The best argument for academies yet?

June 15, 2012 by
Filed under: Adam Lent 

Just over a month ago, a nine year old schoolgirl called Martha Payne started blogging about her school dinners.  The site became an instant viral sensation with over 2 million hits.  Entrepreneurial and creative stuff which encapsulates the new spirit of web-driven openness transforming organisations across the world, you might think. But now she has been banned from taking the photographs of her lunches for her blog, so she has decided to stop posting.

And the source of the ban? Not the school which admirably supported her efforts but the local council who have not even deigned to give an explanation for their decision. Sounds like it’s time for Martha’s school to think about getting out from under the dead hand of Argyl and Bute local authority.

Update: Argyle and Bute Council have just issued a statement explaining why they have banned Martha taking photographs of her school lunches.

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Comments

  • GracieBee

    As a mother with children who eat primary school dinners this charming blog was a revelation to me.  I admire “Veg”, aka Martha.  She writes beautifully.  She has created a dialogue (pfft to jargon) with other children all over the world who also photograph their school dinners and send the photo in with explanations about the food.  I suspect Argyll and Bute Authority are worried that parents might start asking questions about the quality and quantity of the school dinner – and I for one will stop assuming that my kids have had a decent midday meal.  Veg has Jamie Oliver and Nick Nairn interested in her blog and was using the blog to set up a charity to pay for food in third world countries.  When I am old and dependent I hope it will be people like Martha who are making decisions about my care.  

  • Daniel

    It
    may be an argument for something but is this really about the benefits of academy
    status?

     

    It’s
    worth noting that a Scottish school cannot become an academy, since there is no
    such thing as academy status in Scotland.

     

    But seeing as every story about a local authority (even those in Scotland!),
    academy or school has to be turned into a debate about school structures, let’s
    have some perspective. Academies are not required to abide by the
    same guidelines on the nutritional standards of their food as local
    authority schools. A recent survey by the School Food Trust
    found that 9 out of 10 academies are selling junk food to pupils. It seems that
    freedom from the “dead hand” of the local authority and central regulation sometimes
    also means freedom to compromise on a commitment to pupils’ health. Let’s hope
    that enterprising children at these schools are also free to document
    the standards of the food they are served

    • Adam Lent

      Very good point about academy status in Scotland – got ahead of myself there. 

      The point which piqued my interest here though is that the ban was introduced by the council not the school.  Clearly the school takes a more open-minded view in this case and recognises the value of what Martha was doing but is forced to abide by the council’s decision.

      Of course, a closed minded view on the part of any school, whether academy or not, would be equally lamentable.

      However, this event does, in a small way, help us understand the emerging evidence that councils are not always responding well to the growing autonomy schools are now able to enjoy.

      • http://blog.richardmillwood.net/ Richard Millwood

        The new ‘local authorities’ will be the trusts which run series of academies, but which have no requirement to suffer democratic accountability (neither do the academies, with their relaxed governance arrangements). What this means is that we could see more of this reaction from those who are taking over education, with little recourse for communities to influence the provision and policies in the schools which they pay for through taxation.

  • martinlovetype

    “The second imperative is to ensure academies are equally accessible to
    children from all backgrounds. Many have an impressive commitment to
    social inclusion but some take the low road to improvement by
    manipulating admissions. This must be eradicated.”- Chair of Academies
    commission
    http://www.govtoday.co.uk/education-news/38-schools/14490-creating-successful-academies