Protect St. Joseph’s Catholic Primary School.

Delay Joining the Bosco Academy Trust.

The School Governors are pursuing academy plans for St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, Haywards Heath.

A delay is necessary for the following reasons:

● Bosco’s Two Primaries Must Be Improved

○ Two of the three schools in the Bosco Academy Trust have failed their most recent Ofsted inspections. There is concern that teaching resources may be diverted from St. Joseph's (1) to help these other schools. This could impact on the quality of teaching.

○ School funding is based on the number of pupils in a school. The other two primary schools are undersubscribed. If St Joseph’s join now, they may be required to financially support the other schools within the Bosco Trust.

Further Reading: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cms...

● St Paul’s Catholic College - Timeline for Joining Bosco Needed

○ There is no reversing the decision to join Bosco. At the moment it is unclear if or when St Paul’s will join Bosco.

○ The Diocese Strategy on converting their schools to academies has not yet been made publicly available.

Further Reading Source: https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/28805/2/SN07059_Redacted.pd...

● Financial Benefits - Further Explanations Required

○ The school consultation explains that St Joseph’s will benefit financially from joining Bosco. However, no detailed financial information has been provided.

○ Funding within the academies is pooled between schools in the Academy Trust. While Bosco has committed to not taking money out of St Joseph’s, its reserves policy does state that funding from St Joseph’s can be diverted to help support other schools.

○ St Joseph’s would pay circa £65,000 to join Bosco. This is a significant amount of money and equates to funding approximately three newly qualified teachers for one year. There has been no explanation of how this cost will be covered.

Further Reading: https://www.boscocet.org.uk/_documents/Bosco_Reser...

PLEASE ACT NOW to request a delay in joining Bosco Academy before the consultation closes on 28th June 2019:

● Sign the petition at https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/protect-st-jos...

● Object to the Academy consultation at https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/7B875HW

(1) Annecy Primary has moved from “Inadequate” to ”Requires Improvement” since 2013.

St Mary’s Primary has moved between “Inadequate” “Requires Improvement” and “Inadequate”, since 2008