Campaign stops Brighton academy

A campaign involving parents, teachers and school students has succeeded in forcing a Brighton school to abandon plans to become an academy.

Governors at Varndean School had begun the process of opting out of local control.

But as a result of the campaign they have now declared that, “The school is not about to become an academy now or in the near future.” Our petition quickly gained over 500 signatures, 130 people packed into our public meeting. And the governors were bombarded with emails demanding that parents and staff should get a vote on any proposed change.

The final straw for the governors was a lively lobby of their meeting last week, which clearly rattled them.

The head’s statement of defeat even concluded by repeating one of our slogans: “Our school is not for sale!”

The campaign now plans to widen its focus to ensure that none of the city’s schools go down the same route.