Department forEducation and SkillsResponse to the SecondAnnual Report from thePricewaterhouseCoopersEvaluation of theAcademies Programme

Forewordby the Secretary of State for Education and Skills

The Government welcomes the publication of the Second Annual Report from the five-year

evaluation of the Academies Programme. It is based on the evaluation of 11 of the

Academies open in spring 2004 and 3 schools whose pupils were about to transfer into

Academies the following September. Academies are located in areas of deprivation and low

educational standards. Although it is early days in the Academies Programme, the Report

concludes that Academies are highly popular with parents and are beginning to make solid

progress in raising educational standards:

� 87% of parents are satisfied with the quality of education provided to their child at the

Academy, and four fifths of parents now attend parents evenings every time that they

happen. 80% stated that the Academy was the school of choice for their children.

� 90% of parents report that most pupils like going to the Academy and that their children

enjoy attending the school.

� Sponsors are seen by parents and teachers to be adding real value – 82% of staff agree

that the sponsor’s resources, contribution and leadership have made a positive impact on

pupils’ learning.

� 97% of staff think that the principal really believes that the Academy can make a

difference to pupils’ learning whatever their family background.

Challenges remain, and the evaluation has identified areas where further action is needed to

improve the Programme. As well as continuing to rigorously evaluate the Academies

Programme, we will act on the evaluation findings to build on identified good practice.

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Academies represent bold reform to tackle extreme educational weakness and failure. Many

Academies are direct replacements of seriously failing schools, inheriting pupils and staff

from those schools. Success in these circumstances takes time, and there are bound to be

some early failures. This was also the case with the City Technology Colleges (CTCs), on

whose experience we have drawn in developing the Academy model. Almost all of those

that replaced failing schools experienced early difficulties and challenges, but virtually all

became, over time, high performing schools.

We will maintain a thorough on-going evaluation of the Academies Programme. On the

evidence now available – including this evaluation, and also the experience of CTCs over a 15

year period – we believe that the investment in Academies, in areas where children and

communities have been failed for years, is right. Academies are one of the measures we are

taking to live up to our responsibility to do our utmost to ensure high quality secondary

education in areas of low standards and inadequate opportunities for parents and children.

They sit alongside a range of other investments and reforms including big increases in

support and rewards for the teaching profession, focused especially on schools facing the

greatest challenges.

The great popularity of Academies with parents is of particular significance. It is documented

not simply by this evaluation, but also by the extent to which the existing 17 Academies and

the 10 to be opened in September are oversubscribed. In September 2004 the Academies

then open, for which data is available, were oversubscribed by an average of 62%. In some

cases the oversubscription is massive. For example in London for admission in September

2005, 537 parents applied as first choice for the 180 year 7 places at Mossbourne Academy,

Hackney, and 1137 pupils named the Academy as one of their schools of choice; 748 parents

applied as first choice for the 180 year 7 places at the City of London Academy, Southwark,

and 3246 parents named the Academy as one of their school choices; and in Lambeth 1257

parents named the new Lambeth Academy as one of their school choices. These figures all

strongly support the findings of the evaluation which is positive on virtually every measure

of parental satisfaction and engagement.

Academies are achieving this through funding that is fair in comparison with other schools.

Their recurrent revenue funding is provided on exactly the same basis as other state schools

in their localities. As for capital funding, our Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme

will rebuild and remodel all secondary schools in England over the next 15 years. Schools

which become Academies receive priority because of the imperative to tackle failure and

deprivation as the Government’s overriding duty.

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We therefore intend to fulfil our commitment to have at least 200 Academies open or in the

pipeline by 2010. We will continue to ensure that they are rigorously evaluated, so that best

practice spreads rapidly, problems are addressed, and there is full public accountability. We

have commissioned PricewaterhouseCoopers to undertake a five-year evaluation of

Academies. This and future evaluation reports from PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Ofsted’s

and the Department’s own monitoring of Academies’ performance are all crucial elements of

that process.

The following paper sets out our detailed response to the findings of the

PricewaterhouseCoopers Report. We will also shortly be setting out a new framework for

taking forward the Academies Programme as a whole, as the Programme expands to meet

the Government’s manifesto commitment. This will include proposals to more closely align

investment in Academies with the BSF programme.

The Report demonstrates the real progress that the first Academies have begun to make in

turning around the life chances of thousands of children in the most deprived areas of the

country. There is much more to do. But we have a sound basis on which to build.

