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Reps and academies
New government announcement on academies
Under proposals announced in the Queen's Speech on 25 May, existing maintained schools graded as 'outstanding' by Ofsted have been 'pre-approved' for academy status, it will be easier for parents and other groups to set up so-called 'free schools' and all maintained schools have been invited to apply to transfer to academy status.
ATL believes that any transfer to academy status would have a detrimental and irreversible impact on these schools' stakeholders - pupils, parents, staff, and governors, a view which is shared by all staff unions.
In May, ATL, NASUWT and the NUT sent a joint letter to the chairs of schools' governing bodies, that would take any decision on transfer, setting out why we believe academy status would bring schools neither greater freedom, nor reduced bureaucracy, nor any long-term financial advantages. The letter urges the governing body not to proceed without a full consultation with parents, staff and unions.
Have your say
ATL, jointly with the other school workforce unions NUT, NASUWT, Unison, Unite and GMB, has prepared the following materials for members and reps in schools judged 'outstanding' by Ofsted that have been pre-approved for academy status (all resources are PDFs):
- FAQs for staff
- FAQs for parents
- Letter for parents
- Petition for parents
- Model resolution for the governing body
- Covering letter for the governing body (to go with model resolution)
What you can do:
Organise a meeting for ATL members and other interested colleagues, if possible in conjunction with other union reps, to discuss the possible move to academy status. To help, ATL has produced some guidance on arranging staff meetings.
Post the staff FAQs to the union noticeboard and discuss with members.
Continue to notify us if your school has registered an interest in switching to academy status. If you don't know whether your school has registered an interest in academy status, ask your headteacher.
Distribute the FAQs to the governing body and ask that they debate the model resolution.
Discuss with members, other union reps and your branch how best to disseminate the letter, FAQs and petition to parents.
For more information and support, please contact your branch secretary or you can also contact ATL about academies.
Being a rep e-newsletter
There is more detailed information about what you can do as a rep in ATL's recent Being a rep e-newsletters:
You can read more about the government announcement and FAQs at www.education.gov.uk/academies.
Reps in existing academies
ATL reps in academies play a vital role providing bespoke information and support to our members in academies. ATL has developed the following specifically to assist reps in academies or schools which are in the process of becoming academies:
Staff in academies receive the academies newsletter. Copies can be downloaded from the newsletters page. Your local ATL branch is also available to help with queries, or you can contact ATL's member advisers on 020 7930 6441 or email us. Please have your membership number to hand when telephoning and include it with any correspondance - this will help us answer your query more quickly.
If you are interested in becoming a rep see the Being an ATL rep page.