WORKING IN ARK
ACADEMIES – AN NUT GUIDE
Updated December 2014
This guidance document gives a brief overview of employment in ARK operated
Academies. It sets out information about:
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ARK and its Academy programme
The national trade union recognition agreement
Pay and conditions of service
Employment policies and procedures
ARK operates common pay and conditions for employees and central negotiating
machinery, within which the Union negotiates alongside the other recognised
teaching and support staff unions. Arrangements have been established within the
NUT for consultation and communication with NUT divisions, Academy
representatives and members.
Detailed information about pay and conditions of service in Academies can be found
in the NUT document Teachers’ Pay and Conditions in Academies: Guidance for NUT
Members at http://www.teachers.org.uk/academies-pay-and-conditions
ABOUT ARK
Absolute Return for Kids (ARK) is a UK based organisation with charitable operations in
health, education and child welfare in overseas countries including South Africa, India and
Eastern Europe. ARK was founded in 2002 by senior figures in the investment industry.
ARK’s website for its Academies is http://www.arkschools.org/.
ARK ACADEMIES
At the time of writing ARK has 31 open Academies, and plans to open a further eight
between 2015 and 2017. ARK’s current academies are:
Burlington Danes Academy
King Solomon Academy
Walworth Academy
Ark Academy
Evelyn Grace Academy
Globe Academy
Charter Academy
St Alban’s Academy
ARK Atwood Primary Academy
ARK Conway Primary Academy
ARK Oval Academy
ARK Bentworth Primary Academy
Bolingbroke Academy
Isaac Newton Academy
ARK Kings Academy
2006
2007
2007
2008
2008
2008
2009
2009
2011
2011
2011
2012
2012
2012
2012
Hammersmith & Fulham
Westminster
Southwark
Brent
Lambeth
Southwark
Portsmouth
Birmingham
Westminster
Hammersmith & Fulham
Croydon
Hammersmith & Fulham
Wandsworth
Redbridge
Birmingham
Secondary
All through
Secondary
All through
Secondary
All through
Secondary
Secondary
Primary
Primary
Primary
Primary
Secondary
All through
Secondary
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ARK Putney Academy
ARK Rose Primary Academy
ARK Tindal Primary Academy
ARK Ayrton Primary Academy
ARK Brunel Primary Academy
ARK All Saints Academy
ARK Franklin Primary Academy
Helenswood Academy
ARK John Keats Academy
ARK Priory Primary Academy
ARK Swift Primary Academy
ARK William Parker Academy
ARK Blacklands Primary Academy
ARK Little Ridge Primary Academy
ARK Dickens Primary Academy
ARK Elvin Academy
2012
2012
2012
2013
2013
2013
2013
2013
2013
2013
2013
2013
2014
2014
2014
2014
Wandsworth
Birmingham
Birmingham
Portsmouth
Kensington & Chelsea
Southwark
Brent
Hastings
Enfield
Ealing
Hammersmith & Fulham
Hastings
Hastings
East Sussex
Portsmouth
Brent
Secondary
Primary
Primary
Primary
Primary
Secondary
Primary
Secondary
All through
Primary
Primary
Secondary
Primary
Primary
Primary
Secondary
ARK’s SMALL SCHOOLS APPROACH
Several of the ARK Academies are organised into a set of ‘small schools’. ARK claims it
prefers the small school approach because unlike larger schools, in small schools every pupil
knows and is known by every teacher and, ARK claims, small schools improve behaviour,
attendance and academic achievement. So, in an ARK Academy, for example, there may
be 1 or 2 lower schools, 1 or 2 upper schools and a post-16 provision.
NATIONAL RECOGNITION AGREEMENT
A national recognition agreement in respect of ARK Academies came into effect in
September 2008. The agreement was signed by ARK, the teacher unions - ASCL, ATL,
NAHT, NASUWT and the NUT - and support staff unions, the GMB, Unison and Unite.
The agreement provides for national determination of arrangements for pay, conditions of
service and working time across ARK Academies. It also provides for a joint consultation
and negotiation committee in each Academy as well as time off with pay and facilities time
for trade union representatives.
The recognition agreement may be found in the pay, conditions and pensions>academies
section at www.teachers.org.uk.
PAY AND CONDITIONS OF SERVICE
In General
All Academies are able to set their own pay, conditions and working time arrangements for
newly appointed teachers joining the Academy. In some Academies, pay and conditions
arrangements for such teachers are similar or identical to those for teachers in local authority
maintained state schools. In others, teachers’ pay and conditions can be very different.
Teachers transferred from predecessor schools replaced by an Academy are covered by
the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE). The
TUPE regulations provide that, where an Academy replaces an existing school(s), teachers’
previous pay and conditions entitlements transfer. These include statutory provisions on
pay, professional duties and working time and national and local agreements on teachers’
conditions of service, redundancy payments and recognition of the NUT as a trade union.
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Where the Academy is a new institution, however, all teachers are in the first category of
newly appointed teacher and no teachers are protected by TUPE.
ARK Academies
Pay and Conditions - ARK does not apply School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document
(STPCD) arrangements with regard to pay and working time. ARK has, instead, its own
separate pay and conditions structure which, over the years, has developed some similarities
with the STPCD (though not with regard to working time provisions).
