False start for Shene's Academy

By Hannah Richardson
BBC News education reporter

Shene School's journey to Academy status has been put on hold after the local council ended its relationship with the potential sponsor, Edutrust.

The school was due to have become an Academy in September, but doubts set in earlier this year after an extended delay over the approval of Edutrust Academies Charitable Trust's bid to run the school.

The delay was caused by a Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) probe into allegations that emerged in an employment tribunal.

Ms Kirby says school staff have felt in limbo

The investigation, which reported in the spring, found "significant concerns" over the charity's governance.

These included shaky financial management arrangements, a failure to address conflicts of interest and poor record-keeping.

'Loss of confidence'

But there was a further delay while Richmond Council made up its mind whether to continue with its Academy plans or not.

The council then said that although the trust had addressed the shortcomings, it felt that Edutrust was no longer a suitable sponsor.

Richmond's director of children's services and culture, Nick Whitfield, said the sponsor of any new Academy in the borough must have the confidence of the local community.

"Sadly, following the recent government investigation, we do not believe Edutrust commands that confidence.

"With local partners, we will therefore be looking to find a new sponsor as soon as possible, so that we can work to make the proposed Shene Academy become the outstanding school that the council and local people wish to see."

The director general of Edutrust Academies Charitable Trust, former Schools Commissioner Sir Bruce Liddington, said: "It's disappointing that Richmond has withdrawn from the process so late in the day."

He said the trust had proposed "a strong and effective educational opportunity" and the council did not appear to be offering any alternative.

"The council claims it has lost confidence, but in making this decision the authority has ignored the clean bill of health we received from DCSF. "

We would be willing to continue to discuss the option with Richmond, in the absence of any apparent alternative for this school, for which we have a proposed solution which has not changed from the one to which the local authority signed up with full DCSF support."

The council hope is that Shene will still become an Academy, but not now until September 2010.

The local authority will talk to school governors, local primary schools and parents about what kind of school they would like to see emerge at Shene.

We feel as if we are in limbo and it has impacted on our numbers

Lesley Kirby
Shene School head teacher

Head teacher Lesley Kirby said the ongoing delay had been frustrating.

"When the signing off took so long we really started to think something was up but we had no idea why the proposal was not being signed off.

"Was it because the government was saying it could no longer afford it because of the 'credit crunch' or was it because of the investigation?

"We feel that it was confusing for us and confusing for the parents as well."

Shene governors will now draw up their own long-term plan

She was clear that pupils had not been affected because the plans were at such an early stage.

However, the Academy proposal had taken up a lot of senior management time which could have been used to focus on other ways of improving the school, she said.

She added that had the Academy proposal not been on the horizon, the school would have put in for specialist status which could have brought in an extra £80,000 and given it a greater focus on how it was developing its curriculum.

'Uncertainty'

"From the point of view of the money it was really disappointing," she added.

Despite the council's announcement, Ms Kirby and her team know little more than they did a few weeks ago.

"We know why Edutrust didn't get the sponsorship but we don't know whether or not a new sponsor will be found.

"We feel as if we are in limbo and it has impacted on our numbers."

She said it had emerged in recent meetings with local primary schools that uncertainty about Academy status had put some parents off selecting the school for their children.

Therefore the school plans to draw up its own long-term development plans in case of another false start.

Community governor Mona Adams said the extended delay had left the school feeling disorientated in recent months.

"We're feeling uncertain, there's no doubt about that. Uncertain about what direction the school will go in 2010.

"But our certainty is, our loyalty and effort is, to make sure that the children that we have on roll have the best done by them and we are working very hard to raise standards across the board," she said.

"We can't just hang around waiting for an Academy. We have to make this school the best that we can."

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