Fairview Primary Parents Exceptionally Win Battle Against Academisation

The governors of Fairview Community Primary School in Gillingham, Medway, have scored a massive own goal by ignoring the wishes of parents in their drive to academise the school within the Westbrook Trust. It is an unfortunate coincidence that the previous Chair of Governors, Kate Allen, is married to the CEO of the Westbrook Trust. After an earlier crisis at Fairview which saw the headteacher leave mid- term in 2018, and covered previously here, Medway Council brought in the Compass Partnership of Schools to provide leadership to the school, from January 2019. This proved an excellent and popular decision so, when Fairview governors decided to convert the school to become an academy, parents expected them to choose Compass, with its five primary schools, a strong record, and an Executive Headteacher who had restored confidence and stability to the school. Instead, they chose the Westbrook Trust.

Fairview Community

In a highly unusual move, the Regional Schools Commissioner’s Headteacher Board has now turned down the governors’ application to convert the school, citing concerns that they were at odds with the school community and that Medway Council had formally raised concerns surrounding the governing body’s decision making, specifically around transparency and community engagement. Up until now, the pattern across the country has been for the Regional Schools Commissioner (RSC) to override such concerns in a drive to increase the number of academies, often very publicly and controversially, so this decision is very significant. It is quite clear that if governors had chosen the Compass Partnership which had restored the school’s morale and reputation, parents would have been more than happy.

I first became aware of this issue last September, when parents contacted me for the second time, to ask my advice about the matter. The previous occasion had been two years previously when Medway Council had imposed a London headteacher on the school as part of a policy to improve standards in its primary schools which had been quickly dropped. Fairview, a higher-performing Medway primary, was one of the few cases where this was implemented, and it proved a disaster, with senior staff being forced out, the school culture changed completely, and a complete lack of confidence created amongst a parent body who were previously very supportive of the school.

After this, Medway Council got it absolutely right by asking Compass to take on the management of the school, along with Executive Headteacher, Sophie Powell. A new headteacher was appointed and the school settled down again, quickly. Covid saw the Compass contract extend past the end of July 2020 when it was scheduled to end, but this was welcomed by the school community.

Governors launched a consultation about their proposal to convert to an academy under Westbrook, having been asked to by the RSC’s Board, details here. To be fair to governors there was extensive documentation set to parents, but which led inexorably to the conclusion that the Westbrook option was the only reasonable one. Reports on the school’s Consultation Zoom Meeting of 16^th September, along with the accompanying documents, show that governors were well aware of support for Compass from parents, although governors who spoke out were unanimous in their support for Westbrook, apart from the vice-chair. There was a parental fear that having established a good leadership team, this would now be dismantled at short notice and, having had great difficulty in recruiting in the past it would again become a problem. The new Chairman of governors, Chris Gilbert, a retired army colonel and a Deputy Lieutenant for Kent, is a recent governor appointment since the earlier troubles, and appears to have replaced Mrs Allen shortly before the consultation, presumably to avoid a conflict of interest, although she remains on the Board.

Medway Council

The intervention by Medway Council is most unusual, as they have a policy to encourage primary schools to seek academy status, and it remains unclear as to why they went down the route of formally ‘raising concerns surrounding the governing body’s decision making, specifically around transparency and community engagement’. There is no doubt that the Westbrook Trust works well, has a strong reputation and has four Medway primary schools, including the strongly performing Oaklands, which joined in September, whereas the Compass Partnership comprises six primary and one Special School in Greenwich, so less obvious. However, plenty of other local primary schools are run by Trusts based outside Medway, including Maritime Academy Trust, and the Inspire Partnership, both based in Greenwich, amongst too many that have picked up local failed schools and turned them round.

Questions

So why has Medway formally gone out on a limb to oppose this one? The Council has never before appeared to bother about local opinion in such matters. Why has the RSC overruled governors to support parents when many more high profile parental campaigns failed to convince? Just put ‘primary school fights academy status’ to find large numbers. A letter from governors to parents at the beginning of November suggests they were not confident of success at this point, and indeed they do not appear to have yet told parents of the outcome.

I am afraid I have no answers but would be more than happy to hear suggestions, which may also help others.

Finally

'The RSC was minded to ask the LA to work with the school to address the concerns'. However, the solution appears very straightforward. Governors need to bite the bullet and recommend to parents that the school becomes an academy in the Compass Partnership of Schools.