As announced yesterday, today’s announcement in the budget that all state schools will become academies has been predicated on the notion that this status will give them their ‘independence’ from local authority control and  from teaching the national curriculum.

As I said in yesterday’s posting on this subject, there is a debate about the pros and cons of academy status, but there can be no debate about the facts. One of the most significant facts mentioned today is that the majority of schools affected by this decision will be primary schools, most of which are still within local authority support, guidance and control.

Here is another fact: this is the DfE guidance from which academy primary schools will NOT have independence, and quite rightly in a number of cases:

the statutory guidance that applies to academies and free schools:

• Assessment and reporting arrangements (Key Stages 1 and 2)
• Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
• Safeguarding
• Exclusions
• Alternative provision
• Admissions (the School Admissions Code)
• Sex and relationships education (SRE)
• Special educational needs (SEN) / health needs