Government tells Holland Park School of its fate –with 21-word explanation as to why community’s preference is being overruled

The comprehensive at the centre of England’s highest-profile dispute over academisation has learned of its fate-in a five-paragraph letter, setting out the decision of the government’s unelected minister for the schools system.

Remarkably, after months of local controversy in which hundreds of parents, the majority of teachers, the Conservative-controlled local authority and the local Tory MP have all set out a different preference, the letter gives only half a sentence of explanation for the government’s favoured course of action.

Holland Park School, in Kensington, West London, has been in turmoil since allegations first surfaced a year ago that it suffered from a “toxic” working environment.

New board members were parachuted in by the Department for Education, with the board then announcing out of the blue in March that the United Learning Trust, England’s largest academy chain, was its favoured choice to take over Holland Park, which is currently run as a single academy trust.

An Ofsted inspection was then ordered on the-then outstanding-rated school, with the inspectorate rating it in adequate, following a visit last April, with the report published in June.