While the imposition of tax on private schools is getting all the headlines for reducing the quality of education available to a small proportion of school pupils, other changes being pushed through by the Labour Government are going to have a negative effect on the vast majority of secondary school students in Eltham.
The Conservative Government’s record on education was one of it’s clear successes. The Conservative Government’s record of success in England was made clear in December 2023, when it was announced that English schools and teachers had achieved their best ever ranking in maths: 11th in the world, up from 27th in 2009 in the OECD’s Programme of International Student Assessment (Pisa). While Labour-run Wales and SNP-run Scotland fallen further down the league tables, England, where schools have been granted more freedom from politicians, civil servants and central planning has moved up the international league tables.
In an article for Schools Week, the CEO of the Anthem Schools’ Trust was quite clear about how independence from government had increased standards when he wrote:
“We can’t afford to overlook what academies have achieved over the past two decades. They have driven innovation, raised standards and empowered schools to meet the diverse needs of their communities.”
Which schools will be affected by the Labour Government’s change of approach towards academies?
The current Labour Government has decided to attack academies and free schools by removing their control over core factors like pay, the curriculum and even absence measures. In Eltham, this mostly affects secondary schools but the following primaries are likely to face increased limitations on their ability to run themselves:
- St Mary’s Catholic Primary School which is part of the South East London Catholic Academy Trust.
- Deansfield Primary School which is part of Compass Partnership of Schools.
For local secondaries, there are more academies than Local Authority schools which means that the Labour Government’s proposals will have a major impact on the majority of secondary school students in Eltham. The main academy schools in the south of the Royal Borough of Greenwich are:
| School | Location | Academy |
| Ark Greenwich Free School | 403 Shooters Hill Road | Ark Academies |
| Eltham Hill School | Eltham Hill | Community School (LEA) |
| Harris Academy Greenwich | Middle Park Avenue | Harris Academy Trust |
| Leigh Academy Halley (fka Corelli College) | Corelli Road | Leigh Academies Trust |
| Leigh Stationers’ Academy (fka Crown Woods) | 145 Bexley Road | Leigh Academies Trust |
| St Thomas More Catholic Comprehensive School | Footscray Road | South East London Catholic Academy Trust (SELCAT) |
| Thomas Tallis School | Kidbrooke Park Road | Community School (LEA) |
It is worth noting that the Bexley grammar schools are all academies too so will also be affected by the proposed changes.
How will the changes impact on the academies and free schools in South East London?
Currently, academies and free schools are permitted to set their own pay and working practices and tailor the national curriculum to best suit their pupils. Labour plans to overturn all of these freedoms.
Reducing pay for teachers in Eltham
On pay the Government proposal is clear:
“all teachers will be part of the same core pay and conditions framework — whether they work in a maintained school or an academy.”
We know this will impact on local schools’ ability to attract and retain teachers as the people in charge of academies have said it will. In the Times Educational Supplement (TES) magazine, Sir Dan Moynihan, CEO of Harris Federation, which has schools across South East London stated that the trust had to take action to retain and attract teachers as the cost of living in London was “horrendous”. The Harris Federation paid on average 2 to 3 per cent above the national rise in 2023, and offered additional allowances and bonuses to staff each year. Similarly, Ark Schools (which Greenwich Free School is a part of) which has a school on my list above paid approximately 2.5 per cent above the national scale on each pay point.
We know that in South East London the impact of the Labour Government’s changes to teacher pay and conditions will be to reduce the ability of academy trusts to offer higher wages, leaving more gaps in classrooms at a time schools struggle to find teachers. In addition, it will be interesting to see if teachers currently on the higher levels of pay are allowed to keep their increased wages when new staff are not allowed to receive the same level of remuneration – surely there is a problem with unfairness here?
Changing the curriculum
While it is hard to know what impact making the academies teach the full national curriculum will have, we know from a Department for Education survey in 2014 that 60% of academies have changed the curriculum being offered. So, the decision to make academies teach the same curriculum as all other schools will require change, not least as the Government is re-writing the national curriculum with an eye to make it more progressive.
Once again, this limitation on the freedoms of academies and free schools seems to be unnecessary and likely to lead schools in South East London and across England down the same path of disaster that we have already seen in Wales.
Labour’s changes to education will damage schools across Eltham and South East London
Before we consider the impact of the Government’s direct assault on private schools, given the improvement in England’s education performance in state schools can be traced directly to the introduction of more freedoms to get away from politicians at national or local level, the Labour approach is going to damage the educational standards for children across South East London. When I started on the Council in the early 2000s Greenwich schools were among the worst in the country and local Conservatives regularly campaigned to have them set free of politicians – Blair did this, the Conservatives built upon it and now, for no educationally sound reason, Starmer’s government is reversing this successful policy.
Beyond this set of changes, it is worth noting the Eltham’s Labour MP Clive Efford has supported the end of grammar schools in the past so those people clinging to these beacons of educational excellence should not rest easy in their beds either.
We know where Labour’s education policy leads – to lower, politicised standards and a worse education for our children. We can only hope that at a local level Conservative politicians in Bexley and Bromley can protect their schools from the worst effects of this ideological attack on academies and free schools but in Royal Borough of Greenwich there can be no doubt the Labour Council will hammer home these attacks meaning a return to the bad old days of low educational standards for our children locally.
View from Matthew Brooker, who was raised in Eltham, is currently a Royal Borough of Greenwich resident and former Bexley Grammar School pupil
“Attending secondary school between 2014 and 2021, I benefitted greatly from the Conservatives’ laser focus on improving educational standards, Academisation forced all schools in South East London to raise attainment, ensuring every child get the best start in life.
Labour’s plans are an attack on educational excellence and parents’ right to choose the best education for their children. All pupils will be worse off due to this governments’ misguided, ideologically-driven policy.”
It is pleasing to see that our concerns locally are echoed by the Conservative Party nationally.