Addendum

I mentioned in my previous post that much has been made of union members’ concerns over pay and conditions by the governing body. Consequently, our myriad other concerns have been belittled and pushed aside. I should not have to reiterate this but people who work in schools are not solely motivated by money. One word: vocation… There are a number of other motivations which are really quite important to us: ethics, ethos, community, staff and children well-being – to name but a few.

Anyway, there are a few extra points that I would like to share. I cannot take credit for them: they were made by a Labour councillor at the public forum that took place last month who asked the board to consider the issue of academisation from a broader perspective. It is important here to state that in our borough, at present, only 20% of secondary schools are academised - whereas 80% are nationally.

Anyway, the councillor began her statement by reminding the board that a while back it had taken a failing school and embraced it into the federation’s family of community schools. She added that all but two schools in the borough were 'good' or 'outstanding' and had good governance. She said that anyone who is a school leader or teacher knows about collaboration – adding that this is made possible by being community schools.

In her words, “I've just been hugely impressed by how (we) work together to support folks who are failing, whether that's teaching schools how to introduce interesting projects to boost their literacy.”

The point that especially hit home for me was when she then asked the board, “By forming an independent MAT, have you thought about how that might affect the ecology of those schools across (the borough)?”

The ecology of our schools – powerful words.

We are lucky to live in such a community: she stated that she took great pride in being part of it. A sentiment which I am sure is shared by the vast majority of teaching staff of the borough.

We owe it to our children, families and staff to maintain, not curtail and diminish our borough's community of schools.