Moving over to an Acadamy.

[Maverick]

As a whole staff we have an Academy meeting with TRET on Monday who I know nothing about. We are in the Greater Manchester area. It is our opportunity to ask questions either anonymously or in person. For those of you that have moved over to the unknown , what questions should I be asking?

Thanks in advance.

[Nail]

Magpie will tell you all……. He loves an academy….

[Vera]

First question. "How much does the CEO get paid?"
Second question. "How many executive level employees does the trust have?"
Third question. "What do they consider to be the best ratio of chiefs to Indians?"

Seriously though it matters not what you ask, it's all smoke and mirrors, until you are signed up they will promise the earth.

[Nail]

More seriously, if you're concerned I would maybe look to contact staff at other schools in the trust.

[magpie]

Just ask how long it will be before the word reorganisation will be used, because it will and you won't like the result.
Apologies you must all think i am mad but my experience of the academy process has made me very sceptical and very angry and i would vote for any party that banned them. As an aside i believe the CEO was on 250,000 to 300,000

[twiglets]

Morning all, looks like we are going to move soon. Last thing Friday (just before half term), they dropped an email to say they will start the investigation into joining a local trust. Used the format that as we need a new HT, good time to do it. I think it shocked the SLT as they were not in the discussions it seems.

Fact, it will happen so no point in worrying- yet

For those in the know, how does it really effect us with TUPE? do we keep the same pension set up as having less than 7 years, I'm more interested in protecting my future?

I've heard both arguments for and against, so, will just watch and listen.

Your constructive thoughts, as always, would be appreciated .

[Vera]

With TUPE you have some basic protections in place for a limited time.

Truth be told you will have no idea until something changes, at which point you have two options.
1. stick with it and hope for the best (be under no illusion, you will have no control over what happens to you or your job).
2. start to look for another job elsewhere academy or otherwise, at least you will know what terms and conditions you are starting you new employment from.

Everything is so varied with academies that is impossible to predict.

Good luck.

[Keyolder]

In my humble opinion the problem with academies is they seem to be management heavy, the chain of command is long with each link in the chain trying to impress the link above by any means necessary in order to secure their own position.

[MrMatt]

The main difference is the move from LA funded to being a business. Everything is scrutinised, the finance/ordering things decisions are taken away from you. They have their own H&S company that seem to work for their own agenda, which means most of the LA compliance will no longer be adequate and they'll try to use their company to do most of the work, using their pro-forma etc.

I'm into month two of an Academy takeover and there are lots of grumblings, even from the people that instigated the move. Can't say as I'm too impressed at the moment and talking to the site staff at the other schools already in the trust, it doesn't sound like it's going to get any better anytime soon.

So far my wage, pension, holidays have been TUPE'd over okay, I think it's now a time to see what happens going forward.

[Handyman]

Our school is heading in that direction and I can't say I am looking forward to it. The Trust we are supposed to be joining had probably over half of their caretaking jobs advertised at once recently and the wages and expectations in the job adverts don't really add up, so most of them are still vacant.

From people who have kids in the Trust all I hear is moaning about how the schools expect them to provide everything, constantly beg for money, and yet you can see the vast amount of senior management they can apparently afford on their website.