Sandwell academy heads to meet over 'unacceptable' performances

Councillor Darren Cooper said he wanted to talk about how the council could support the schools to 'change their ways' amid calls for the council to intervene in the running of the academies.

Many of the secondary schools in the borough had chosen to become academies to move away from council involvement in their affairs.

But Councillor Cooper said he felt the standard of education available to young people in Sandwell was 'unacceptable.'

"I will be calling a conference with the headteachers of those schools," he said.

The council has pledged to take action at Ace Academy in Tipton and Wodensborough Academy in Wednesbury following a significant drop in GCSE results.

Concerns have also been raised about seven other academies.

It said Bristnall Hall Academy, Oldbury Academy and Mesty Croft Primary Academy had all fallen below a good Ofsted rating since making the change. RSA Academy, Ormiston Sandwell Community Academy and Forge Academy are all rated as requires improvement by Ofsted and there has been a three-year decline in GCSE exam performance at both Sandwell Academy and Wood Green Academy.

The council's children's chief Simon Hackett accused the current government of 'ripping' money out of the council which had resulted in the authority no longer being able to continue its oversight role to ensure Sandwell children had the 'best education.'

He said while he regarded the performance of the borough's primary schools as 'excellent,' standards had dropped at secondary schools which were no longer council maintained.

He added: "At the end of the day, children in these schools are Sandwell children and what they deserve is the best possible education to give them the best start in life and even though this government wants us to keep our hands off, I don't agree with that."

Sandwell was ranked 127th out of 150 local authorities in Ofsted's latest annual report and the borough's secondary schools are among the worst performing in the Black Country and Staffordshire.

State schools have increasingly made the move to academy status over the last decade, moving out of reach of councils.

Caroline Bletso, a spokesman for Ormiston Academies Trust, said: "The longer that schools are part of Ormiston Academies Trust, the better they get.

"This is exemplified by the outstanding performance of George Salter Academy in West Bromwich, one of the highest performing secondary schools in the Borough and one of our longest standing academies. We are absolutely focused on driving performance in every academy we support, including the underperforming schools we have recently taken over from the Council."