Friary School

The headteacher of a Lichfield school said he was pleased to see a good turnout at a meeting to discuss plans to convert it into an academy.

The Friary School is part of a group including Queen’s Croft Special School and Henry Chadwick Primary School which would form part of the Greywood Multi-Schools Trust.

A meeting saw a presentaiton by Pat Hunt, who would become the CEO of the new trust, and a question and answer session with the Friary School’s headteacher Matt Allman.

He said: “We were very grateful that parents and community members took time out of their busy schedules to drop in, take an interest and make their voice heard on this process.

“We value the views of our stakeholders and the meeting was part of the wider consultation which is part of our statutory due diligence.”

Founder of Lichfield Live and editor of the site.

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John Griffin
5 years ago

Once an academy, salaries, policies and organisation can be decided behind closed doors and away from democratic scrutiny, heads become even more powerful. Cui Bono Mr Allman?

Steve
5 years ago

How depressing to see the letters CEO, in an article on schools.

I assume there will be a massive salary attached to the role.

John Griffin
5 years ago

Of course Steve, heads don’t get paid enough, so go for academy, get the buildings and land thrown in, contracts to family and friends, and megabucks to redesignated posts. One a fortnight revealed in Private Eye.

Matt Allman
5 years ago

John & Steve – just to give you some feedback… Looking at your comments I don’t think you made it to the consultation meeting.
The CEO role is part-time so is designed to fit the size of the organisation. The costs are far from inflated – I suspect they will be lower than most, it not all, neighbouring MATs. Equally, we pay for the equivalent at SCC already. We get that money back when we convert.
Cui Bono Mr Allman – in many ways under SCC I have far more autonomy. I can promise 100% this conversion will bring no personal salary increase outside of my current SCC pay-scale. Equally, all Heads in this MAT have insisted on no bonus-relayed payments – something I walked away from in a previous MAT that in my view did not deal with finances well.
Our parents – and I am one – should well know having seen the changes at the school that getting a bigger income is not my motivation. We have scant enough money as it is and what we do get needs to be spent on children learning.
I read ‘Private Eye’ too – there have been ‘some’ bad examples of MATs – but this one will not be one of them. Let’s not pretend the current LEA system is working.
If you want to come in for a chat, call our school office for an appointment. Otherwise it is worth reflecting if criticising people busting a gut for Lichfield kids is really the right thing to do.

Paul Roberts
5 years ago

As a parent at The Friary myself, I can see that Mr Allman is clearly passionate about providing the best possible education for the children. There are clearly pros and cons of becoming an academy but, if he thinks it is the right option, I’m all in favour.