Academies agenda gathering momentum again?

[bossman]

Just thought I would throw this into the mix:

 

Academy CEO Pay: How much do the biggest trusts pay? | Schools Week

 

Nice pay if you can get it!

 

Some very interesting points made both for and against!

Edited March 16, 2016 by bossman

[LeMarchand]

It just means making them compete and hopefully that raises everyones game.

 

Just thought I would throw this into the mix:

 

Academy CEO Pay: How much do the biggest trusts pay? | Schools Week

 

It certainly seems to raise the CEO pay!

[localzuk]

An organisation with 50 schools is obviously gonna pay its CEO pretty large amounts of money. The question is, does the pay come with any consequences? What happens if schools don't improve? Does the CEO get the boot? As far as I can see, consequences for chains are relatively small at the moment!

[LeMarchand]

An organisation with 50 schools is obviously gonna pay its CEO pretty large amounts of money. The question is, does the pay come with any consequences? What happens if schools don't improve? Does the CEO get the boot? As far as I can see, consequences for chains are relatively small at the moment!

 

Going by what happens to most people who get such wages, even if they get the boot it comes with a hefty severance package and then the Old Boy's Club finds you another ridiculously well-paid job fairly swiftly.

[Gibbo]

Interesting article here:

 

Longer school days on way in huge education restructure - Liverpool Echo

 

LONGER school days are on the way as a result of a key announcement in today’s Budget.

 

Chancellor George Osborne will signal the end to the tradition of the school day finishing at 3.30pm

 

I can't speak for other schools, but:

 

A) Ours finishes at 3.

B) But then it doesn't, because for the past few years we've had many after school clubs, revision clubs, catch up sessions, homework clubs and the like.

[localzuk]

Our end of day is 3:40pm, but we have after school clubs until 4:45pm, and homework club until 5:00pm. The after school clubs have been going for as long as anyone can remember, whilst homework club came about in the last 4 years.

 

We also run summer school, easter school etc... During holidays, for those that need extra tuition. So, I don't know why the government think that schools don't already do this stuff.

[LeMarchand]

for the past few years we've had many after school clubs, revision clubs, catch up sessions, homework clubs and the like.

 

I thought most schools, whether academy or not, did this. Obviously Osborne hasn't been to a school for a while. Or maybe he has and is planning a triumphant announcement about how his plan has provided so much added value to the education system (as he knows that there is already a lot of extra-curricular activity).

[Andrew_C]

We also run summer school, easter school etc... During holidays, for those that need extra tuition. So, I don't know why the government think that schools don't already do this stuff.

Exactly the same as the Junior Doctors. They already do it, the public don't realise it, so it is a good stick to beat them with. Then we can run down the service, so that the "only viable option" is to "get private money in".

 

Translation - sell it to Nasty Party donors.

[mthomas08]

Interesting article here:

Longer school days on way in huge education restructure - Liverpool Echo

I can't speak for other schools, but:

A) Ours finishes at 3.

B) But then it doesn't, because for the past few years we've had many after school clubs, revision clubs, catch up sessions, homework clubs and the like.

 

Just posted a similar thing, apparently this was already in the BBC Article (even though I couldn't see it but then I did skim through it).

 

We have some clubs here open an extra 30-45 minutes but that's only a few. I get the feeling this way will be similar to the Academy conversions where you can apply to get funding for it, then it will be forced upon Schools a few years later.

 

Just got a Spider sense tingles that Support Staff in particular like us will resort to "Shift" work to cover the hours. If Teachers stick around for an extra hour or two to get their work completed, will this extra 2 hours carry on longer. Can we see Schools being open for longer hours?

The knock on effect could be reception open for longer, general School Support open for longer (Colleges/Houses), Admin, Finance. A lot of these knock off at 4 or 4:30 due to not many Students/Staff on site at those times.

 

We are 3:30 finishers, but because of our location most of our Students rely on public transport.

Edited March 16, 2016 by mthomas08

[Geoff]

That's nothing new, when I was in high school in the 90's the last lesson of the day finished at 3.20pm. I then used to go to the computer club after school. I used to get home for 5pm - 5.30pm.

[elsiegee40]

Private schools already are. My school's teaching day 8.45am-3.30pm

 

Doors open at 7.45am with before school care. Doors close on late room at 6.30pm. Office cover required throughout.

 

And due to the preschool there are staff and kids onsite year round

Edited March 16, 2016 by elsiegee40

[korifugi]

Just said in the Budget: Osborne planning for EVERY school to become an academy

[sparkeh]

Just said in the Budget: Osborne planning for EVERY school to become an academy

Also 'fairer funding' and focusing on Northern Schools Performance.

