On the first day of the half term holiday I received an email from a wonderful student. He was perturbed by the letter sent out just before we broke up outlining a need for High Storrs School to academise. He told me about an online petition against the proposal. It was a thoughtful email, outlining the fears of many that becoming an academy would threaten all that is special about High Storrs School. Moreover, it railed against the ‘big chains’ and referred to evidence that academisation does not necessarily lead to school improvements.

There are many that believe academisation is not the right was forward for schools in England. They were saddened by the moves made in Spring last year to pass a law to force all schools to academise. Then they were heartened by a seeming U-turn a few months later. Alas, whatever we think of academisation, the future seems clear… all schools will ultimately become academies. Twenty three out of the twenty five secondary schools in Sheffield have become academies and over a third of Primary schools are also academies. We have a Regional Schools Commissioner whose role it is to move all schools in our region into Multi Academy Trusts. So the debate is no longer binary (i.e. ‘should we academies or not?’), the debate is ‘how do we do this on our terms and preserve all that is special and unique about High Storrs School?' This is the debate that is currently occupying our governing body (and has been for more than a year now). They are spending hours discussing and exploring the options with a key principle at the heart of all they do – what will preserve the best of our school and enable us to further improve? There are advantages and freedoms to academisation too that can make our school even stronger.

If you have thoughts and feelings about the next steps for High Storrs School do share them! You will soon receive a letter asking for questions that will be answered and addressed on our website. I hope a great many more of our students and community will be part of the debate moving forward.