Exploring the emotional and professional challenges of a prolonged Academy conversion process, Lisa Bower reflects on the frustrations, resilience and unity it has inspired within her team
It has been a couple of months since I last wrote an update on our Academy Conversion, and those couple of months have been probably the most professionally frustrating of my life.
We have had multiple discussions with the local authority and the DfE, and we have been asked for a huge amount of information to be sent through to the LA. As I sit here today, we think we have finally managed to iron out all the problems. We had a call this morning where we are now discussing semantics. However, I have been here before.
A Test of Resilience
It has been an interesting emotional journey for me. My resilience has been tested, and although there have been many occasions where I wanted to give up on the conversion process, I do still believe that it will be worth the pain when we get there.
When we finally get the approval, I have multiple lists of things to do, all ready to go. Half of the frustration has been the feeling of treading water for the last twelve months, unsure of when we will move forward. My finance manager can’t wait to get involved in the new processes and new systems, and whilst we are both scared of what will be round the corner, we feel that we will at least know the problems and be able to deal with them.
I don’t want to get carried away, but I am now imagining the next few weeks. There are exciting things to do like finally being able to use our new budgeting and finance software and taking on board another school’s payroll. We feel ready to move forward and do these things, but I am sure that the next step will bring with it a whole range of challenges that we haven’t get thought about.
A Long Journey
The academisation process has been very disappointing for me. Before I started on this journey I, naively, thought that this would be a DFE led process with standardised documents. I had no idea that it could take this long to happen. I recently asked someone who deals with a lot of academisations the longest time they had known one to take and they said 11 years – which does make mine look quick.
This feels like it could easily turn into a rant, and so I want to finish on something positive. Whilst this process has been demanding, frustrating and emotional, it has brought our team together. It has given me huge respect for the people I work with, in the ability to adapt, to remain optimistic and to trust in the process. Schools are full of very special people, staff who work endlessly for the right outcomes for the whole community, and this has been re-enforced in the most positive way possible.
I’m hoping for good news tomorrow, but I have been this close before, so in my next update I will hopefully be writing this from our new Academy.
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