Labour councillors Jacqui Simon and Jacob Allen, who represent Woodingdean on Brighton and Hove City Council, said they were shocked by the news regarding Woodingdean Primary School.
They spoke out after the school, in Warren Road, Woodingdean, Brighton, wrote to parents on Monday (June 9) to say that it was looking to join the Eko Trust.
In the letter, the school’s co-chairs of governors said they had spent the past two years “considering their options”, including remaining a local authority maintained school or federating with another school.
A consultation on the proposal is now underway.
Read more: Parents ‘devastated’ after school is ‘shut down by government’
In the consultation document, governors said joining the trust would give the school a better chance of achieving an “outstanding” Ofsted rating, improve teacher recruitment and retention and help with budgeting as per-pupil funding had not kept up with costs.
The document said: “We have given the first two options a great deal of consideration, including receiving a presentation from the local authority setting out how they could support the school.
“However, we concluded that remaining as an local authority school, whether standalone or federated, would not enable the school to effectively address the three key considerations.”
The council proposed reducing the school’s published admission numbers (PAN) from 60 to 45 in 2022 and last year as the number of children living in Brighton and Hove continues to fall.
But after overwhelming local opposition, the council decided against reducing the school’s intake although, this year, on national offer day, the figure for this coming September was 35 pupils.
The school has been rated good by the education watchdog Ofsted since 2012, with an outstanding early years section. The whole school was rated outstanding in 2006.
Cllr Simon said: “It is particularly concerning that the school is not providing an opportunity for parents and carers to hear all the facts and are restricting meetings to a maximum of ten people.
“This seems like a deliberate attempt to stop people from hearing all points of view. The academy system is wildly inefficient, promoting competition between schools rather than collaboration.
“We have two fantastic schools in Woodingdean and energies would be better spent sharing and developing expertise together rather than engaging in competition over enrolling the community’s children.”
Four consultation meetings are planned for next Thursday (June 19) and Friday (June 20), three at the school and one virtually.
The consultation document said space was limited to just ten parents and carers but said further meetings could be organised to meet demand.
Cllr Allen said: “As a former pupil of Woodingdean Primary, I’m especially saddened that they would want to leave our amazing family of schools in the city.
“As a community, we value transparency and local accountability. Moving toward academy status risks undermining these principles and removes democratic oversight at a time when our focus should be on strengthening public education, not fragmenting it.
“I urge the school to fully involve parents, carers, staff and the wider community before taking any steps that could irreversibly alter its future at a time when the trust in question is not on a stable footing.”
The Eko Trust is planning to merge with another multi-academy trust, the Compass Partnership of Schools which runs 15 primary schools.
The Eko Trust has ten schools, two special schools and eight primaries, including two in Brighton and Hove which joined last year, Hangleton and Benfield. All are rated good or outstanding.
The consultation is due to run until Friday, July 4. For more information about the Woodingdean proposal, click here.
Source link
[Featured]
[Just In]
