NUT targets parents in war on academies

A TEACHING union is set to target parents in a campaign against a new wave of academies.

The National Union of Teachers (NUT) is drawing up leaflets which will warn of the “threat” to their schools.

These could initially be given to parents at Blue Coat and Saddleworth schools which are believed to have the strongest interest in becoming “free schools”.

A leaflet for Mills Hills Primary School, Chadderton, is also pending.

Education Secretary Michael Gove unveiled his plans for academies based on the Swedish free school system last month.

He wrote to every primary, secondary and special school in the country inviting them to register their interest. At the time, he vowed to fast-track schools rated by Ofsted inspectors as outstanding, allowing them to reopen as academies in September.

After a Freedom of Information request, the Department for Education published a list of 828 schools that had expressed an interest.

It included Blue Coat, Glodwick Infant and Nursery, Limeside Primary School, Mills Hill, New Bridge Special School, Hollinwood; Saddleworth, St Chad’s CE Primary School, Uppermill; and St Joseph’s RC, Shaw.

The academies would run their own finances and curriculum, and could be managed by outside companies.

But unlike Labour’s academy scheme, they will not receive a new school. However, the NUT says that schools can become academies without parents being consulted, leaving them powerless to stop changes to the school ethos, uniform, curriculum, day or holidays.

It also warns that academies receive no new money, restrict parents rights on governance, special educational needs and exclusions; do not raise standards and create social segregation.

Parents are urged to demand a full consultation, organise meeting or petition and write to their local MP.

Tony Harrison, new branch secretary of Oldham NUT, said members in individual schools would be consulted on the leaflets and asked whether they want them to go out to parents.

He added: “It’s crazy. They are introducing a system where we have all the problems with academies without the benefits of having a brand new building.

“We think it’s a way of getting academies on the cheap and parents in these schools are actually being short-changed.

“Parents do not have to be consulted on whether a school becomes an academy or not.

“Even if they are consulted, they get a very one-sided picture.

“As we get more information on whether or not a school is going go down that route we will then decide whether to produce a leaflet.”