Update from Meeting 8th Feb 2023

Update from the latest meeting of KES – The Future (thanks to Emma Wilkinson)

The second meeting was held at King Edward VII Upper School last night for parents and carers concerned about the Ofsted report and subsequent academisation order; and we thought it would be helpful to summarise what was discussed and the latest actions being taken.

There were five local councillors at the meeting who are all very concerned about what is happening and would like to hear more from parents in their constituencies about their views. They stressed they could not influence process or outcome but could feed back concerns. We know a lot of you have been writing to your MP and the school but do also get in touch with your local councillor if you want to share your thoughts.

Ruth Milsom, Crookes and Crosspool – ruth.milsom@councillor.sheffield.gov.uk

Tim Huggan, Crookes and Crosspool – tim.huggan@councillor.sheffield.gov.uk

Minesh Parekh, Crookes and Crosspool – minesh.parekh@councillor.sheffield.gov.uk

Bernard Little, Walkley – bernard.little@councillor.sheffield.gov.uk

Angela Argenzio, Broomhill and Sharrow Vale – angela.argenzio@councillor.sheffield.gov.uk

Those at the meeting heard there is now a website, and a WhatsApp announcements group to keep interested parents/carers up to date. The idea is to make it easy for parents/carers to get involved to whatever level you wish.  For further discussion there is a general WhatsApp group called “KES The Future Parents&Co”. For more detail there are four subgroups looking at specific aspects of work – SEND, legal challenges, research into multi-academy trusts (MAT) and the Comms group who are working on communicating what we are doing and networking with parents and other interested parties. All these groups can be accessed via our Whatsapp community here and all parents/carers are invited to join if they like.

The SEND subgroup are keen to gather examples of good practice and point out the potential consequences to those children that a move to an academy might bring. They have outlined four areas they would want to be kept as part of the ongoing ethos of the school: Nurturing the individual, an effective pastoral system, positive support for mental health needs and effective co-production with parents. They have also set up a meeting with Kevin Straughan, Director of Education and Skills at the council.

The Legal subgroup have also been exploring several options including complaining to Ofsted, Freedom of Information requests around how decisions were made (for Ofsted, Department of Education and the Local Authority) and whether a legal challenge is possible. 

There was general agreement that there need to be two strands of work happening simultaneously – one looking at potential legal challenge but, as that is unlikely given the situation we’re in and what has happened at other schools, it is also vital to prepare to influence decision-making over which academy is chosen. We have to be mindful that not everyone will have the same views or have had the same experience of the school. The meeting heard some negative and positive points from those with experience of academisation, including Angela Argenzio who said at High Storrs (Minerva Trust) she had not noticed the difference once it became an academy in terms of ethos. Others pointed out that not being in an academy had allowed KES to adapt to the Covid pandemic far more quickly than neighbouring schools.

Another important point that was raised was around potential levers for slowing the process down and what could then be done with that time – for example, a reinspection. This is something the Legal and MAT subgroups will be looking into and if anyone has any thoughts on this or examples of where this has happened with other schools, please get in touch!

The MAT subgroup has been set up to research academy trusts and consider what might be a good fit for KES should that be the only option. If anyone has any experience in education and can help inform this work, please do consider joining.

On the Comms side, one vital bit of work is happening to collect parent views as evidence of what we most value about the school. There is a Googleform set up for parents to give their views and you can be anonymous or named, just tick whichever consent you are happy with. 

A petition is also being finalised this week to get a sense of how many parents share concerns about the Ofsted report and forced acadamisation order. We will post a link as soon as that is ready.

The meeting was led by Kate Williamson and Mike Heselton who are both school governors but it was felt that a parent spokesperson/leader might be more useful. A few parents put their names forward to do this as a group. Anyone else interested in this please get in touch with us.

One of the strengths of KES is its diversity and yet that hasn’t been reflected in the meetings so far. That diversity needs to be represented in our work, the meeting heard, and we will be working to share the website and WhatsApp groups far more widely as well as the Googleform to collect parent and carer views. We would encourage you all to share these links among your friends, communities and other groups you may be involved in.

And finally the point was made that the school does not have a Parents (or friends of the school) Association and there was wide agreement this is something that should be explored to give parents a properly constituted system for parents and carers to have a voice. This is something else we should look into.

A future meeting date will be publicised as soon as possible.  The governors are hoping that Andrew Jones, Strategic Director of Children’s Services at the council, will be able to attend.