Letters Special – Everest Community College academy status bid

It is being rushed through, and the first most people knew about it was when a Labour leaflet went through their doors.

I don't see how a private firm based in Essex will do any better running the school than the current Local Education Authority in Hampshire – one of the best in the country.

There is talk from the school about extra money, but Hampshire has already invested a lot of money in this school, not least a £27m new building.

When the school was given a notice to improve in the past, they poured massive resources in, including recruiting an executive head.

Now, with their latest GCSE results at a disappointing 17 per cent, and an Ofsted inspection imminent, I see history repeating itself. The school should expect a notice to improve or go into special measures.

I'd like to call on Ofsted to inspect the school right now. I can’t help thinking this bid for academy status is the school leadership trying to escape the fall-out from the local authority.

–A Popley Scout Group Leader, Name and address withheld.

Sir.–I am writing to express surprise and disappointment at the potential move to academy status by Everest Community College.

Firstly, I think it’s unacceptable that the governors of the school (including the head) are attempting to oversee this change without any substantial consultation with the parents and students of the school – the people who matter.

This trend of a nationwide move towards academies rather than the traditional idea of secondary schools is worrying.

As a Labour Party member, I’m ashamed of the original involvement Labour had in proposing these academies.

However, that is no excuse for the Coalition to continue this absurd concept of schools not being answerable to local government.

The individuality of a school can surely only suffer by being part of a large group of academies, as is proposed with Everest Community College.

A school should not simply change to become part of a corporate chain, like an educational version of Tesco.

Although I didn’t go to Everest college, I went to another school in Basingstoke – Brighton Hill Community College – and it doesn’t take a genius to see the stupidity of this proposal.

I’m in my final year at the University of Manchester, and I am proud of my roots at a state school in Basingstoke.

Will the students in Popley be able to say the same in five years?

The National Union of Teachers obviously opposes the proposed move to academies.

If the teachers themselves do not think that academy status is a worthy goal, then that should tell the often out-of-touch headteachers, self-serving politicians and school governors something.

If Everest goes ahead with this proposal, it would be allowing misinformed, privately educated ministers like Michael Gove to think their poorly-thought-through ideas are worth persevering with.

–Alastair Case, Petsworth Close, Hatch Warren, Basingstoke.

Sir. – I am a young mother living in Popley and naturally I am very interested and concerned about my son’s future education.

All things being equal, I would have expected him to go eventually to the Everest Community College and I am most concerned that I, and all other parents in the community whose children attend feeder schools, are being denied any say in the socalled consultation on the future of Everest.

I accept, of course, that the parents of students who are currently at the college should be involved in the consultation, but why does a parent of a student who is nearing the end of her/his time at the college have a say in the proposal to change to academy status whereas I and others like me do not?

As a parent, I want to know how the headteacher and the governing body intend to turn around the poor results of the college, recorded since this headteacher took over its management. Changing its status to an academy, together with giving away this publiclyfunded asset, does not, I feel, offer any real solution for success.

It seems to me that rather than changing to academy status it would be better to change the headteacher, who, in my opinion, has clearly failed the community during her term of office, and if the governing body is unable to recognise this, it too should consider its position.

This proposal is so important to the wider community that there should be a full debate on the broader issues, and the majority of the community are being denied any involvement in this.

–Ms Gina Di-Lunardo, Timor Close, Popley, Basingstoke.

Sir.–As a resident of Popley, the recent news about Everest Community College has come as a huge shock.

Why has the community not been included in a consultation with regard to an application for academy status?

If academies are such a great idea, why haven’t more schools looked into it?

It seems there is just one academy in Hampshire currently and a couple more in the process of applying.

Everest Community College has been a light at the end of a tunnel for people who have worked very hard for a long time to improve the quality of life and education for Popley kids.

Now a bunch of people who have little connection, if any, with the area, are making a decision without, what I feel, is any form of consultation.

Does the headteacher not realise that the community is far bigger than the number of families with students in her school?

Don’t parents of children not yet of secondary school age get a say?

And I keep hearing about a change of catchment area, which could mean Popley East would lose out yet again.

What if the local education authority decided to include any more new build in the Fort Hill catchment?

Would that be likely to make a difference to the decision to apply for academy status if the head teacher gets stuck with Popley kids after all?

I hope Hampshire County Council fights back on this.

–Julie Johnson, Keats Close, Basingstoke.