[mrbios]

Fairer funding can't come soon enough.....well, for those of us not located in the south east anyway

[elsiegee40]

Fairer funding can't come soon enough.....well, for those of us not located in the south east anyway

 

I wish I could believe it would help us. Somehow I suspect we'll be 'no worse off' at best

[mikeprice]

I worked in a school several years ago where the Head decided to add 2 extra lessons to every day - both optional and staffed by volunteers and charities etc

 

Net result - the only ones ever having pupils were sports clubs run by the PE dept. - without extra pay

 

Whole concept was dropped after 1 term - only the sports clubs continued

 

however we could try that as the kids all walked home or were picked up

 

Every other school in the area had buses that picked the kids up at the end of school - how will that work if the kids all leave at different time - or are the extra lessons compulsory for the kids

[foofighterjim]

Just got a Spider sense tingles that Support Staff in particular like us will resort to "Shift" work to cover the hours. If Teachers stick around for an extra hour or two to get their work completed, will this extra 2 hours carry on longer. Can we see Schools being open for longer hours?

The knock on effect could be reception open for longer, general School Support open for longer (Colleges/Houses), Admin, Finance. A lot of these knock off at 4 or 4:30 due to not many Students/Staff on site at those times.

 

We are 3:30 finishers, but because of our location most of our Students rely on public transport.

 

Its already happening here, ICT support required between 08:00 and 17:00. We have different shifts to cover this requirement. Our reception now needs to be covered from 07:30 until 18:00 which is causing a lot of disruption for the admin staff. Not to mention the issues with keeping fire registers for after school classes.

[mrbios]

I worked in a school several years ago where the Head decided to add 2 extra lessons to every day - both optional and staffed by volunteers and charities etc

 

Net result - the only ones ever having pupils were sports clubs run by the PE dept. - without extra pay

 

Whole concept was dropped after 1 term - only the sports clubs continued

 

however we could try that as the kids all walked home or were picked up

 

Every other school in the area had buses that picked the kids up at the end of school - how will that work if the kids all leave at different time - or are the extra lessons compulsory for the kids

 

So from what old george said, i gather that it's "opt in" for schools but then if a school opts for the longer day, then it's then compulsory for all students. So unlike after school clubs, they won't have a choice, so you wouldn't have the same attendance issue. He also said extra funding to cope with those extra hours.

 

If i heard that wrong though, then by all means correct me!

[sparkeh]

So from what old george said, i gather that it's "opt in" for schools but then if a school opts for the longer day, then it's then compulsory for all students. So unlike after school clubs, they won't have a choice, so you wouldn't have the same attendance issue. He also said extra funding to cope with those extra hours.

 

If i heard that wrong though, then by all means correct me!

That's how I heard it as well.

[sted]

so when do kids get to be kids? they need unstructured time to just muck around or we will just turn out a string of vombies who cant cope with the real world down time is needed

[mrbios]

so when do kids get to be kids? they need unstructured time to just muck around or we will just turn out a string of vombies who cant cope with the real world down time is needed

 

The whole system of education lacks structure to accommodate kids being kids really.

 

Primary school needs to finish at 3, secondary 4, sixth form/college at 5, almost like a phased introduction into working life. Same goes for the maths until 18, once you've got your GCSE at 16, 17-18 should be "lifeskills" maths for things like bills, tax etc. It can be quite daunting being thrown into budget management with no prior knowledge.

 

I do hope the new "longer school days" idea doesn't extend to primaries, but i guess we'll hear more on that soon.

[Patrick]

I'm not all that clued up on MAT's, but what happens to the primary IT support guys? Many of us are not employed directly by the school, more invoice them for the service we do, doing this for many primary schools. What happens when they join a MAT. Does this mean the IT team working for the MAT will take over the support for the primary schools putting the existing guys out of a contract?

[sparkeh]

I'm not all that clued up on MAT's, but what happens to the primary IT support guys? Many of us are not employed directly by the school, more invoice them for the service we do, doing this for many primary schools. What happens when they join a MAT. Does this mean the IT team working for the MAT will take over the support for the primary schools putting the existing guys out of a contract?

Frankly, it depends. Some schools join MATs and carry on as they are, some use the MATs IT support. Some are pretty much forced to. It really depends on the school and the MAT they join.

[MrPstv]

so when do kids get to be kids? they need unstructured time to just muck around or we will just turn out a string of vombies who cant cope with the real world down time is needed

 

Kids are not kids anymore, you can thank TV and the WWW for that

Vombies That's the plan.

Dumb them down...

[foofighterjim]

Does anyone know if this really means all schools as foundation, voluntary aided and free schools are already out of LA control?