BARNSLEY’S biggest secondary school is considering the option of setting up its own multi-academy trust which would see it work together with a number of Barnsley primary schools.
Horizon Community College has written to parents informing them it plans to convert to academy status, and has investigated the possibility of forming its own trust.
Another option would be for it to join an existing local trust with other Barnsley primary schools.
A consultation is now underway to garner parents’ thoughts and input, but executive principal Nick Bowen said he was clear that Horizon will not be joining one of the large, national academy chains.
“We’re big enough and good enough to work here in Barnsley with other Barnsley schools who want to work with us,” he said.
Academies are schools which are no longer run by the local authority, and instead are run by their own governors and leaders, and funded directly from the government.
Academies are now increasingly joining multi-academy trusts and work together under an overarching trust board.
Mr Bowen said parents need not be alarmed and that Horizon would continue to be run as it is today.
However plans need to be made for the school’s future, as Nick believes all secondary schools in Barnsley will be academies within the next couple of years, either through choice or through being forced to convert.
“We want to be masters of our own destiny and we want to get this right now,” he said.
“Local authorities are shrinking. Strong schools like ours will have to take the place of the local authority in terms of working with and supporting schools.
“A successful school has a responsibility to work with other schools who are perhaps not doing as well.”
Horizon already does this sort of work, but as an academy, and as part of a multi academy trust, this role would become more formal and recognised.
“The landscape of education is changing, local authorities are not what they used to be, and I expect never will be again,” he said.
The government has previously said all schools must covert to academy status. In 2016 the government scaled back this policy saying the ‘goal of academising all schools remains’ but that attention would be focused on schools that are ‘clearly failing’.
The government can force failing schools to become academies, and when schools fall into Ofsted’s special measures - as Darton College and Holy Trinity recently have done - they are then automatically forced to convert.
While this is not the case at Horizon, which is rated ‘good’ by Ofsted, Mr Bowen said it was right to secure the school’s future now.
“Local authorities no longer have the capacity to drive school improvement. In the absence of this capacity and with the support of the local authority the education system needs successful schools like Horizon to take the lead.
“It is better to re-broker this changing landscape ourselves than to have something imposed on us.”
Julie Leighton, a parent of 13 and 11-year-old girls, said she had some concerns and would be submitting a letter as part of the consultation. "When you read about academies, it tends to all be about money and private companies you see management getting overblown and being paid vast amounts, and schools employing lesser qualified and unqualified teachers, so that's definitely the sort of thing we don't want to see," said Julie, 49, of Huddersfield Road.
"We also don't want to see some overblown trust walking away when things get difficult, as we've seen in other areas. I'd like to see a broad range of expertise on a trust board, from all areas of education and children's health. "We need real accountability."
The consultation is open now, and contributions can be made by anyone with an interest - not just parents. Responses should be sent to kcooper@horizoncc.co.uk before 4pm on Friday March 23.
