Why is a Multi Academy Trust not being opened?

The quote is from a statement issued in 2011.

It is clear that it no longer holds true in 2018.

Local teachers are uncomfortable talking about it with parents, but they are unable to deny an MAT is being discussed, nor that they are extremely concerned.

Apparently they are being discouraged from discussing it. Why?

One’s initial response as a parent is: if a Multi Academy Trust is a good idea, why is no one being open and why is no one talking to us?

We are told, when we ask the schools about a Lewes MAT, that nothing has been decided.

Letters from headteachers talk about parents being consulted “once the decision has been made”.

Who are school governors consulting to make their decision if not the parents?

Who are the stake-holders if not the parents, the teachers, and the children? Surely, we should have some kind of say in a process that seems to be irreversible?

And why, if this is such a good idea, can one find nothing written by parents elsewhere but stories of failure, dropping standards, asset stripping by developers, spiralling executive pay amidst unaccountability and lack of oversight, falling pay, pensions and conditions demotivating good teachers, unqualified teachers hired instead, hostile takeovers from chains, and parents despairing of the state of what were once good schools?

It is very hard to find any positive parent opinion out there, nor the support of teachers, for a widely discredited process.

So why? And why now? Our schools aren’t failing.

Who is deciding this? Who is driving it? And who stands to benefit?

Why won’t they talk to us properly?

Yours, a deeply concerned parent.

James Garnon

Market Street,

Lewes