Smithills Academy plans - For and Against

That is according to governors, who have defended criticism of their proposals to take the school out of local authority control.

A consultation is under way on plans to transform Smithills School into a state-funded independent school sponsored by ConcertEd, a team of educational consultants.

The governing body says ConcertEd has been approved by the Department for Education and has a team of “experienced and skilled” educationalists, some of whom were members of the National College of School Leadership, who could help drive up standards.

Cllr John Walsh, chairman of the governing body’s finance committee, said: “We had looked at a number of sponsors and ConcertEd are our preferred sponsor.

“We did not want flashy offices, we wanted people who could do the job.

“ConcertEd can match the local authority officers — there is a former assistant director among the highly experienced and skilled educational professions.

“The local authority already buys in the services of Northern Education, which is a team of educational consultants who work to improve standards.”

Cllr Walsh said he was confident the money paid to the ConcertEd would be lower than the cash which is “top sliced” from the school budget and kept by the local authority.

School bosses admit that becoming a sponsored academy will not bring with it a new build as in the case of Kearsley Academy, Essa Academy or Bolton St Catherine’s Academy in Breightmet.

Cllr Walsh said: “We would have flexibility in the curriculum to meet the needs of the pupils, which if we stayed with the local authority we would not.”

Cllr Walsh said there would remain a strong emphasis on core subjects.

Headteacher Alec Cottrill said the proposals had been put forward in the interests of the children.

He said: “To suggest the school would not admit children special educational needs was hurtful to me personally.

“We have invested heavily in providing support for those children who have just arrived and cannot speak English.”

He added that ConcertEd included a former headteacher, who was promoted to assistant director, and had a record of turning around poorly performing schools in a short period of time.

Mr Cottrill said: “One of the team did a lot of good work at in my last school — and in other schools — some which I was involved with, some which I wasn’t.”

If the school does become an academy, Bolton School will become an educational partner, using its expertise to improve standards.

Cllr Walsh said the move was not about “breaking up the Bolton family” as he is a Bolton councillor.

He said: “This is about seeking to enhance Smithills and see it develop.

“All schools are part of the Bolton family of schools and having academic excellence, and we want Smithills to be at the top of that.”

TEACHERS’ unions have stepped up their campaign to stop Smithills School from breaking away from local authority control and becoming a publicly funded independent school.

The National Union of Teachers, the NASUWT (National Association of Schoolmasters and Women Teachers) and Unison want the school to extend its consultation period so more people can be involved before a final decision is made.

And on Saturday they were in the town centre and outside the school urging people to sign a petition against the proposals put forward by the governing body.

The school is currently in the bottom half of the league tables for its GCSE performance.

Andrea Egan from Unison said: “The school is currently being supported by the local authority for free so it improves.

“Ofsted has said it is improving.

“The local authority has a track record of raising standards in school, it has the experience.

“We cannot see why the school wants to become an academy and why the hurry.

“Why is the school going to ConcertEd, which no one apart from Cllr Walsh seems to have heard of?”

Unions are urging and rallying the community to contact the governing body, which says it will consider views put forward.

They are worried that academies have the freedom to employ non-qualified teachers, which they say could affect standards.

Mrs Egan said: “The governors are not the only stakeholders in the school — the local community is as well. We want the consultation to be done right.”

Unions fear that people think the academy proposals are a “done deal” and staff at the school are scared to put their head above the parapet to disagree. Tom Hanley, secretary of the Bolton branch of the National Union of Teachers, said: “We are opposed to academies, but there was an ideology behind the three sponsored academies in Bolton about raising standards in deprived communities.

“There is no ideology behind this, there is no financial benefit and no new build which the others academies got.”

Unions have questioned the sponsor, saying it has not run a school before, and say they have been given no examples of why the organisation is suited to run a school.

Bolton NUT branch secretary Julia Simpkin said: “Soon parents will not have a choice of sending their children to a community school.”

Union representatives say there are concerns that academy schools are run as businesses, with heads earning high salaries.

A Facebook page has been set up to rally support and the unions are urging people to write to the governing body to put forward their views before the consultation ends in the first week of June.

Phil Travis, from Unison, said: “Once it is academy it cannot go back to being a local authority school.”

Public meetings will be held at 10am on June 4 and 5.30pm on June 5 at the Victory Reform Club in Victory Street, Heaton.