Frank le Duc: Latest News

Governors meet to decide whether Hove Park School should become an academy

This week and next week, Hove Park School is hosting a series of consultation meetings as the head and governors consider whether it should become an academy. The first meeting for parents and carers was due to be held yesterday (Monday) and the final meeting is scheduled for next Wednesday (21 May). Students will also be briefed and given a chance to share their views.

An information booklet is upfront in tackling some of the concerns that the governors have anticipated. It says: “We are not considering having a sponsor, like BACA and PACA. We are not interested in changing the times of the school day or having different holidays to the rest of Brighton and Hove. We are not interested in changing anyone’s pay or conditions.”

BACA and PACA – the Brighton Aldridge Community Academy in Falmer and the Portslade Aldridge Community Academy in Mile Oak – were poor performers. Their sponsor, the Aldridge Foundation, is chaired by the former Portslade schoolboy turned millionaire businessman Sir Rod Aldridge. He helped attract funding for new buildings costing £40 million in total, and results are better. This is not true of all academies.

Hove Park was a poor performer, but that is not why the governors have expressed an interest in the school becoming an academy. Under the current head, Derek Trimmer, Hove Park has become one of the fastest improving schools in the country in the past three years. Mr Trimmer and his staff are already working with one of Hove Park’s traditional feeder schools on performance. And the education watchdog Ofsted has already praised the improvements at West Blatchington Primary, the school in question.

As an academy, Hove Park could help others. In the case of feeder schools, this would potentially improve Hove Park’s results even more over time. But the prospect of academy status has provoked a vocal campaign. Parents, local politicians and union members have protested. And last month about 150 opponents went along to a public meeting at Bishop Hannington Memorial Church in Hangleton.

The campaigners – Hands Off Hove Park – say they want “a Hove school, not a Gove school”. They want a school that has a stronger relationship with its local authority, Brighton and Hove City Council, rather than just the Department for Education, headed by Michael Gove the Education Secretary.

They have started a petition, which has attracted more than a thousand signatures. It says: “We want Hove Park School to remain within local authority control because we believe it will be better for the whole community – children, parents and teaching staff. We are calling on all governors to reject the idea of Hove Park School becoming an academy.”

“On the agenda is the need to modernise the school buildings”

The subject was due to be debated when the council met on Thursday with Councillor Sue Shanks, who chairs the Children and Young People Committee, proposing a motion opposing academies in principle. She believes that having any more academies locally would make it harder for the council to fulfil various statutory duties. These include planning school places, improving school performance and protecting – or safeguarding – children.

Those governors who favour becoming an academy fear that if the school doesn’t make its move now, it may well have a sponsor foisted on it. Worse, it could become subsumed by one of the growing number of multi-academy trusts (MATs). They would rather that the school was a leader and able to set its own agenda. And on the agenda is the need to modernise the school buildings – something that has not proved possible under the current arrangements.

Mr Trimmer, who taught drama before he became a head, is keen to innovate too. He has already given every pupil an iPad. He has other ambitions for his pupils but is constrained by the national curriculum. If the school becomes an academy, he will be freed from this constraint. And if he is to win round those who oppose the prospect of Hove Park Academy, he will need to give an award-winning performance.