An open letter signed by more than 200 parents and carers in less than 24 hours and sent on 3 May to Alison Wilson, Regional Director, Yorkshire and Humber, is calling for a halt to forced academisation of King Edward VII, School. Click on the image below or link here to read the Sheffield Star article in full.
An open letter signed by more than 200 parents and carers in less than 24 hours is calling on Alison Wilson, Regional Director, Yorkshire and Humber, Department for Education to halt the decision to force King Edward VII, School into academisation.
To sign the letter click here (for parents/carers or prospective parents/carers of child attending/due to attend the school).
As parents and carers of students of King Edward VII School, Sheffield, we are writing to urge you to pause the process of academisation of the school given the changed national context. In January, the process began to issue a new academy order for King Edward VII School, superseding the previous order to join Minerva trust. This followed publication of an inadequate Ofsted grading.
Since then, Ministers have expressed concerns about Ofsted overall inadequate judgements made based on safeguarding issues alone. The Chief Inspector of Schools has publicly stated that there are legitimate debates about grading1 and the Minister of State for Schools, Nick Gibb MP, announced on 20/4/2023, that Ministers and Ofsted will look at the issue of limiting judgements, indicating that this policy could change.2 Ofsted has also announced it will reinspect schools more quickly when an inadequate judgement on safeguarding alone has been issued.3 Given these announcements, we believe it would be appropriate to pause the process of academisation of King Edward VII School to allow clarity to be sought.
In addition to policy review, there are at least two legal challenges that have been publicly announced of the Ofsted grading approach in cases such as King Edward VII School. This means that even if Ofsted and Ministers decide not to change the one-word Ofsted grading approach, the current approach could yet be found to be unlawful. The two legal cases we refer to are as below:
- NAHT based on Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which imposes obligations on public authorities to take reasonable steps where there is a real and immediate risk of a loss of life;4
- Queen Emma Primary School in Cambridge who intend to challenge the reasonableness of the Ofsted grading criteria in the specific case of an inadequate judgement on the basis of safeguarding.5
Irrespective of any changes, or challenges, to Ofsted’s inspection processes, we believe there are grounds for the DfE to reconsider how it intervenes in schools found to be inadequate on ‘limiting’ grounds, and that were graded good or higher prior to the most recent inspection. Pending clarity about policy change and legal matters, one viable solution would be for the DfE to take no action until King Edward VII School has had an opportunity to address the issues identified in the inspection report and be reinspected a short time later.
The Secretary of State provides you with discretion to exercise your powers to achieve the policy aim of creating a school system that helps every child to fulfil their potential. Indeed, guidance states that you “may” intervene if maintained schools are judged inadequate, but it does not set out a timescale for intervention. Given the current situation we have set out, we urge you to seriously consider a pause in this matter.
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/mar/24/ofsted-chief-amanda-spielman-sorry-ruth-perry-death[2] https://www.tes.com/magazine/news/general/ofsted-dfe-limiting-judgements-nick-gibb
[3] https://schoolsweek.co.uk/ofsted-considers-safeguarding-inspection-tweaks-after-heads-death/
[4]https://www.naht.org.uk/News/Latest-comments/Press-room/ArtMID/558/ArticleID/2017/preview/true/NAHT-takes-first-step-towards-judicial-review-proceedings-against-Ofsted-following-its-failure-to-pause-inspections[5]
On Sunday, the head of Ofsted admitted there was a “culture of fear” around school inspections in England. But in her first interview since the tragic death of Ruth Perry, who was the headteacher of Caversham Primary School in Berkshire, Amanda Spielman, chief inspector of schools, told BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg only a “tiny proportion of schools” were rated inadequate and most schools find inspections to be a “positive and affirming” experience.
It is clear from the national conversation in recent weeks that this rosy picture is not one that the majority of headteachers, teaching staff, parents and unions would recognise.
And what the majority of parents do not seem to know is that this is not just about a school being branded with a label of inadequate when it is doing well in most areas, but if the school is not already an academy, that inadequate judgement will trigger a process of forced academisation.
Parents and carers of students at the iconic and popular King Edward VII School (KES) in Sheffield, the last local authority run secondary in the city, learnt this to our cost in January 2023 when Ofsted downgraded the school from good to inadequate on the basis of one area – safeguarding and leadership.
The school had already tried to appeal, telling parents in a letter they were unclear how the judgement had been reached. They asked for reinspection but were refused. The Ofsted report went through several drafts before we saw the final one, four months after the original one-and-a-half-day inspection in September 2022.
Read the full piece in Yorkshire Bylines here.
Parents and students from King Edward VII school, Sheffield’s only remaining local authority secondary, will gather outside City Hall at 11.30am and march to the Town Hall this Saturday (22 April) to protest against it being pushed into Brigantia Learning Trust.
The demo, which is being led by the KES – The Future campaign group, follows the publication of the Department for Education’s Yorkshire and Humber Advisory Board meeting agenda which could see a decision made for King Edward VII School, Sheffield, to be handed over to Brigantia Learning Trust as early as Tuesday next week (25 April).
Parents and carers from the KES – The Future campaign group say they will fight the decision “tooth and nail”, and are shocked at the lack of transparency around how Brigantia was selected, with neither the school or parents informed that the change was to be discussed at the DfE meeting. One parent said: “It looks like the Department for Education knows this is a bad choice and they tried to slip it through without anyone knowing or having a chance to object.”
Parents believe joining Brigantia Academy Trust will plunge King Edward VII School into a poorly performing academy group with two of five academies that have persistently been graded as requiring improvement under Brigantia’s tenure.
