Unions ramp up campaigns against Academy plans

The Government is encouraging all schools judged ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted to become academies. Each school’s Governing Body will need to decide this month if it wishes to become an academy from this September. There is no requirement for the Governing Body to consult with parents before making this decision. This means that children could be attending an academy after the summer holidays, without any prior consultation with parents.
Once a school has become an academy, there is no way back.
Trade union members are committed to continuing to provide children with an outstanding education, but we have grave concerns about the proposed academy model. Academies were originally set up to improve the educational attainment of secondary school pupils in disadvantaged communities and under challenging circumstances. There is no evidence to suggest that converting an outstanding school into an academy will make any difference to pupils’ educational attainment, nor is there any evidence to suggest benefits for pupils in primary or special schools. In fact, we believe that the risks involved in academy status, in particular the loss of support from the local authority, far outweigh any of the suggested advantages of obtaining academy status.
We strongly believe that schools can only remain outstanding with the support and trust of its parents. Any
decisions affecting the future of  children’s education in such a fundamental way must be taken jointly by parents, staff, governing bodies and the community. If you, as a parent, share our concerns, we urge you to contact your parent representative on the Governing Body immediately to make your voice heard.

The teaching unions have produced model letters and petitions for use in campaigning against the spreading of Academies and these are avialable here:
http://www.teachers.org.uk/node/11674
and here:
www.nasuwt.org.uk/ChampioningEducation/Academies