Peers School investment comes at a price
Fears local kids will be excluded from new Academy
Peers Technology College could benefit from new, purpose-built buildings if it becomes the city’s first Academy school. However, under the New Labour scheme the school
would be effectively privatised and run by the Oxford Diocese of the Church of England and Oxford Brookes.
The sponsors of the new Academy will gain control of the £25 million school if they put £1.5 million into an educational trust. For this token fee they will be able to determine the curriculum and run the school without the usual democratic checks and balances that local authority schools are subject to.
Labour and Tories join to promote privatisation
New Labour city councillors Val Smith, John Tanner, Barbara Gatehouse, Gill Sanders, Ed Turner and Antonia Bance have teamed up with the Conservative county council to promote the privatisation of Peers School.
Blackbird Leys councillor Stuart Craft commented: ‘During the school’s disastrous downward spiral this motley crew, some of whom were even governors at Peers, remained silent. But now the state of Peers is seen as a convenient tool to push through their own government’s privatisation agenda, they suddenly become animated.
‘Parents and pupils have a right to know why these politicians were content to sit on their hands while Peers deteriorated, calling for investment in the school only after their New Labour puppet-masters gave the signal.’
Last year, shortly after being appointed as a governor for Peers, local IWCA councillor Jane Lacey called for more investment in the school, expressing concern over its facilities, high staff turnover and lack of dedicated special needs teachers.
She also argued that something needed to be done about the poor record of GCSE results—in 2005 just 20% of pupils gained 5 or more A–C grades or equivalent, compared to a national average of 56%.
Will local children benefit?
Peers sorely needs the new investment that is on offer but unfortunately Academy schools have a mixed record of achievement so far, despite the extra funding.
A report commissioned by the government that looked at eleven Academies said they suffered from poor pupil discipline, bullying and badly-designed buildings. While seven had improved their results at 14 and GCSE, standards at the other four had deteriorated.
But even if standards improve local children may not reap the benefits if Peers becomes an Academy. Evidence suggests that existing academy schools have actually reduced their intake of disadvantaged pupils, through unofficial means of selection and school exclusions—which can be three or four times those of other schools.
So the chances are that even if academy status improved standards at Peers, a lot of the local kids from Rose Hill, Littlemore and Blackbird Leys would be kept out.
A better education for our kids
Despite promises to ‘consult the local community’ the privatisation plans for Peers school are looking more and more like a done deal, with the £100,000 role of Academy principal having already been advertised in the national newspapers.
However the IWCA will continue to argue that Peers should get the investment it needs without the community having to agree to privatise what is, after all, our resource. And whatever happens the IWCA will be fighting to ensure that Blackbird Leys children aren’t penalised by the political games of New Labour and the Tories.
Concerned parent?
IWCA councillor Jane Lacey, a governor of Peers School, is happy to discuss any issues relating to the school. Contact Jane on 07947 225 297 or visit the IWCA surgery: Tuesdays, 6.30–7.30pm, at the Clockhouse.
Leys Independent, issue 36, June 2007
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