View from the board

摘要

At the centre of our plans for schools is the creation of education trusts - independent bodies to unite council-maintained schools and academies to support each other on school improvement. There are more than 3,500 academies and free schools - Whitehall lacks the capacity and local knowledge to be responsible for them. As schools are given more freedom, it is more critical that they are held to account. Intervention powers should be returned to councils so swift, local action can be taken when a problem is identified, We also want to see councils provided with indicative five-year allocations of capital budgets paid into a single, local pot, to help us to meet the demand for school places and to repair crumbling classrooms. If our plans are backed, we believe councils can drive improvement and ensure all parents can find a place at a good local school.