Privatisation of two primary schools called off in face of community campaign

Plans to academise two local authority schools in Brighton and Hove have been shelved –to the delight of those in its community who voiced concerns in overwhelming numbers in the official consultation.

The Hove Learning Federation, which oversees West Hove Infant School and Hove Junior School in Brighton and Hove, announced last night that it was not going ahead with the plans, although it would consider academisation again in 18 months’ to two years’ time.

The decision prompted jubilation from opponents, who had expressed concern not just in relation to the merits of academisation in itself - with both schools already successful in Ofsted terms - but about the nature of the control of them should it have happened.

As Education Uncovered reported in November, the move to join Aurora Academies Trust (AAT) would have left the schools under an organisation which is ultimately controlled by a private for-profit company operating in the United States. This seemed the clearest case of privatisation to have come this website’s way in recent years.

In a letter to “stakeholders” yesterday afternoon, Madeline Southern, the federation’s executive headteacher, announced its governors’ decision.