Name revealed for new Shropshire academy trust
The name of a multi-academy trust being set up by Shropshire Council has been revealed.
A report from council officer Chris Matthews says the working title for the new organisation is 'Shropshire Education Trust'. Around 30 schools so far have expressed an interest in joining, and it is planned to start operating in September. Next Wednesday Shropshire Council's cabinet will hold their vote.
They will decide whether to endorse the new trust, which will include posts for a director on an expected salary of £75,000, a chief finance officer on £50,000, and a head of school improvement on £55,000.
The cabinet will also be asked to approve recommendations that the council has representation on the trust, which is capped at 19.99 per cent by government, and that it meets the start-up costs of £65,000 in the event the trust is not viable.
A paper prepared for the cabinet outlines a number of risks associated with the plans, saying that the work to create the organisation may take council officers' attention away from day to day focus on schools improvement.
It states: "The risks associated with establishing the Shropshire Education Trust in the short-term include the deflection of officers' focus from their day to day work of monitoring, challenging, supporting and intervening to secure school improvement.
"This may lead to a decline in provision and outcomes for pupils and a reduced proportion of good and better schools."
The report also claims that the county's schools could lose out in terms of provision, and results for pupils, if they are split into a collection of small multi-academy trusts.
It states: "There is, however, greater risk of reduced accountability and influence over the medium and long-terms if the local authority does not facilitate the establishment of the Shropshire Education Trust.
"Governors are likely to respond to national policy by turning to other providers from within or outside of Shropshire and this may result in a disconnected collection of small multi-academy trusts across the local authority that will not achieve the flexibilities and economies of scale necessary to sustain good and better provision and outcomes for Shropshire pupils."
Academies operate differently to state maintained schools and receive their funding directly from the government, not through the local council.
Staff are also employed by the academy trust rather than the council – saving the authority money.
Academies do not have to follow the national curriculum and have the freedom to set their own term times, although they still have to follow the same rules on admissions, special educational needs and exclusions as other state schools.
They also continue to be monitored by Ofsted.