RUTH KELLY

SECRETARY OF STATE FOR EDUCATION AND SKILLS

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1. Context

(A) THE EVOLUTION OF THE ACADEMIES PROGRAMME

The findings emerging from PricewaterhouseCoopers Evaluation of the Academies

Programme provide further substantial evidence of the progress of Academies.

Although the Programme was announced in March 2000, and the first three Academies

opened only in September 2002, the Academy model is far from untried or unproven. It

builds on the experience of the 15 City Technology Colleges (CTCs) created in the late 1980s

and early 1990s, focusing the model more specifically and rigorously on areas of deprivation

and low inherited educational standards.

CTCs are all ability schools, many of them located in areas of disadvantage. In 2004 an

average of 85% of CTC pupils achieved 5 or more GCSEs at grades A* to C. This compares to

a national average of 54%. CTCs’ ‘value added’ performance is similarly outstanding.

Professor David Jesson’s study of Specialist Schools showed that in 2004 their average value

added from Key Stage 2 (age 11) to GCSE was +12 percentage points.1 This compared to an

average value added of +1.8 percentage points for all non-selective specialist schools and

-1.8 percentage points for non-specialist schools. Furthermore, the latest Jesson study of

pupils eligible for Free School Meals (FSM) in CTCs showed that 8 of the 15 CTCs had FSM

eligibility above the then national average of 14.5%, with an average value added score

amongst these CTCs of +14 percentage points.2

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1 Educational outcomes and value added by specialist schools – 2004 by Professor David Jesson and David Crossley inassociation with Sir Cyril Taylor and Jane Ware produced by the Specialist Schools Trust.

2 Educational outcomes and value added by specialist schools – 2003 by Professor David Jesson in association with Sir Cyril Taylor and Jane Ware produced by the Specialist Schools Trust, available at www.schoolsnetwork.org.uk/content/articles/1568/fulldoc.pdf.

The CTC experience is a sound precedent for the Academies Programme, and it was decisive

in persuading the Government to launch the Academies Programme in 2000. However, there

are key differences between the CTC and Academy programmes. CTCs were not exclusively

focused on areas of high disadvantage; Academies are all located in such areas as a matter of

policy. CTCs were also mostly established with opposition from Local Education Authorities

(LEAs), whereas every Academy so far established enjoys the support of the relevant LEA,

with several LEAs – including Hackney and Lambeth – pioneering multiple Academies

enthusiastically as part of a radical vision to transform secondary education in areas

previously by-words for low standards and parental dissatisfaction.

Early expectations of the Academies Programme should similarly be informed by the

experience of CTCs. Seven CTCs replaced existing schools, some with pupils and teachers

transferred across, and took a few years to transform their inheritance. For example, Harris

CTC in south London – which replaced a seriously failing school – recorded only 27% of

pupils with five or more good GCSEs in its first two years, and experienced significant

transitional management and staffing problems. Within five years the results were up to 64%;

last year they stood at 86%. Lord Harris of Peckham – the sponsor of Harris CTC – is

sponsoring three of the new Academies. Similarly, Bacon’s CTC, in Docklands, which replaced

a declining school, started in 1991 with only 11% gaining 5+ A*-C; now the figure is 75%, and

it is the highest performing state school in Southwark with 1062 applications for 180 places

in September 2004. Thomas Telford CTC has achieved 100% 5+ A*-C for the last five years.

These CTCs are far from unique; many others have shown similar improvements. Their

experience proves that, far from being an experiment, Academies are the radical extension

(in areas of low educational outcomes) of a model that clearly works.

(B) INCREASING NUMBERS OF ACADEMIES AND INCREASING NUMBERS OF SPONSORS

Expansion of the Programme is on course and the Department believes it will be able to meet

its target of 200 Academies open or in the pipeline by 2010, with 60 of these in London:

� 17 Academies are already open.

� 10 more are set to open in September 2005.

� A further 36 are in development.

� We are in discussion with potential sponsors about more than 100 other projects.

A list of the 27 Academies open, or opening this September, is given at the end of this

response.

Academy sponsors are a diverse group, but united by their commitment to educational

excellence and opportunity, and by a track record of successful management and enterprise

in education and beyond. No sponsor makes any profit or financial return from their

Academies. By background, sponsors fall into five main groups:

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� Existing successful educational providers and trusts (e.g. the United Learning Trust which

owns and manages 8 private schools and is now engaged in 11 Academy projects

nationally; and the Mercers Livery Company, which sponsored the original Thomas

Telford School (CTC), and with Thomas Telford is sponsoring 2 Academies.)

