A call will be made to the Secretary of State for Education to withdraw the order to force Moulsecoomb Primary School to become an academy. The order followed a recent Ofsted report which branded the school “inadequate”.
The academy decision has already been challenged by councillors from all political groups at a recent Children, Young People & Skills committee.
Regional schools commissioner
Now the leader of the council, Cllr Nancy Platts, and the deputy leader, Cllr Nick Childs, have met with representatives of the Regional School Commissioner to press for a re-think. The Regional School Commissioner was invited to Hove Town Hall and a meeting with his representatives took place on Tuesday (2 July).
Councillors explained:
- The extensive support being given to the school
- Rapid positive changes underway
- The damaging and disruptive impact of the academy order on the improvements
- Standards are rising and this alone is grounds to halt the order
Democratic process
Cllr Childs is also the chair for Children, Young People and Skills Committee. Cllr Childs said: “We asked for a commitment from the commissioner’s team that they would accept and act on the outcome of a parental ballot. We also proposed reasonable time should be allowed for our school improvement plan to demonstrate more progress. They would give no such assurances.
“Instead they made their disregard for the views of local people and elected politicians very clear. More frustrating was their ideological obsession with privatisation as the only way to improve a school. This is in the face of clear evidence to the contrary when presented with the exemplary record of school performance in Brighton & Hove.”
“We now have no alternative, as a council, but to write directly to the Secretary of State. We will be asking the Right Honourable Damian Hinds MP to exercise his powers to revoke the forced academy order without delay.”
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