Copthall School is in formal consultation for Academy status
Copthall School is in formal consultation for academy status with a transfer date of 1st September 2012; if this academy conversion goes ahead this will make 14 Barnet Academy Schools, out of Barnet’s 118 Schools. The difference with Copthall is that they are investigating using the Cooperative Trust model. The school will benefit by an estimated £140,000 that conversion would bring. ( but considerably down on the extra funding that earlier conversions received)
The argument against this proposal is of course that schools converting to academy status may gain financially for themselves but at the cost of the schools remaining within the local authority, because the central education fund is cut as a consequence – such a loss, multiplied several times over, would severely affect Barnet council being able to carry out its role as an education authority. Ironically one of the arguments put forward for this strategy is that the local education authority has reduced Copthall School funding some 7% last year, thus making conversion more attractive, but each conversion will negatively impact on the local authority schools that remain even more.
Staff at the School are obviously very concerned about what the future holds for them and how this will impact on pay, conditions and job security. UNISON will need to be active, and pro-active, along with other unions in the school. Reps and good communications are the key factor in allowing sharing of knowledge/expertise.
If the main reason for adopting a cooperative school model was the adoption of cooperative principles this could have been done without becoming an academy and without the funding implications. One fear is that the cooperative school approach of working in clusters could extend academies into the Barnet primary sector.
The cooperative model may on the surface look attractive in terms of ethos and values but it is not a long term solution to the problem of cuts in funding. That said UNISON has signed a framework agreement with the co-op trust putting is in a slightly better position than in a number of other Academy Schools.