Questions have been raised about how Brigantia would have the capacity, experience or track record to make improvements at King Edward VII School which was rated good by Ofsted in the majority of areas looked at. Parents are also astonished by the Department’s choice given that Brigantia is a trust that is struggling to support its existing schools. It is believed there are other trusts locally that have expressed an interest who parents say would be better choices if academisation had to go ahead.
Many parents have already written to the Department for Education to express their concerns that Brigantia Learning Trust is not a “good fit” for King Edward VII School and that it would cause a huge amount of disruption to pupils’ learning, exacerbating the negative impact of the pandemic.
In recent feedback from 400 surveyed parents collected in less than three days and presented to the local authority on 8 March, only 10 parents thought Brigantia was a good choice should academisation go ahead.
“Its brand seems to value a strict, uniformed, homogenous approach to its schools that goes against what parents have said they value about the school,” said one parent.
Another expressed their concerns about Brigantia Learning Trust’s track record in improving schools: “Brigantia has five schools, two of which are persistently measured by Ofsted as requires improvement. If the Trust take on KES this will mean that half of the schools in the Trust will be in trouble, surely this is unsustainable?”
Another voiced their fears that the change would negatively impact on the complex admissions patterns in the South and West of Sheffield. “Many parents positively chose King Edwards because of its distinctive ethos – as our family did. Such parents may choose to send their children elsewhere given the significant change in ethos and an understandable scepticism about Brigantia’s capacity to support the school.”
Dave Clay for the KES – the Future Campaign Group said:
“As a group we are really worried. There’s no transparency to this process – the local authority have said that to us in meetings – and the move to academise King Edward VII to a trust that the majority of parents surveyed have said that they do not want is not only badly flawed but also seeks to rip the heart out of everything the parents and the community value most about the school and will have an impact on children’s learning and life opportunities for many years to come.
“We’re calling on the academisation process to be stopped – or at least delayed – to ensure alternative options are explored or for the school to be given the opportunity and time to demonstrate they can make the necessary improvements that need to be made.
“The disruption caused by this change will have a huge and significant impact on our children’s lives at a time when the differential impact of Covid-19 on children’s learning has not been fully accounted for. We also call on the government to work with us as informed partners about our children’s education. We will fight tooth and nail despite our busy lives as when children’s lives are being disrupted the parent voice is never stronger.”
King Edward VII School was placed into a ‘forced’ academisation process following an ‘inadequate’ Ofsted grading and inspection that took place over one and a half days when many staff were off ill or pulled out to organise their annual Open Evening. At the time Linda Gooden, Headteacher, said the order was made despite overwhelmingly positive feedback provided to Ofsted by students, parents, carers and staff through the Ofsted surveys, results for students, overall, being consistently good and the school sending more students to Oxford and Cambridge than any other school in the region.
The school also remains ‘good’ in three out of the five areas inspected by Ofsted. In a poll, 86% of parents said they wanted the academisation process to be delayed. More than 1300 people also signed a petition against the decision.
At the meeting on the 25th April the Regional Director of the DfE will propose Brigantia to an advisory board of school leaders. Parents are calling on the Regional Director to think again and withdraw the proposal and for the advisory board to say no. The ultimate decision regarding the new sponsor for King Edward VII School lies with the Secretary for State. The school leadership and Board of Governors are not allowed to be involved in the process, and the new sponsor has no obligation to consult with parents before or after the academisation process.
Letter in Sheffield Telegraph 16th March 2023 https://kesthefuture.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/nste-16-03-23-016-nste.pdf
King Edward VII: Sheffield parents have their say on trust they would rather be ‘forced’ to join Parents at a Sheffield school faced with being “forced” into an academy trust have had their say on which they would rather join. https://www.thestar.co.uk/education/king-edward-vii-sheffield-parents-have-their-say-on-trust-they-would-rather-be-forced-to-join-4063028
King Edward VII School: Petition launched against plans for top Sheffield school to become an academy A petition has been created to stop the academisation of a Sheffield school after it received a shock “inadequate” Ofsted rating. https://www.thestar.co.uk/education/king-edward-vii-school-petition-launched-against-plans-for-top-sheffield-school-to-become-an-academy-4053303
King Edward VII Sheffield: Parents say ‘inadequate’ Ofsted rating ‘does not reflect the school we know’. A number of parents have spoken out against a Sheffield secondary school’s ‘inadequate’ Ofsted rating, saying it ‘does not reflect the school we know’. https://www.thestar.co.uk/education/king-edward-vii-sheffield-parents-say-inadequate-ofsted-rating-does-not-reflect-the-school-we-know-3999135
Opinion: Year on year more schools have been forced to join multi-academy trusts https://www.thestar.co.uk/news/opinion/letters/year-on-year-more-schools-have-been-forced-to-join-multi-academy-trusts-4049039
From Oxbridge feeder school to an Ofsted ‘inadequate’: what’s going on at King Ted’s? ‘That a school with such a long, proven track record should be forced to become an academy based on a two-day inspection seems ridiculous’ https://www.sheffieldtribune.co.uk/p/from-oxbridge-feeder-school-to-an
Independent information for parents and carers and pupils of King Edward VII School, Sheffield, on current proposed change to academy status.
This site has been created in relation to likely change to the school’s status following an Ofsted report in autumn 2022.
It provides updates, information, background, news of support / action / campaigning / letter writing and meeting opportunities.
Please see all the links to a WhatsApp community and small groups and return here for links to social media and any published documents.
Stop the academisation of King Edward VII School 