SCHOOL’S £250K-A-YEAR DEAL ENDS AS PUPIL NUMBERS RISE

Council cash helped prop up academy

BAILOUT funding aimed at saving a cash-strapped school from closing is ending two years early – because it is no longer needed.

Stoke-on-trent City Council has provided £250,000 a year to prop up Birches Head Academy since 2016, as its pupil numbers were so low it could not balance the books.

The authority originally planned to continue the funding until 2020/21 – which would have meant a total bailout of £1.25 million over five years.

But now it is ending the arrangement after three years, as the academy’s finances have recovered sooner than expected.

A council report says pupil numbers at the academy have ‘significantly improved’, with the current year seven being ‘close to capacity’.

Janine Bridges, cabinet member for education, told the children and young people overview and scrutiny committee that ending the funding would contribute towards the council’s budget savings in 2019/20.

She assured the committee that the council was confident the academy’s recovery was sustainable. Ms Bridges said: “We expected this would take five years but we’ve done it in three, so that budget isn’t needed any more.

“Pupil numbers have been improving and there is a bulge coming through from our primaries. We are confident that this will continue. The projections for the future have been good.”

Back in 2016 Birches Head’s pupil numbers had fallen to 642, and while the school had come out of special measures, it was facing the prospect of laying off teachers and slashing courses.

Union officials criticised the bailout at the time, saying that it amounted to taxpayers’ money being used to prop up a ‘privatised’ academy.

The council funding would have allowed St Joseph’s College, in Trent Vale, to become Birches Head’s sponsor, but it later pulled out of the deal due to the financial risk.

Birches Head, which describes itself as ‘one of the most improved schools in the city’, is now in the process of joining the Alpha Academies Trust.

The academy was rated as ‘requiring improvement’ by Ofsted this year, with inspectors raising concerns over pupil progress and attendance levels. But Ofsted also found some strengths, including the way the school keeps pupils safe from harm.

Scrutiny committee member Ross Irving welcomed the fact that the council could end the funding.

He said: “Working together with the school, we’ve got it to a good level, two years before we thought we’d be able to do it.”

Katie Dixon, head teacher at Birches Head Academy, said: “Investment in teaching and learning at Birches Head Academy has improved admissions this academic year. Our year seven intake was 190 in September 2018 with further growth expected in 2019.”

The city council’s budget savings are due to be approved on February 28.