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According to Ofsted, the best educational settings in the country are maintained nursery schools, of which 58% are “outstanding” and 39% are “good”. Remarkably, they perform just as well in poor areas as they do in less affluent areas. What consideration has the Minister given to allowing them to become academies if they wish to do so, in order to ensure that these great institutions continue their work?
According to Ofsted, the best educational settings in the country are maintained nursery schools, of which 58% are “outstanding” and 39% are “good”. Remarkably, they perform just as well in poor areas as they do in less affluent areas. What consideration has the Minister given to allowing them to become academies if they wish to do so, in order to ensure that these great institutions continue their work?
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Although maintained nurseries provide only 3% of the places in early years, they offer excellent early-years education and, over the past few years, we have seen the structure of maintained nurseries evolve as a number have federated or joined multi-academy trusts. I know that my hon. Friend has a special interest in this area, and I would welcome the opportunity to meet him to discuss how we can promote the excellent work that those nurseries do.
What assessment she has made of the potential merits of allowing nursery schools to become academies.
What assessment she has made of the potential merits of allowing nursery schools to become academies.
Many maintained nursery schools are delivering high-quality early education, often in disadvantaged areas where that provision can make the
greatest difference. Our aim is to improve parent access to high-quality early-years provision, enable a diverse market and ensure that nurseries are part of that market. However, the current legislation does not allow maintained nursery schools to become academies, but we will keep that under review.
I welcome the Minister’s response—or I think I do—that this is going to be kept under review. Too many maintained nursery schools—centres of excellence anchored, for the most part, in the poorest communities in the country—have been lost under successive Governments. Would not academy status give them the opportunity to ensure that they continue to help the Government in raising standards for all and, most importantly, closing the gap between outcomes for rich and poor?
I welcome the Minister’s response—or I think I do—that this is going to be kept under review. Too many maintained nursery schools—centres of excellence anchored, for the most part, in the poorest communities in the country—have been lost under successive Governments. Would not academy status give them the opportunity to ensure that they continue to help the Government in raising standards for all and, most importantly, closing the gap between outcomes for rich and poor?
I welcome the enthusiasm of the Chairman of the Education Committee for maintained nurseries. I have visited Pen Green maintained nursery in Corby, which is an excellent example. He mentioned harnessing their quality. We have invested £5.5 million in teaching schools so that maintained nurseries can spearhead this and help to spread quality across the sector. He is right to indicate that 4,000 schools have benefited from academy status. As I said, we will keep the situation under review as opportunities arise to reconsider the legislative framework for maintained nurseries.
What systems his Department has in place for management of failing academies and free schools.
What systems his Department has in place for management of failing academies and free schools.
The Department monitors schools through scrutiny of performance data and Ofsted reports. All free schools are visited by an education adviser in the first and fourth term of opening. Concerns are investigated immediately. It is for an academy trust to ensure that appropriate action is taken to bring about rapid improvement. If it does not, we use the intervention powers in the funding agreement.
The recent action taken on Al-Madinah and the Discovery New School by Lord Nash, the Under-Secretary of State, followed his setting out in detail the requirements those schools had to follow in order to turn themselves around and required his personal supervision of those schools. What role will school commissioners have in future to ensure that we no longer have Ministers trying to run schools from a desk in Whitehall?
The recent action taken on Al-Madinah and the Discovery New School by Lord Nash, the Under-Secretary of State, followed his setting out in detail the requirements those schools had to follow in order to turn themselves around and required his personal supervision of those schools. What role will school commissioners have in future to ensure that we no longer have Ministers trying to run schools from a desk in Whitehall?
Inevitably, we inherited a situation in which funding agreements were the principal method of ensuring that both academies and free schools acted in conformity with the principles that all of us would expect. We are not intending to abandon the principle that it should be for Ministers to sign and, if necessary, revisit funding agreements, but a new system of regional schools commissioners working to the Office of the Schools Commissioner can ensure that we have the local intelligence that we need in order to respond more quickly, and that there is a greater number of high-quality sponsors to help drive school improvement.
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families which Minister in his Department has lead responsibility for the academies programme; and if he will make a statement.
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families which Minister in his Department has lead responsibility for the academies programme; and if he will make a statement.
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many potential sponsors are in discussion with his Department on the establishment of a new academy; and if he will make a statement.
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many potential sponsors are in discussion with his Department on the establishment of a new academy; and if he will make a statement.
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many academies have been established in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many academies have been established in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what estimate he has made of levels of truancy in academies in each of the last three years, broken down by age group.
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what estimate he has made of levels of truancy in academies in each of the last three years, broken down by age group.
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what percentage of academies had 30 per cent. or more pupils gain five A* to C grades at GCSE in each of the last three years; what assessment he has made of how this compares with...
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what percentage of academies had 30 per cent. or more pupils gain five A* to C grades at GCSE in each of the last three years; what assessment he has made of how this compares with...
| Academies (excludes former City Technology Colleges) | Maintained mainstream schools, City Technology Colleges and Academies | |||||||||
| Total number of Academies | Number and percentage of Academies above 30 5+ A*-C | Number and percentage of Academies above 30 5+ A*-C (including English and maths) | Total number of schools | Number and percentage of schools above 30 5+ A*-C | Number and percentage of schools above 30 5+ A*-C (including English and maths) | |||||
| Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | |||
| 2004-05 | 14 | 7 | 50 | 0 | 0 | 3,095 | 2,865 | 93 | 2,171 | 70 |
| 2005-06 | 21 | 18 | 86 | 3 | 14 | 3,072 | 2,938 | 96 | 2,283 | 74 |
| 2006-07 | 36 | 34 | 94 | 10 | 28 | 3,045 | 2,981 | 98 | 2,407 | 79 |
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what plans he has for the academies programme beyond 2012; and if he will make a statement.
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what plans he has for the academies programme beyond 2012; and if he will make a statement.
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many new sponsors he estimates will become actively involved in the academies programme in the next 12 months; and if he will make a statement.
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many new sponsors he estimates will become actively involved in the academies programme in the next 12 months; and if he will make a statement.
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many universities (a) are sponsors and (b) have expressed an interest in becoming a sponsor of an academy; and if he will make a statement.
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many universities (a) are sponsors and (b) have expressed an interest in becoming a sponsor of an academy; and if he will make a statement.
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what plans he has for the Independent Appeals Panels for exclusions from academies; and if he will make a statement.
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what plans he has for the Independent Appeals Panels for exclusions from academies; and if he will make a statement.
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many pupils he estimates will be in an academy in 2009; and if he will make a statement.
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many pupils he estimates will be in an academy in 2009; and if he will make a statement.
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what plans his Department has to conduct a review of academies' admissions policies and procedures; and if he will make a statement.
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what plans his Department has to conduct a review of academies' admissions policies and procedures; and if he will make a statement.
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many academies are being co-sponsored by a local education authority; and if he will make a statement.
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many academies are being co-sponsored by a local education authority; and if he will make a statement.