There is no clear evidence to show that "academies raise standards overall", says a report from the cross-party Education Select Committee into England's school system.  Source – BBC, 27th January 2015.

The Chair of Governors has admitted that the financial benefits are not what they once were – this was the rationale for most converter academies. Each year since 2011 the rate of academy conversions has fallen mirroring the decrease in financial benefits.

Over the last year, two out of the four academies in Wokingham have been inspected by OFSTED and have seen their grading reduced from Outstanding to Good. This shows that there is not a clear link between academy status and school improvement – even on a local level.

Waingels College is currently a Community School maintained by the democratically elected Local Authority. It is currently a community asset.

If Waingels becomes an academy the current governing body will appoint a Trust who will then appoint its own governors to run the school. The Academy Trust will own the school and the land – not the local community.

The governing body may make promises about what it won’t change now or in the future. However, none of those promises are binding. A change of Head Teacher or Governance could lead to major changes to the school.

Waingels is already a very successful school – why do we need to fix something that clearly isn’t broken?

The final form to convert to an academy has not yet been signed. We are campaigning to change the decision of the governing body to proceed with the process.

WAINGELS COLLEGE HAS ALWAYS BEEN A POPULAR, THRIVING, LOCAL COMMUNITY SCHOOL – DON’T LET THE GOVERNORS TAKE IT AWAY FROM YOU!