Dear Sir,
I write in connection with Woodham College becoming an academy. Clearly the Governing Body must have weighed up all the facts before taking such a momentous step but the article needs to be put into perspective.
Any academy continues to be state funded but not via the local authority but directly by the Department for Education ie in Woodham’s case, the academy is no longer under the protective ‘umbrella’ of Durham County Council.
Yes the academy will receive additional funding from DfE but this will be needed to pay for services which are currently provided ‘free of charge’ by the local authority. The Government’s stated aim on more than one occasion is that academies are to be funded no better or worse than local authority schools.
I would also question the phrase ‘Following consultation with the wider community’. As your excellent publication is the main source of local news/events etc for all Newton Aycliffe residents, one would assume that Woodham’s consultation plans were originally formally set out in the Newton News asking for views. Did that happen ?
Finally, it was only 3 or so years ago that the Aycliffe Secondary Schools Educational Trust (ASSET) was set up so that Woodham, Greenfield and Shildon Sunnydale schools could formally work together to share good practice and increase the educational aspirations and achievements of all local students. It makes you wonder why Woodham suddenly sees the need to ‘go it alone’!
It is pleasing to note that Greenfield and Sunnydale are still working very closely together to promote this aim despite Woodham’s withdrawal from the trust.
I take the reference to DfE approving Woodham’s application for academy status because ‘it is a school which is performing well’ to be an insult to the many, many other schools in the area doing likewise but do not see the need to ‘go it alone’.
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