Academies! Good or bad?

[Hecktix]

All of the political parties, including the Conservatives & Liberal Democrats backed (in some way or another) merging bad schools with good schools to form huge Academies to make a better schooling system.

What are your views on these big schools? The one in our area comprises of three secondary schools and two primary schools.

Do you attend an academy? What's it like?

[immense]

Nah, I don't like. Forming such huge institutions can only really be bad as far as I'm concerned. It will bring both schools down. Teachers won't be able to have personal relationships with the children, the teachers that have got the best out of me have understood how I work and what makes me tick. I'm going to generalise without knowing the facts here, schools with less pupils and more exclusivity do better than schools with huge classes.

[Inseriousity.]

I don't really know the facts either or how they've came to that conclusion, so they probably know something I don't.

However, I don't really think it's a good idea. Hiding a failing school in a good school just sounds like a way of masking the problem rather than trying to improve the bad school. There'll probably be lots of cultural differences that will effect both the previously good/bad school and drag it into the ground... or maybe I'm just cynical -whistles-

[Special]

The prejudices that i've come across is that they arn't that good

Not being racist in any way but they are known for having foreign students & not getting great grades

[alexxxxx]

i think there's only 1 in nottingham and it's a very very average school. tbh by building new facilities it doesn't change in the intake of the school which is usually the cause of the problems in it.

[Smits]

So far theyve called nothing but trouble, with 'rival' schools joining causing seperation rather than unity. However, in a few years when theres only new students attending, i'm sure it'll be a good thing. Time will tell.

[Caution]

I go to an Academy and it's the only Academy in the region but it's not a huge school, there's only about 900 pupils. I think it's just a name with ours, It's no different to other schools. I don't support what you're on about though, merging 2 together. It's like covering a problem up.

[-:Undertaker:-]

A very flashy and expensive way of trying to make education trendy and acceptable yet all main parties continue to ignore the urgent need to bring back Grammer schools on a nationwide basis will allows those who are genuinely above others to do even better at a faster rate - until we sort this problem out and stop faffing about with academies that come with trendy beanbags in the common rooms, big glass windows with random letters on and all the rest of the nonsense then its pretty much doom and gloom in terms of education in the United Kingdom.

I saw one academy picture of the plans for it and it had no walls seperating the classrooms - does nobody think anymore?

[AlexOC]

My school is merging with a rival school next year to form a crazy million pound state-of-the-art learning enviroment, nobody is happy with it.