Best Southampton and Hampshire schools could be fast tracked to academy status

education Secretary Michael Gove has written to every primary, secondary and special school asking them to apply for academy status, but “outstanding”

ones will be fast-tracked.

Nineteen secondaries – three in Southampton and 16 in the Hampshire County Council area – have been awarded this top rating since 2007, the Daily Echo can reveal.

New academies could expect to receive roughly ten per cent more funding – direct from central government – than they currently get from their local education authority, according to a Department for Education spokesman.

They would also run their own finances and could be managed by outside companies.

Unions claimed the move makes no sense and warned it would make schools less accountable.

But the head of one of Southampton’s three secondaries currently given the top grade by Ofsted inspectors described it as “an interesting development”.

Richard Schofield, the head teacher of Redbridge Community School, is concerned that a squeeze on council budgets could have a knock-on effect on schools. He told the Daily Echo there were “no immediate plans” for Redbridge to seek academy status but added: “We would never say never.

“Obviously, that remains an option for us that will be reviewed in line with our thoughts on how the local authority is equipped to support us in the future, bearing in mind the Government has clearly set out an intention to reduce the capacity of local authorities.”

The Academies Bill will also make it easier for parents, businesses or other groups to set up so-called “free schools”, also out of council control.

Southampton has had two academies – Oasis Academies Lord’s Hill and Mayfield – since August 2008, when the city council merged four schools in a bid to improve education results.

Under the Labour Government, academies – which have more freedom to manage their own budgets and set the curriculum and pay rates – were designed to raise standards at underperforming schools.

But the Con-Lib coalition wants to give good schools the chance to gain more autonomy.

As well as Redbridge, in Southampton Bitterne Park School and Regents Park Community College would have applications to become academies fasttracked as “outstanding” schools.

Southampton’s head of education, Clive Webster, said he welcomed the Government policy.

He said: “We already have two academies and a diverse range of schools in the city and we’ve seen how this creates new energy, which can be harnessed to drive up standards.

“Our prime objective is to achieve high standards and excellent schools for all pupils, and if the Academies Bill helps us achieve that, then it can only be a positive move.”

But union bosses say they are worried by the prospect of schools being able to take themselves away from council control.

Southampton’s NUT representative, Pete Sopowski, pictured left, added: “Governors and head teachers will be the employers, with all the responsibilities and liabilities that go along with that, but without the backup of the local authorities.

“The unions find it absolutely abhorrent that private companies will be able to run schools for profit – that is not part of the British culture.”

John Denham, Labour MP for Southampton Itchen, said: “Academy schools have got a role to play but they are not the answer to all the problems of the education system.

“The big mistake the Government is making is to make it impossible for elected local councils to act on behalf of parents where things go wrong. That means that if an academy fails, parents will have to go all the way to Michael Gove, the Secretary of State, to get anything done. And that makes things worse for parents, not better.”

Additional reporting by Andy Tate