Councillor McDonald proposed and Councillor Evans seconded a motion on the Academisation of Schools.

An amendment was moved by Councillor Bowyer and seconded by Councillor Nicholson as follows –

To insert the following words:

‘The Council meeting welcomes the recent decision of the Secretary of State for Education to abandon plans to force all of England’s schools that are still maintained by their local authorities to become academies.  However, it regrets that some schools may still be forced to convert, including those in local authorities where academies are in a large majority, those in authorities whose maintained schools are deemed to be failing overall to meet a minimum performance threshold, and those seen as struggling or failing to improve sufficiently.’

And to amend a) as follows:

a)            ‘Ask the Leader of the Council to write to the Secretary of State for Education expressing the concerns of this council as set out in this motion about the proposals to force all schools to become academies in Plymouth;’

The meeting adjourned for 5 minutes to seek legal clarification on the amendment to the motion.  Following the adjournment, the Lord Mayor confirmed that the amendment was lawful.

Following a request from ten councillors for a recorded vote on the amended motion, the amendment was agreed.

For the amendment (27)

(Councillors Bowyer, Mrs Bowyer, Mrs Bridgeman, Carson, Churchill, Cook, Darcy, Deacon, Downie, Drean, Foster, Mrs Foster, Fry, James, Jordan, Kelly, Martin Leaves, Mike Leaves, Sam Leaves, Loveridge, Dr Mahony, Nicholson, Pengelly, Ricketts, Riley, Storer and Wigens).

Against the amendment (26)

(Councillors Mrs Aspinall, Bowie, Coker, Dann, P Davey, S Davey, Evans, Hendy, Lowry, Mavin, McDonald, Morris, Parker-Delaz-Ajete, Penberthy, Rennie, Singh, Smith, Sparling, Stevens, J Taylor, K Taylor, Tuffin, Tuohy, Vincent, Wheeler and Winter).

Abstention (1)

Debate continued on the amended motion and, following the vote, Council agreed:

‘This council believes –

No single system of school organization has a monopoly on success and that the model as proposed by the White Paper would not deliver the improvement in schools standards and outcomes that this council wishes to see.

The Council meeting welcomes the recent decision of the Secretary of State for Education to abandon plans to force all of England’s schools that are still maintained by their local authorities to become academies.  However, it regrets that some schools may still be forced to convert, including those in local authorities where academies are in a large majority, those in authorities whose maintained schools are deemed to be failing overall to meet a minimum performance threshold, and those seen as struggling or failing to improve sufficiently.

This Council meeting therefore resolves to –

a)       Ask the Leader of the Council to write to the Secretary of State for Education expressing the concerns of this council

b)      Ask the Leader of the Council to write to our local MPs expressing the council’s concerns and to seek their views on the proposals

c)       Ask the lead member for Children and Young People to ensure engagement with head teachers, school governors, professional representatives, parents and the wider local community to raise awareness of the Government’s proposals.