In ARK Academies, therefore, there is no automatic link to the national annual teachers’ pay
increase. The annual increase for all ARK teachers is subject to annual negotiation.
The unions have been continuing to highlight pay and conditions issues for teachers in
national negotiations with ARK. ARK rejected the teacher unions’ claim for a substantial
across-the-board increase in teacher pay scales from September 2014, to at least maintain
the real value of teacher pay against inflation. ARK confirmed a 1% pay increase for all
points within the ARK pay structure, and to TLR and SEN payments. The unions expressed
disappointment at the ARK response, but it was useful to have the pay increase applied
across-the-board to all salaries in payment, which was not the case in maintained schools.
Pay for ARK teachers is around 2.5% above the uprated points for the previous STPCD main
and upper pay scales, a form of compensation for the longer hours worked by teachers in
ARK schools (see ‘Working Time’, page 4).
Pay Progression and Performance Management - Although both the ARK pay and
performance management/appraisal policies were implemented in the absence of agreement
with the unions, the union side did manage to secure improvements to the original ARK
drafts. Key problems remain, however, including the unions’ concerns on pay progression
and associated appraisal issues, such as the absence of limits of three observations and
three objectives per year. The unions have highlighted to ARK the need to closely monitor
the impact of the policies on pay progression, and ARK has agreed to share information on
pay progression with the unions when it becomes available.
Pay Portability - ARK accepts the concept of pay portability in principle and will apply it
unless there are “compelling reasons to do otherwise.”
Classroom Teachers’ Pay
There are two pay scales for qualified classroom teachers:
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ARK Main Pay Range Teachers are placed on a 6 point main pay range.
Progression is dependent on a sustained high level of performance. Unless there are
exceptional circumstances, this will normally mean that teachers will need to have at
least met all their objectives, have demonstrated that they are competent in all
elements of the Teachers’ Standards, and teaching should be at least ‘good’.
ARK Upper Pay Range Teachers who reach point 6 on the main pay range have an
enhanced performance appraisal to determine whether they are eligible to move on to
the 5 point upper pay range. To progress successfully onto the upper pay range, the
teacher must be highly competent in all elements of the relevant standards and his or
her achievements must be ‘substantial and sustained’. No movement up the pay
range will take place unless there has first been a review of the performance of the
staff member and there has been substantial and sustained high quality teaching by
the member of staff taking account of any performance objectives agreed or set.
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ARK also has an 18 point leading practitioners’ pay range and an unqualified teachers’ pay
range.
Other Payments and Allowances
The pay structure applied in ARK academies also provides for TLRs awarded for sustained
additional responsibility and specifies a number of levels and values. The principal will
determine the level of the TLR within the ranges set out by ARK Schools. There is provision
for SEN allowances which broadly reflects those set out in the STPCD, in addition to Out of
School Learning Activity payments and Recruitment and Retention incentives and benefits.
Leadership Group Pay
The pay range for members of ARK Academy leadership groups consists of 50 points. ARK
Schools will determine the salary for the principal normally when it is proposed to make a
new appointment or if there has been a significant change in the responsibilities of the
principal. All other staff paid on the leadership spine will be paid on a consecutive five point
range as determined by the principal in consultation with ARK Schools HR. All members of
the leadership group must demonstrate substantial and sustained high quality performance
in the light of their agreed performance objectives and will be subject to a review of
performance before any performance points will be awarded.
Working Time
A major issue the unions have with ARK concerns working time. As noted above, ARK does
not apply the STPCD provisions. These limit annual directed time to a maximum of 1265
hours, whereas ARK does not include any limits on teachers’ working time in the contracts
for newly appointed teachers. The teacher unions remain concerned about the obvious lack
of protection for teachers in ARK Academies and consistently press ARK on this issue in
negotiations.
EMPLOYMENT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
Discussions have continued with ARK on a range of employment policies already in place
but currently under review. Policies on maternity, paternity, parental leave, personal
relationships and whistleblowing were recently agreed with the unions; discussions on other
policy areas are ongoing at the time of writing. NUT representatives should have access to
employment policies and procedures via the ARK intranet/policy hub.
ARK does not recognise previous service with local authority maintained schools or
academies for sickness or maternity entitlements. Teachers appointed by ARK must start
afresh in building up these entitlements and during the first year of service will have limited or
no rights to the above benefits.
ARK has said that it does not believe that all employment policies and procedures which
were in use in predecessor schools must by law continue in all cases to be automatically
applied by ARK to TUPE transferred employees in successor Academies. ARK has
accepted that some procedures provide those employees with individual contractual
entitlements subject to protection under TUPE provisions. ARK has argued, however, that
the majority of its employment policies are “procedural” and that their provisions, even if they
were contractual, would fall within ETO (employment, technical or organisational) reasons for
variation. Where employment procedures are invoked by ARK, therefore, teachers and their
representatives will need to ensure that the appropriate procedure is being used.
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Information on ARK Academies is updated regularly in the light of ARK policy reviews, and
can be found on Hearth at Pay, Conditions and Pensions > Academies > Academy Chains >
ARK. In addition, a briefing for NUT reps in ARK Academies is published each term
providing the latest information on pay and conditions and other matters in ARK Academies.
NUT Pay, Conditions and Bargaining Section
NUT Headquarters
NUT Pay Conditions and Bargaining – December 2014
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