� The Church of England and Roman Catholic Churches, which are sponsoring 7 and 4

Academies respectively. We are also in discussions with sponsors from other faith groups

including the Hindu, Muslim and Sikh communities.

� Community groups, which are developing 3 projects (e.g. the Stephen Lawrence Trust).

� Individuals with a successful record in the world of business, who are responsible for 14

projects in development. The first such individually-sponsored Academies to open were

the Bexley Business Academy, sponsored by Sir David Garrard and Capital City Academy,

sponsored by Sir Frank Lowe.

� Corporate firms developing projects on a philanthropic basis (e.g. The Brunel HSBC

Education Trust Academy, being developed in partnership with Brunel University on

Brunel’s campus.)

(C) DEPRIVATION AND FAILURE BEING ADDRESSED BY ACADEMIES

Academies are specifically intended to tackle the biggest challenges in the secondary

education system, in areas where there are both entrenched low standards and high levels

of deprivation. There is a close correlation between deprivation and poor performance and

the first Academies were established to replace schools with a long history of

underperformance:

� Over 40% of the 14 open Academies inherited predecessor schools which had been

placed in ‘Special Measures’ by Ofsted (the most serious category of failure) when they

were considered as Academy projects;

� 2 of the predecessor schools were judged by Ofsted as having ‘serious weaknesses’ and

Ofsted had ‘serious concerns’ about 2 more;

� 6 predecessor schools were seriously underperforming; the average percentage of pupils

gaining 5+A*-C at GCSE in these schools in 2002, just before the first Academies opened,

was 21%.

Academies are targeting the most deprived areas of the country; 13 of the 17 open

Academies fall within the 100 most deprived Local Authorities in the country when judged

by the index of multiple deprivation. Recognising that deprivation can vary significantly

within a Local Authority, the Department has, over time, refined its approach to targeting

predecessor schools in areas of deprivation. We now consider not only the level of

deprivation in the community in which the school is located, but also the level of deprivation

in the communities in which the pupils live. A clear criterion of whether an Academy solution

will be appropriate is, therefore, the multi-deprivation rating of the wards which provide the

majority of pupils.

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(D) OFSTED EVALUATION

All Academies have a full Ofsted inspection within their first three years of opening with a

monitoring visit by Ofsted in their first two years. Ofsted’s judgements on the progress of

Academies have been largely positive:

� Ofsted has conducted 10 monitoring visits so far, and judged that four Academies are

making good progress and four reasonable or satisfactory progress. In the other two

Academies, Ofsted has recognised that significant progress has been made in key areas

and that the Academies now have the capacity to improve provision further.

� Only two Academies have undergone a full Ofsted inspection with a published report.

Ofsted judged that ‘Greig City Academy is improving rapidly’. One Academy, Unity City

Academy, has been placed in Special Measures (see below).

(E) PROGRESS IN STANDARDS AND ACHIEVEMENT

In analysing test and examination data, PwC have rightly cautioned against attempting to

make substantial conclusions so early in the life of Academies. 8 of the 11 Academies

evaluated by PwC had only been open for one year meaning that pupils taking GCSEs and

KS3 exams would only have been taught in the Academy for two and half terms. However,

taken as a whole, standards are rising at a good or satisfactory rate in Academies since the

first three opened in September 2002:

Key Stage 3 (KS3) for pupils aged 14

The rate of improvement in Academies’ KS3 results is outstripping the national average.

For the 11 Academies reporting results in 2004 – compared to those of their predecessor

schools in 2001 – KS3 English and maths results on average improved by nine percentage

points (from 34% to 43% in English, and 38% to 47% in Maths) compared to a national

average increase of six and seven percentage points respectively (from 65% to 71%, and

66% to 73%).

Some Academies, including Academies with failing predecessor schools, are making very

rapid progress. KS3 results in maths and science at King’s Academy, Middlesbrough more

than doubled in a year, from 26% in 2003 to 57% in 2004.

GCSE results

The most recent GCSE figures show improvements in the number of children gaining 5 good

GCSEs. In 2003, their first year, the average 5+ A*-C GCSE results in the three open Academies

was 24%, compared to an average of 16% in their predecessor schools in 2002.

