“Chaos” as primary school’s executive board chair resigns, only for council to announce the next day that it will press on with academisation

The former swimming pool at Peacehaven Heights

An unelected board, imposed on a primary school by its local authority, has done as expected in moving to press on with its academisation – though when this will happen seems to be anyone’s guess.

In a strange series of events in the increasingly surreal case of Peacehaven Heights primary in East Sussex, the chair of its Interim Executive Board (IEB) wrote to parents with news of his resignation, only for the IEB to confirm to them hours later that it wanted to academise the school.

Peacehaven has faced a confusing few months under the board, three of whose members work for East Sussex County Council (ESCC), with the fourth, Jonathan Taylor, a consultant who had borne the brunt of community frustration as its chair.

The history