Parents lose their fight over Staffordshire schools
The fight to stop two failing primary schools turning into academies has been lost after it emerged a legal challenge against the plans had to be dropped.
Norton Canes and Heath Hayes primary schools in Staffordshire reopened today after the Christmas break as sponsor-led academies. Parents had fought to stop the plan for months.
They even formed an action group and held protests in Cannock town centre.
But Pam Ferraby, secretary of the Parents' Action Group, whose 10-year-old son Benedict attends Heath Hayes Primary, today said everyone had been left feeling 'disappointed'.
She said: "We tried to mount a legal challenge ourselves but it was going to cost too much so we couldn't.
"It is disappointing that it has come to this. As parents we did all we could. We will be keeping a close eye on the school from now on."
Plans to turn the two schools into academies were first unveiled in June.
It followed Ofsted inspections earlier in the year when both were rated inadequate by inspectors and they were placed into special measures.
Cannock Chase Council bosses had consulted a barrister over the validity of a consultation into the planned changes at the two schools which they claimed was 'fatally flawed'.
It was claimed that no invitations to a public meeting at Norton Canes Primary on September 23 were sent to interested county, district and parish councillors.
Only members of neighbouring Walsall Council were invited. The Department for Education refuted the allegation.
But they were advised they were unlikely to win an judicial review into the issue.
Placard-waving parents took to the streets in protest last summer after an interim board was brought in to replace the schools' governing bodies. They felt there were other ways to improve standards.
For mothers Katie Helps and Jane Arrowsmith, the future is uncertain. Mrs Helps, who has two children at Heath Hayes, said: "You hear horror stories about the new academies. The worry is they may make a hash of it but if it works, we'll be right behind it."
Councillor Mike Holder, deputy leader for Cannock Chase Council, today said: "At the end of the day, even if we had won a review it could have been ignored.
"The outcome is not satisfactory and raises further questions but we did not want to leave the schools under any further uncertainty at the start of a new year, especially as Norton Canes Primary starts the term with a new head teacher." The DfE said there had been 'numerous opportunities for all councillors to contribute.'
