Haggerston School’s 125-year lease set to be transferred to academy trust – with staff and parents divided over the move

Haggerston School. Image: Google

Politicians are likely to agree a long lease for an academy trust that is taking over a Hackney secondary school.

Haggerston School, which was rated “good” in its latest Ofsted inspection last December, is transferring to the Community Schools Trust.

The school, which went co-educational in 2010, had 1,023 pupils on the register when inspectors visited.

It is on Weymouth Terrace in a building designed by celebrated architect Erno Goldfinger.

The trust that is taking over runs four schools, including the Waterside Academy on Kingsland Road.

Many secondary schools in Hackney are now run by academies.

Haggerston’s governors spent 18 months looking at its status as a council-maintained school, as well as the risks and opportunities if it became an academy.

They looked at nine academy trusts.

Governors said the move could help it gain an “outstanding” Ofsted status by collaborating with a “family of schools” and could boost opportunities for students and staff.

They said the move could also “generate financial efficiencies to invest back into the classroom for the benefit of the children”.

The school has consulted staff and parents.

Staff are evenly split on the plan, with 21 against it and 21 in favour.

Thirty-six per cent of the parents who responded back the move, while 42 per cent oppose it.

Headteacher Ciara Emmerson and chair of governors Wendy Mason told parents: “The school is not planning to change its ethos, values or character and will continue to look, feel and be the same as it is now.”

“By joining a family of schools, we would gain the opportunity to share ideas and expertise with others, improving the quality of education we provide and supporting others to do the same.”

Haggerston’s academisation was approved by the Department of Education’s London Advisory Board in March.

It said the school’s strengths include “its SEND provision, teacher training and leadership, which make the school a strong partner and capacity giver. The school has had an informal relationship with the trust for the last five years, and now wishes to establish a more formal relationship.”

Hackney Council is likely to agree the transfer of the 125-year lease next week before it joins the academy trust at the start of September.

Last year Anntoinette Bramble, the deputy mayor with responsibility for education, set out the Labour-controlled council’s opposition to schools becoming academies.

She said: “We believe that a strong network of schools acting together – and bound by a central education service like Hackney’s – works best for all children, including our most vulnerable.”