Private schools forced to sponsor academies
Independents told to help state pupils or risk losing charitable status under Tory manifesto proposals
AT LEAST 100 of the country’s leading independent schools will be forced to sponsor a state school or risk losing their charitable status, under the Conservatives’ education proposals.
The Tory manifesto states that private schools must sponsor an academy or set up a free school, as part of plans to create the “world’s great meritocracy”.
In a move that will be seen as a warning that private schools will not be able to ignore the demand, the Tories said that they are “keeping open the option of changing the tax status of independent schools if progress is not made”.
Under Conservative Party plans, failing schools will be banned from accepting any more pupils.
The move, which will affect more than one in 10 schools in the country, will bar councils from creating new places at schools that have been rated “inadequate” or “require improvement” by Ofsted, the regulator.
Each local council is legally obliged to find a school for each child, but the move would stop councils allocating children to underperforming schools.
The Tories also confirmed their commitment to lift the ban on grammar schools.
New grammar schools will be allowed to be created under certain conditions, such as allowing pupils to join at other ages as well as 11.
They also promised to conduct a review of the school admissions policy so that “ordinary working families” are not priced out of the best schools because they cannot afford to buy a house in the catchment area.
The manifesto said a million pupils were in substandard schools and that for too many children, particularly in the Midlands and the North, “a good school remains out of reach”.
It said: “The greatest injustice in Britain today is that your life is still largely determined not by your efforts and talents but by where you come from, who your parents are and what schools you attend.
“This is wrong. We want to make Britain the world’s great meritocracy: a country where everyone has a fair chance to go as far as their talent and their hard work will allow.”
The announcements are among a raft of pledges covering schools and universities contained in the Conservative manifesto.
Online maps will be created under a Tory government to allow parents to compare the quality of teaching, results and the curriculum in order to “support their decisions” over which schools they choose for their children.
The Conservatives said they would increase the overall schools budget by £4billion by 2022, as well as continuing to create a “fairer” way of distributing funding across the country.
Theresa May will hope that the announcement of an increase in spending will ease the concerns of some Tory backbenchers who feared their areas could lose out under the reformulation of the funding system.
A Conservative government would also press ahead with the free schools scheme, creating at least 100 new free schools a year, the manifesto states.
In an effort to attract and retain more teachers in all schools, the Conservatives will also offer “forgiveness” on student loan repayments to teachers while they remain in the profession.
The manifesto also confirmed that the Tories would replace the current system of free school lunches for children in their first three years of primary school with free school breakfasts for all primary school pupils.
Responding to the announcements, Kevin Courtney, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: “The Conservatives’ headline pledge to give £4billion to schools is an inadequate response to the funding crisis and a misleading presentation.
“Instead they are actually promising to give only £1 billion per year, which is clearly not enough when schools are facing a £3 billion real terms cut in their funding. In contrast, the Liberal Democrats are pledging to put in £3billion per year and Labour £6.3billion per year by 2020/21. The difference is stark.”
Barnaby Lenon, chairman of the Independent Schools Council, suggested that the manifesto proposals were not warmly received by private schools.
“We believe the greatest benefit can be achieved by working together in a spirit of voluntarism,” he said.
“It is important to remember that ours is a sector of 1,300 mostly small schools with limited capability in this area.”