In 2004, Academies then open achieved close to an average of 30% 5+ A*-C at GCSE. Of

the 12 Academies open in 2004, six brought about increases to the percentage of

children gaining 5+A*-C GCSEs since 2002, and five did not. One Academy only had year

7 pupils. Notable improvements included Capital City Academy, Brent, from 14% to 29%

and the City Academy, Bristol from 26% to 33%.

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2. Commentary onPwC’s findings

Our response to the detailed findings of the evaluation is as follows:

(A) ACADEMIES AND PARENTS

PwC reports that Academies are proving a very popular choice for parents and that the local

Academy is now the preferred destination for most local children. Around 80% of the parents

surveyed for this Report stated that the Academy was the school of choice for their children.

Other evidence shows that in September 2004 Academies, for which data are available, were

oversubscribed by an average of 62%

Local parents and the surrounding community are included in the development of every

Academy project and are fully consulted from the start. As PwC show, some Academies have

implemented innovative ways to involve parents, but the most encouraging finding is that

four fifths of pupils believe that there is regular communication between teachers and

parents. The disillusion that often characterised parents’ views of their children’s education

in predecessor schools has shifted. Four fifths of parents now attend parents evenings every

time that they happen.

The PwC Report finds that parents are happy with the education provided by Academies:

� 90% of the parents who named an Academy as the school of choice were attracted by the

high academic and teaching standards at the Academy;

� 87% of parents are satisfied with the quality of the education provided to their child at

the Academy.

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Significantly, 77% of the parents who knew who the governors were believed that they

reflected the cultural backgrounds and interests of the parents. PwC reported that some

Academy Governing Bodies did not include parent governors. All Academies are required by

their Articles of Association to have at least one parent governor on their Governing Body to

ensure that parents’ views are represented. Information collected by the Department earlier

this year showed that all but two open Academies had at least one parent governor (one

Academy was holding elections and another intended to elect a parent governor in the

second term after opening).

(B) ACADEMIES AND THEIR PUPILS

The Report provides positive evidence of the impact of Academies on pupil motivation and

aspiration:

� 85% of pupils state that they are pleased with their school work and have high

expectations;

� 90% of parents agree that most pupils like going to the Academy and that their children

enjoy attending the school.

Crucially, PwC judge that there is a ‘significant difference in the learning culture in new

Academies, compared to their predecessors’:

� 8 out of 10 pupils agree that the teachers really believe that all pupils can achieve;

� 92% of pupils say that most pupils want to do well in tests and exams.

This change in ethos and culture is the essential ingredient for any Academy’s future success.

If children are to achieve they need to be confident of their potential, feel supported and

enjoy learning. Academies are making considerable progress in providing the environment

necessary for this to take place.

Quality of teaching is, of course, a critical factor in pupil engagement and performance. PwC

report a largely positive response to questions of teacher engagement and satisfaction.

(C) ACADEMY PRINCIPALS AND THEIR LEADERSHIP

An average of at least 7 out of 10 staff, parents and pupils were positive about the principal

of the Academy in question. This is a significant finding and confirms the Department’s

confidence that strong and effective leaders are, in almost all cases, being appointed to

Academy principalships.

Equally encouraging is that 97% of staff think that the principal really believes that the

Academy can make a difference to pupils’ learning whatever the pupil’s family background.

The Report also finds strong parental confidence in Academy principals: 94% of parents feel

that the principal is really interested in how their children learn at the Academy; and 90% of

parents think that the principal is interested in the views of parents and guardians.

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This Report also provides a timely reminder, via feedback from principals, against making

unrealistic claims for the Programme and what it can achieve in a limited amount of time. The

Department fully endorses this view and is now working towards having a longer lead-in

time of up to five terms before an Academy opens for all principals. Once appointed there

would be an individual review of development needs so that a ‘personalised’ programme

can be put together with specialist training and development. Principals will then be in a

position to appoint their Senior Management Team well in advance of opening the

Academy.

(D) THE SPONSORS’ ROLE

The PwC Report demonstrates strong confidence in the role of sponsors. Much of the drive

behind the rapid changes in an Academy comes from the close involvement of a sponsor,

performing functions which include those undertaken by effective chairs of governors in

established state schools. It was always intended that the sponsor’s vision, drive and

enthusiasm would, in association with the principal and their management team, promote

the best educational outcomes. PwC reports this to be the case:

� 78% of staff agreed that the sponsor brings expertise that would not otherwise be

available to the Academy;

� 82% of staff agreed that the sponsor’s resources had a positive impact on pupils’ learning.

