NOVANEWS
The Breckland Free School in Brandon, Suffolk, has awarded a £21 million contract to Swedish for-profit education company IES UK.
The decision to appoint a for profit provider to set up a ‘free’ school in Brandon, Suffolk, is a clear signpost of the direction of travel of Michael Gove’s ’supply side revolution’. Privatisation and deregulation, not system wide school improvement, appear to be the destination.
Internationella Engelska Skolan (IES) is a successful profit making company. Their turnover is 680 million SEK, roughly £60 million.
The Adam Smith Institute, which believes that schools should be run for profits, produced a report called ‘Profit Making Free Schools – unlocking the potential of England’s Proprietorial schools sector’ in which they look at the profits made by IES and the other major Swedish education company Kunskappskolan.
It reports that IES had a profit margin of 8.8% in 2009/10. This means that they made a profit of over £5 million.
Approval given for profits from ‘Free’ School
Daily Telegraph article – Profit needn’t be a dirty word when it comes to education
Free school £21m private contract plan
Nick Clegg versus the profit motive
Montgomery Primary school strikes against academy proposal
Teachers, support staff and parents picketed Montgomery Primary school in Birmingham on Tuesday morning against the proposal to turn their school into an academy.
60 people joined the picket line. NASUWT, NUT and GMB members were on strike and the school was closed.
The parents at the meeting took the opportunity to get organised. A leaflet has already been distributed at the school gates in several languages. Other initiatives include a ballot to be conducted at the gate as they did at Colley Lane primary, a lobby of the next governors meeting and a public meeting.
Montgomery Primary school strikes against academy proposal
Teachers protest against Sparkbrook school turning into academy
Solid strike against academies in Birmingham
Downhills Primary : Michael Gove accused of ‘undemocratic and aggressive’ treatment of school
The Labour MP David Lammy has accused the education secretary, Michael Gove, of an “undemocratic and aggressive” attempt to overhaul the management of the primary school he attended as a child.
Downhills primary schoolin Tottenham, north London, faces being converted to academy status by January under government plans to tackle struggling schools. The school would be taken out of the local authority’s hands and reopen under new management by September.
Michael Gove accused of ‘undemocratic and aggressive’ treatment of school
Downhills parents and staff are fighting back
Anti-academy Downhills Primary School campaigners could launch judicial review
OASIS – Academy chain accused of mismanaging budget