Private Academies

[John Simkin]

So far the government have backed 17 privately owned city academies. The Business Academy in Bexley was the first to endure an Ofsted inspection. Apparently, the report was highly critical but the school managed to persuade Ofsted not to publish it.

The second one to be inspected, the Unity City Academy, also received a terrible report. Once again it was not published. However, the Guardian, has obtained the report under the Freedom of Information Act. It turns out that the report claims that the school has a “very low standard of attainment” and “significant underachievement” among pupils as well as an “unsatisfactory” level of teaching and concern about management. Despite the extra money poured into the Unity City Academy the GCSE results were lower than at the two schools it replaced. However, their Ofsted reports were published and this resulted in both schools being closed down as “failing schools”