Three more Coventry schools set to apply for academy status

[dutchman]

Three more secondary schools in Coventry could be turned into academies, the Telegraph has learned.



Blue Coat School, in Stoke, has already applied for the controversial new status, which gives schools freedom from the local authority.

But union leaders, who are campaigning against schools becoming academies, say three more city secondaries are also set to apply – Westwood, in Canley, Whitley Abbey in Whitley and Finham Park School in Finham.

Victor Aguera, Coventry branch secretary for the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT), said he was recently notified headteachers and governors at the three schools have launched consultations.

He said: “We are very concerned, not just for our members but for how communities will be served. We are concerned by how education is being privatised but paid for with public sector money.”

Members of NASUWT and National Union of Teachers (NUT) have already lobbied parents at Blue Coat School over the issue, and Mr Aguera promised they would up their campaign.

“We will continue to campaign against all academies in Coventry as we believe Coventry is a good local authority which delivers excellent results,” he added.

Jane Nellist, joint divisional secretary of the Coventry NUT, said: “The NUT is absolutely against academies, we don’t see how they benefit schools.

“They will destroy the education system in Coventry and we will work with other unions to campaign against it.”