Those involved in the Peaceful Protest Against Aurora gathered outside West Hove Infant School in School Road and Hove Junior School in Holland Road on Friday afternoon.
The group of nearly a hundred people included concerned parents, union representatives, musicians and some of the schoolchildren from the Hove schools.
This comes after a four-week consultation in November on plans for them to join the Aurora Multi Academy Trust (MAT).
The protest aimed to express their concerns about their children’s education “being controlled by a corporation”.
He said: “It’s great to see so many people supporting our local school against its academisation.
“We couldn’t have asked for anything more.
“The song was my way of playing a part as a concerned parent and to get the community involved in something to protect our school.”
“We are not an activist group or trying to do anything malicious.
“We are all just concerned parents that don’t want to see our school join an academy and take some key decisions out of the care of the local authority.”
If the schools were to join the trust it would move them out of local authority control.
Another concerned parent, who asked not to be named, said: “This school has been here for many years and it has fought through thick and thin without having to resort to becoming an academy.
“So we understand the difficulties that the school may be facing, but joining an academy cannot and should not be the only solution.”
The two schools have worked closely together and even formed the Hove Learning Federation following a public consultation in 2021.
The parent added: “This academisation process had been going on for 12 months and has only been brought to the attention and concern of the parents in the last month or so, through the 4-week consultation period.
“In all honesty the consultation period comes across as a box-ticking exercise to say that they have done it, rather than actually valuing the opinions and thoughts of concerned parents.”
The council’s view is that academisation will lead to greater fragmentation of the education system in the city and remove accountability to local communities and parents.
He told The Argus: “I am very clear on this issue.
“No school governing body should take a vote on academy conversion until after a full and meaningful consultation with the whole school community.
“The feedback from this consultation should inform the decision of the governors.
“I’m united with the council and the council leader in support of the parents and their views being heard.”
A spokeswoman said: “We have worked incredibly hard to make sure there are plenty of opportunities for everyone’s voice to be heard and we have listened carefully to the concerns that have been raised. Sadly, there has been a fair amount of misinformation being shared about what the proposal to join Aurora will mean.
“Collectively, our senior team has over 60 years of experience, and they are very clear that after years of being let down by the local authority, a more sustainable future lies ahead for us if we join the Aurora family. This week, the work of that same team was recognised by Ofsted with West Hove Infant School securing a clean sweep of outstanding judgements. Governors and the senior team ask that parents trust in their judgement so that our schools can build on this fantastic achievement in the years to come.
“We know that some people have raised questions about the governance of Aurora. We would note that the governance arrangements of the trust have been approved by the Department for Education. There are robust safeguards in place to ensure the role of the sponsor is a supportive one, not a controlling one. We are not proposing to allow our school to be ‘taken over’ by anyone. What we want is to be part of an organisation that we can help to develop and grow so all our children benefit well into the future.
“We recognise that change can be challenging for some, and that the right decision is not always the most popular one. But we also know that our decision will be driven entirely by what is right for the children in our care.
“Finally, we would point out that when other schools in Brighton and Hove became academies and joined academy trusts, they too faced similarly heightened opposition and all sorts of concerns were raised – none of these concerns have materialised and all speak positively about the experience.”
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