Every school in Yorkshire town invited to leave council control

Barnsley College principal Colin Booth has written to the head teacher of every secondary and primary school in the district inviting them to become founder members of a multi-academy trust for the town.

In his letter he says it is clear that the Government wants all schools to become academies over the next four years.

The trust will aim to ensure that every school which becomes an academy within it will be rated as good or outstanding by Ofsted within two years.

Academies are run free from council-control and are funded directly from Government with greater freedoms to set their own curriculum, timetable and admissions arrangements.

Ministers are encouraging state schools to opt out of their local education authority to become academies as part of their reform of the education system.

In the letter, seen by the Yorkshire Post, Mr Booth says: “Our goal should be to ensure that we seize this opportunity to do what is right for Barnsley and that we enable our local communities to exercise their right to influence and guide their children’s education.

“I am confident that the new academy trust will be able to give our schools autonomy alongside responsibility and drive for continuous improvement.

“I believe that we will also be able to keep education in the hands of the professionals who are accountable to the communities they serve.

“We want every school to be able to shape its own character, frame its own ethos and develop its own specialisms free of either central or local bureaucratic control.”

Academies were first launched by Tony Blair, more than 10 years ago, based on the city technology colleges set up by the Tories.

Under the original “city academies” model, new schools would be set up independent of council control to replace struggling secondaries in deprived areas.

Each academy was based in a new building and was backed by a sponsor – a private company, faith group or charity.

Since taking office the coalition has extended the academy programme by offering existing state schools the chance to apply to opt out of council control and enjoy academy freedoms.

In the space of a year 26 existing state schools across Yorkshire have decided to become academies.

However, the only academy in Barnsley to date was set up in 2006 to replace the Elmhirst School under the old system.

Now Mr Booth is urging school heads to embrace the coalition’s academy expansion plans.

He told the Yorkshire Post that opposing the movement would be a “waste of effort”.

Barnsley Council has already set up a new school improvement partnership to stop its education system becoming fragmented by the roll out of the academies programme.

The Barnsley Challenge is looking to create a set of standards to which anyone wanting to open an academy in the town can sign.

In his letter Mr Booth says the new trust would aim to link up with the Barnsley Challenge.

However he told the Yorkshire Post that: “Barnsley Council now needs to take a step back”.

He added: “They cannot keep a role running schools – the Government wants all schools to become academies.”

There are more than 50 academies open in Yorkshire including 26 “converter” schools which have opted out of council control in the past 12 months.