He said setting up academies was a way for private schools to offer free education without local councils meddling, forging a partnership between state and private key to education’s success.
But his big idea
looks unlikely to take root in the south of this borough any time soon, according the area’s private education bosses.
Sir Chris Woodhead, head of Cognita Schools, which runs Cumnor House schools in Purley and South Croydon, called the idea “completely wrong”.
He said: “We are focused on providing the highest quality education to the children whose parents pay fees.
“We are very conscious we have got parents who are making all sorts of financial sacrifices, and therefore it would be completely wrong for us to invest any resources or any time on any body else’s education.”
He claimed the idea “ignores the fact” that his schools “have a moral obligation to parents who pay fees”, adding: “The more time they have to spend setting up an academy, the less time they have to devote to their school.”
Others were less categorical, however, with the Whitgift Foundation, behind Trinity, Whitgift and Old Palace schools, not ruling out the idea.
A foundation spokesman said: “Our governors have not ruled this out for the future, and continue to explore options to support the best range of education provision across the borough.”
One trust which runs a leading school in Croydon is also a pioneer of Lord Adonis’s proposed approach.
The Girls’ Day School Trust, which runs Croydon High School for Girls in Selsdon, opened the high-achieving Belvedere Academy in Liverpool in 2007, the first private school to become an academy in the country.
But a spokesman for the trust said an apparent lack of demand meant it would it would be unlikely to do the same here.
Maureen Bosch said: “We are open to approaches from those who, like us, feel strongly about the importance of single-sex education for girls. That said, our understanding is that there is no shortage of girls’ school places in the Croydon area, therefore it might not be the best place for us, or anyone else, to seek to establish another girls’ school.”
Like most, if not all, private schools, Croydon High School for Girls does its bit to take on students who cannot afford the fees through bursaries and scholarships.
A spokesman said the school invests a minimum of five per cent of its fees income in means-tested bursaries and two per cent in scholarships.
“Where possible and where income streams allow, the school will look to offer in excess of these amounts,” she said.
She added the school “works hard to engage with the local community” through both independent and state schools.
Past and present such projects include hosting an after-school sports course for local primaries and classes in history, Latin, modern languages and other subjects.
Whitgift, meanwhile, supports 45 per cent – about 1,400 – of its students, spending more than £5million per year on bursaries and scholarships, according to a spokesman.
Its institutions also support local state schools by hosting classes and events, running classes in other schools, and sharing facilities and expertise.
Sir Chris, of the Cognita Trust, said he did not have Cumnor House’s bursary figures, but said they posed a dilemma.
He said: “We are very conscious that the bursaries we offer are paid for by other parents in the end. Therefore there is a difficult balance struck between offering them, and having parents complain that they are funding other parents.”
For Croydon’s shadow education chief, Kathy Bee, the private education sector does not provide the answers fellow Labour Party member Lord Adonis suggests.
She said it was unlikely it could solve a major problem in education: too little focus on non-academic subjects such as art, music and vocational qualifications, and added: “I do not think private institutions have an awful lot to say about that – it is very much about A-stars.”
She added that she thought Lord Adonis’s emphasis on academies as the answer was misplaced.
“You would be forgiven for thinking that there are no community comprehensives that do a really good job,” she said.
Croydon Today