The Report finds that sponsors have most influence over high level decisions about the

Academy, such as whole-school financial management, the long term development plan and

the setting of the Academy’s vision. In contrast, very few staff thought that the sponsor had

an influence on individual lesson planning or even curriculum planning.

It is crucial that sponsors do not work in isolation, especially in the areas in which they do not

have extensive experience. PwC’s Report highlights two sectors in which sponsors would

appreciate greater support to improve outcomes for Academy pupils:

� Educational advice: Since the first Academies opened educational advice has been

targeted towards the areas in which sponsors most require it. The Project Management

Companies employ educational advisers to provide guidance on the early stages of each

project. We have worked to ensure that this advice is both better quality and more fit-for-

purpose. In addition, the Department’s experienced education advisers are on hand to

advise at every stage of a project.

� Networking: One of the aims of the Programme is to spread best practice on all aspects

of running a school both between Academies and eventually across the state sector.

Networking between sponsors is essential and the creation of the Academy Sponsors

Trust in July 2004 has begun to address these needs. Further information about this

organisation can be accessed on its website – http://www.astrust.org.uk.

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Academies are independently managed, but fully accountable and strongly encouraged to

engage in partnership with their local family of schools. The PwC Report raises no concerns

about the accountability of Academies, but it does highlight concerns among sponsors

about the DfES requirement that Academies take part in national initiatives, such as

Excellence in Cities. The Government accepts that the obligations it places on Academies

need to be carefully calibrated, and we will consider sponsors’ concerns seriously.

(E) ATTAINMENT

PwC’s analysis of attainment in Academies focuses on the three Academies open in the

summer of 2003. PwC make the important point that pupils taking public examinations in

the three Academies open in the summer of 2003 were taught in the Academies for only two

and a half terms compared with four years in their predecessor schools, and that therefore

the impact of the Academy on their results was necessarily limited. With this important

caveat in mind, PwC report that:

� One Academy increased the percentage of pupils gaining 5+ A*-C GCSEs by 4 percentage

points and the other by 5, compared to a national average improvement of 3 percentage

points.

� These two Academies improved the percentage of pupils gaining 5+ A*-G at GCSE by 8

and 14 percentage points respectively, compared to the zero change at a national level.

� The same Academies have seen reductions of 6 and 12 percentage points in the numbers

of pupils achieving no passes at GCSE/GNVQ, compared to a national increase of 1%.

� One of the three Academies had a particularly high value added score from KS3 to GCSE

that was in the top 20% of schools nationally.

However, the results at Unity City Academy, Middlesbrough, have been disappointing since

the merger of two low performing predecessor schools created the Academy in September

2002. Unity is the only Academy to have been put into Special Measures by an Ofsted

inspection. In comparison, Greig City Academy, another of the first Academies, received a

very positive Ofsted report earlier in 2005.

The Department has put in place a package of measures to ensure that Unity City Academy

improves and delivers the transformational change in education provision that is expected.

The central plank of this entails a federation with MacMillan College, a local successful City

Technology College. The federation will bring valuable benefits in leadership and

management, and a plan to raise standards and tackle weakness. It will also mean significant

investment in several key areas, including a new teaching block to house vocational training

to deliver an enriched KS3 & KS4 curriculum.

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(F) BUILDINGS AND CAPITAL INFRASTRUCTURE

Replacing unsuitable predecessor school buildings with Academy facilities that are suitable

for modern teaching and learning is a key part of the Programme. Clearly, pupils and staff

appreciate their new surroundings, especially when compared to the predecessor school; 8

out of 10 pupils agreed that the resources and buildings in the Academy are better than in

their last school.

There are emerging signs that buildings fit for the twenty-first century are having the desired

effect on pupils’ learning and attitudes:

� 74% of parents think that the buildings help the pupils to learn;

� 77% of staff believe that the new/refurbished buildings contribute significantly to the

positive experience of the pupils.

As well as providing state-of-the-art facilities and buildings, we must ensure that Academies

are fit for purpose and serve the practicalities of school life. The first Academies were

designed to reflect the newness and originality of the Academy idea. It must be stressed that

the practical issues of design (such as insufficient wash troughs) identified by PwC are

important to the everyday life of the school but, in many cases, do not compare to the

opportunities that the new buildings provide.

