A Lambeth councillor says he is opposed to primary schools in the area taking on Academy status.
Corpus Christi school, in Brixton Hill, switched to Academy status last August and Sudbourne school, Hayter Rd, is now considering making the move.
Cllr Pete Robbins, responsible for children and young people, said: “Sudbourne should not convert to academy status. It makes much more sense for schools to continue to work together, rather than fragment.
“The unfair financial advantage that academies have previously had over community schools will not exist soon, so the biggest reason cited [for becoming an Academy] will no longer apply.”
When asked whether or not the council would continue plans to expand the school were it to become an academy, Cllr Robbins said: “The simple answer is that we’ll consider this once the governors have made their decision, but we are obviously keen to expand places at schools where we know there will be know fair admissions policies, and where we can act to ensure educational standards are maintained.”
Proponents of the academy model argue that schools with the status gain some extra money and more freedom to use that money as they see fit. They also point to greater freedoms including setting admissions policies, the curriculum and even term lengths and dates.
Cllr Robbins argued that Lambeth headteachers are already given many of these freedoms by the council, but said the fact that academies could set their own admissions was “very worrying”.
