A third of teachers leave Hackney academy, claim

In this week's Hackney Gazette Jules Pipe said (page 18): "High quality education is about teachers who can inspire and unlock potential. Without the knowledge and dedication of the staff in each of schools, these results would not have been possible."

This week Blood and Property was told by someone with links to the Petchey Academy that a third of the school's teachers left at the end of last year. Also that most of the maths department moved to the Skinners Academy, another Hackney Academy.

It would be helpful to know if the claim was true. But in June Blood and Property asked the school it was expecting around 30 teachers to leave at the end of the academic year.

The school did not respond: Silent academy speaks... to someone else: Press officers from the Learning Trust and the Jack Petchey foundation both replied saying that the school would deal with the inquiry. However the school did not acknowledge the questions or respond to emails or telephone messages.

It raised questions about the fact that academies are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act: Hackney Academy silent over teacher exodus claims

When Blood and Property asked Jules Pipe, elected Mayor of Hackney, if the Freedom of Information Act should apply to academies: (Jules Pipe answers Blood and Property questions) he said: "The Freedom of Information of Act should indeed apply to Academies. They are not currently subject to the FoI Act, however..."

So does Jules know what goes on in most of Hackney's secondary schools?