Innovation in all aspects of the Programme, while giving tremendous opportunity, also

presents risk. Lessons have been learned since the design and construction of the pathfinder

Academies to ensure that all Academy buildings provide the best possible surroundings for

modern teaching and learning. Using feedback from Academies, the Department has

identified a number of key areas in which Academy buildings must improve, including the

more practical aspects of school design, and has implemented a number of actions to

address these issues:

� lessons from the earliest projects and induction in Government guidance and standards

is provided to all architectural firms;

� a framework contract has been drawn up laying out common conditions and obligations

for firms involved in Academy projects;

� processes for analysing project designs in more detail at an earlier stage of an Academy

project have been implemented;

� Construction Project Managers are appointed to offer advice and guidance on design and

building issues to each Academy project.

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(G) ACADEMIES AND INCLUSION

Pupils

Academies are intended to be inclusive schools catering for the needs of local children of all

abilities. The PwC Report shows that Academies are meeting this objective:

� the average level of Academy pupils’ prior attainment at Key Stage 2 (age 11) is near the

bottom of the national spread;

� it is also lower than the other local schools with an overlapping intake;

� Academies have been drawing pupils from within the local feeder primary schools whose

average Key Stage 2 attainment is even lower than the overall average for their primary

school.

Other evidence shows that the average number of pupils known to be eligible for Free

School Meals (FSM) in the 2004 year 7 intakes in Academies from which data is available is

39%. This compares with a national average of 14%. Almost all Academies have also seen a

rise in the absolute numbers of pupils who are eligible for FSM when compared with the

predecessor school. One Academy will admit 107 pupils who are eligible for FSM in 2005

compared with 62 in the predecessor school in 2003. This is an increase from 55% to 68% of

the total pupil intake to year 7.

PwC have highlighted the perceptions of head teachers from neighbouring schools about

Academies’ effects on the distribution of pupils. Significantly, however, initial indications

show that attainment in the secondary schools whose feeder primary schools overlap with

those of an Academy, has not been adversely affected by the presence of new Academies.

Academies have added diversity to the local provision of education, are continuing to serve

the most deprived pupils and have not impacted negatively on the continued rise in

attainment in other local schools.

Pupils with Special Educational Needs

One of the most prominent features of Academies’ inclusive approach is that they are

teaching more than the normal numbers of pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEN).

Departmental figures and case study evidence indicate that:

� Many Academies admit more pupils with statements of Special Educational Needs than

both the national average and the average for their Local Education Authority (LEA);

� One Academy’s year 7 took 46% of the LEA’s pupils with statements;

� Another Academy had more pupils with statements than both of its predecessor schools

combined;

� 7% of one Academy’s year 7 intake have statements of SEN, compared to a national

average of less than 2%;

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� In most Academies a member of the Senior Management Team is responsible for raising

the profile of SEN issues and ensuring that pupils with SEN are catered for. One Academy

has an Individual Support Group that meets weekly to monitor support for students; a

SEN structure based on key workers who co-ordinate provision in each year; and plans for

an Every Child Matters team leader;

� Targeted centres have been set up in a number of Academies catering for specific needs

notably, dyslexia, hearing impairment, visual impairment and for speech and language

therapy;

� Five of the existing open Academies have recognised SEN Units;

� A number of Academy buildings incorporate innovative provision for SEN. For example,

in one Academy, all the classrooms are equipped for use by pupils with hearing

impairments and each curriculum area has seminar rooms to teach children with SEN if

required.

We accept the Report’s finding that at the beginning of the Programme there was

insufficient clarity on how SEN admissions should be handled. However, this and other

evidence demonstrates that the DfES is acting to address this problem. Academies have

been provided with additional advice and support specifically to address SEN issues. This

includes a new SEN Dispute Resolution Service to facilitate consultation and discussion to

best meet the needs of the child with SEN. As part of this package of measures, the

Department has also provided guidance to all Academies on the legal requirements placed

on them with regard to SEN.

Feedback we have received from Academies about this service has been positive;

outstanding cases where pupils with SEN do not have a place at a school are being taken

forward with the involvement of all parties. Encouragingly, this Report finds that two thirds

of staff and parents of pupils with SEN were positive about the approaches adopted for

teaching pupils with SEN.

In Academies, as in other schools, we will continue to give priority to improving SEN

provision. One option we are considering is the creation of a national SEN/Inclusion forum

for Academies.

