Three Waltham Forest schools planning to take advantage of the coalition Governments Academies programme are under attack in a Council report tonight.
The eight Labour Cabinet members are directing Executive Director of Children and Young People Services, Christopher Kiernan, to write to all governing bodies urging them to “think very carefully” and “act wisely” before considering applying for the status.
First glance of the document shows what complete buffoons the senior Officer, who wrote the report, and the politician, who signed it off, are. Kiernan seems to have forgotten which politician he reports to as according to the header page Cllr Liaquat Ali is still responsible for Children’s Services. The current politician responsible for the service, Cllr Saima Mahmud, has clearly signed the report without properly reading it.
The reports says, should the three schools become Academies, the Council will lose £2 million. What is doesn’t say is the £2 million is not lost but will go directly to the schools.
The report also says Academies are bad as we lose money. The Council don’t want the good schools to become Academies but suggest they might make the bad ones Academies – Doh!
The real issue is parents, head teachers and governors have lost faith in Children’s Services and are choosing Academy status as a better option than being with a directorate that bought the Councils star rating down from four to two under the tenure of Cllrs Ali and Robbins.
Questions still remain about the Independent Panel conclusions plus the Council has not shown any ability to aid schools in improving their GCSE outcomes in comparison with other boroughs.
Truth Will Out 