will get local parents sending their kids there."

The BBC News website is following Shene School on its journey to potential Academy status.