“Educational Excellence Everywhere”: Academies

Debate between Baroness Morgan of Cotes and Alex Chalk

Monday 9th May 2016 Commons Chamber

[Alex Chalk (Cheltenham) (Con)]

I thank the Secretary of State for her unswerving determination to drive up standards in our schools and her willingness to listen to suggestions on how the White Paper might be strengthened. Does she agree that Rowanfield Junior School in my constituency, which she visited recently, provides a powerful example of the great benefits for pupils and teachers that can come from multi-academy trusts but that good and outstanding schools in Cheltenham should be trusted to judge for themselves whether that structure suits them?

[Nicky Morgan]

Like my hon. Friend, I really enjoyed my visit to Rowanfield Junior School, with its two fantastic co-headteachers—frankly, I wish I could clone them and we could have more like them across the country. They were utterly inspirational. He is absolutely right that we want good and outstanding schools to be able to choose the right format for them. But we have to be realistic. If they are in a local authority that is underperforming or is not viable, that is not going to help them to get even better.