Parents at Colne Valley High School will be interested to hear that the High Court has blocked an academy conversion.
A failing school in Chadwell Heath has just won a legal challenge to delay a Government bid to force it to become an academy.
At the Royal Court of Justice on Wednesday, Mr Justice Collins ruled there should have been a consultation before any academy order was enforced at Warren School.
The Department of Education (DfE) was given powers to force the school to become an academy after it was placed in special measures last February following a disastrous Ofsted inspection.
Governors, staff and Barking and Dagenham Council, which has responsibility for the school, are all fighting the move in the belief it is not in the best interests of the 1,200 students.
It is standard procedure for a school in ‘Special Measures’ to have academy conversion forced upon it by the Government. This is the process currently being undertaken at Colne Valley High School, Linthwaite, following its poor Ofsted report last year.
Some parents have raised concerns and questioned whether an academy is the best route forward. There was also considerable opposition to the academy conversion of Salendine Nook High School a couple of years ago. But once the governors had approved the conversion, parents were powerless stop it.
The GMB trade union is now calling on all local councils to adopt a policy of binding parent referenda on all proposed conversions.
