Council misses out on £2k for each academy switch

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Wednesday, 17 July 2019 22:45

By Andrew Morris - Local Democracy Reporter

Shropshire Council misses out on £1,900 funding each time a school takes on academy status, it has been revealed.

The council’s People Overview Committee, was told the authority also saw a £1.2 million reduction due to the removal of the education services grant in 2018/19.

Councillor Peter Nutting, leader of Shropshire Council, said in May that each pupil in the county was getting £600 less funding from the government than they should and called on the government to boost funding for the county’s schools by £22 million.

Steve Compton, responsible officer, said the council’s education improvement services were restructured in 2018.

He said the restructure was driven by funding pressures, a review of priorities and the need to create a more flexible workforce to meet the impact of future academisation of schools in Shropshire.

He told the committee at a meeting on Wednesday: “The funding available for education improvement is provided through the local authority school improvement grant.

“The increasing proportion of academies in Shropshire has reduced the education funding available to the local authority.

“Each conversion reduces the local authority school improvement grant by £1,900.

“The removal of the education services grant also resulted in an overall reduction in education funding for Shropshire of £1.2m.”

But Mr Compton added that no statutory services had been hit.

He added that Ofsted outcomes were also above the national average in Shropshire.

He said: “In December 2018 Ofsted reported that 85 per cent of schools nationally were good or better.

“This can be broken down into 87 per cent of primary schools being good or better and 75 per cent of secondary schools being good or better.

“Shropshire outcomes remain higher than the national statistics, with 88 per cent of Shropshire schools being good or better as of July 1, 2019.

“There has been a slight fall in the proportion of good or better schools in Shropshire with the overall percentage falling from 89 per cent at the end of 2017/18 to the current 88 per cent.

“This still remain above the national average.”

Councillor Kevin Pardy, said children are “suffering” at the Shrewsbury Academy in his ward, and he has concerns for its future.

The school has just been taken over by The Marches Academy Trust after it was rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted last month.

He added: “I want the council to be able to step into academies during times like this as I am so worried by the anecdotal evidence I am given.”

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