This petition has been set up by parents who are fighting the forced academisation of St Michael’s Catholic Primary school, East Ham. We feel that if it isn’t broken then why fix it? We want the school to step back from the academisation process. 

The story so far

 In September 2018, The Diocese of Brentwood released a position statement that states that the bishop has initiated the development of Catholic, Deanery based Multi Academy Trusts (Catholic MATs) across the Diocese.  The governing body have openly stated that they intend  to move forward with the process of academisation in line with the Bishop's vision for Catholic education. This decision was made in July 2018 and was made without any consultation. 
� Academies set their own admissions policy. We currently have input from the priests at St Michaels Catholic Church. When pupils are admitted they need proof of catholism. We do not want to lose this because more pupils mean more money. We are a catholic school with a catholic ethos. See https://www.gov.uk/guidance/academy-admissions

�  Teaching staff at St Michael’s are against academisation and have held 6 days of strike action. They haven’t made this decision lightly, it was their only option. They have tried to speak to the governors about this decision on numerous occasions since 2018 however, theyhave only been offered a meeting at the beginning of January 2020. Nearly 2 years later! They are still waiting for feedback from this meeting.

� It has been stated that the school is vulnerable and at risk of closure. Newham Education have advised us that this isn’t the case. They are Anti-academisation and do not advise any schools to acadamise. 

� There are no financial benefits to entering a MAT. It has been said that we can benefit by sharing resources, therefore saving money. This can be done without becoming an academy and is being done at the moment; for example with our school meals contract. 

�   due to staff concerns, St Angela’s have agreed not to academise for at least 5 years. This has resulted in their strike action being suspended.

�  If the school becomes an academy it will essentially become a business, the purpose of every business is to make money.

�  Academies cut costs by employing unqualified staff. The trust have said that they “intend to use this freedom, “this means that the children could be taught by unqualified teachers in the future. They also work on different ratio’sof children to adults, and do not need to follow the borough Safer recruitment policy. Essentially they can employ someone without the interview and formal process.

� Academies save money by reducing the number of support staff. The trust says that they cannot give any guarantee that there will be no redundancies in the future. 

� Academies use their own Human Resources and do not have to pay maternity leave and pay into teacher’s pensions or honour sick leave. This creates a high turnover of staff and low Morale.

�  Teachers Pay and conditions will only be recognised for a year. Our worry is that the staff who we value and who have helped our children progress could leave the school and the trust can and may hire unqualified teachers.

� �we will be joining the trust as the smallest school, with the smallest voice. Funding decisions will be made by the board of Trustee’s not our governing body. Therefore, funding for any children with special educational needs will be allocated by the trustees and we will have no access to the services provided by the local authority. 

� The Governors perform their duties in a voluntary role, yet are making a massive decision for our school. We believe that this decision has been made without an informed understanding of the full implications of becoming an academy.

Evidence

�  St Aiden’s in Redbridge is already in a CMAT and had to be financially bailed out by the local authority to raise standards, despite it being part of the Good Shepherd Trust.

 � �Two Headteachers who are currently in the MAT (Our Lady Of Grace) are leaving their schools at the end of the year. One of those head teachers schools has only joined the Mat in the last 6 months. 

 � There is no evidence that academies do better academically than maintained schools and there can’t be a uturn. Once converted there’s no going back. https://schoolsweek.co.uk/epi-report-academies-are-no-better-than-la-schools-and-7-other-important-findings/

Please sign the petition and help us to keep our unique school community from turning into a business.