(H)PUPIL BEHAVIOUR

As one Principal put it in the Report, new Academies ‘are working on the most basic things’.

An initial focus is placed on establishing a secure learning environment in which students

can take full advantage of the new opportunities provided. A key challenge soon after an

Academy opens is to focus on improving standards of behaviour.

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PwC find that more than three quarters of pupils believe that pupil behaviour in the

Academy is better than in their predecessor school. However, Academies face the same

challenges of improving behaviour as do other schools. For example, PwC report a similar

level of concern about bullying in Academies as in other schools. It finds that about four fifths

of pupils say that ‘some pupils get bullied by others’. This compares with the DfES 2002/03

Children and Young People Survey findings that 87% of 12 to 15 year olds reported bullying

at their school as did 68% of 16-19 year olds.3

(I) WORKFORCE

The DfES supports PwC’s view that workforce reform and development remain a challenge.

It is essential to ensure that an Academy has the right mix of new staff and staff who

transferred across from a predecessor school under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection

of Employment) Regulations 1981 (TUPE). This area has proved particularly complex for both

individual Academies and for the Department and we have identified the need for clearer

protocols for Local Education Authorities (LEAs) and predecessor schools in working with

Academies.

As with any school, staff participation in key decisions is important if an Academy is to be

successful in establishing a coherent vision shared by all. Many Academy principals have

adopted a collegiate style of leadership to ensure that all staff are involved in decision-

making. In one Academy, the Principal negotiated a contract in agreement with teachers’

unions which gave staff a ‘Learning Award’ over and above their normal contract

negotiations. In addition, protocols for retaining effective staff were agreed and delivered in

conjunction with staff at the Academy. The Department will continue to monitor closely

whether the management structure in different Academies allows for the necessary level of

staff involvement in decision-making.

Predecessor school staff, parents, pupils and the local community are fully consulted on

every Academy project often before a sponsor becomes involved. Transforming a failing

predecessor school into a successful Academy is a challenging undertaking involving a large-

scale change management process. If local children are not to miss the opportunity to finally

benefit from the quality education that they deserve, the change to Academy status must

leave behind the ‘bad habits’ of the past and move forward in a radically new direction. In

most cases, predecessor school staff involvement in the early stages of the new Academy

does not help to deliver the step-change that this Programme requires. However, the

Department’s experienced educational advisers have a strong input into the decision-

making process to provide the necessary educational advice at an early stage.

18

3 A summary of this report can be accessed on the DfES website at http://www.dfes.gov.uk/research/programmeofresearch/index.cfm?type=0&keywordlist1=0&keywordlist2=0&keywordlist3=0&andor=or&keyword=RR564.

In conclusion, the Government welcomes the PwC Second Annual Report and will set in place

the improvements to the Programme described above. Along with the Department’s internal

processes, Ofsted visits, and feedback from Academies, the PwC Evaluation is one of the ways

through which the Department continues to monitor and improve individual Academies and

the Programme as a whole. We accept that on such a new initiative, and particularly in the

pathfinding Academies, improvements and changes will be necessary to ensure that

Academies provide the best outcomes for the most deprived children. The DfES is also

exploring in detail options to manage the expansion of the Academies Programme and these

will be published soon. We look forward to the publication of the Third Annual Report which

will build on this Report’s findings by analysing the fieldwork conducted in 2005.

OPEN ACADEMIES

Greig City Academy, Haringey

The Business Academy Bexley, Bexley

Unity City Academy, Middlesbrough

Capital City Academy, Brent

City of London Academy, Southwark

Djanogly City Academy, Nottingham

Manchester Academy

The Academy at Peckham, Southwark

The City Academy, Bristol

The King’s Academy, Middlesbrough

The Walsall City Academy

The West London Academy, Ealing

Lambeth Academy

London Academy, Barnet

Mossbourne Community Academy, Hackney

Northampton Academy

Stockley Academy, Hillingdon

ACADEMIES OPENING IN SEPTEMBER 2005

Academy of St Francis of Assissi, Liverpool

Haberdashers’ Aske’s Hatcham College Academy, Lewisham

Haberdashers’ Aske’s Knights Academy, Lewisham

Harefield Academy, Hillingdon

Marlowe Academy, Ramsgate, Kent

St Paul’s Academy, Greenwich

Dixons City Academy, Bradford

Trinity Academy, Doncaster

Salford City Academy, Salford

MacMillan Academy, Middlesbrough

19

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