| SPOTLIGHT |
East Sussex County Council has defeated a judicial review challenge to the proposed conversion of Peacehaven Community School to an academy.
The challenge was brought by campaign group Hands Off Peacehaven Community School with the backing of the National Education Union.
The school is now set to join the Swale Academies Trust when it converts on 1 September 2019.
The claimants said staff had only received a letter in the second week of August giving the conversion date, and parents had not been informed.
The school has had an interim executive board in place since 2017.
The claimants had sought to argue that due to the two-and-a-half years delay to conversion since the initial consultation, significant changes had taken place which meant that a fresh consultation was justified in the name of fairness and democracy.
However, the High Court ruled that the legal argument of significant change was not strong enough and interim relief to allow for a judicial review was declined.
The county council sought a costs order but this was refused. Swale withdrew its claims for costs.
An East Sussex County Council spokesman said: “It has always been the view of the local authority and the Interim Executive Board (IEB) that this is the right course of action to secure strong leadership and continued improvements at the school.
“The court’s finding was that the case had no merit.
“The current governance arrangements at the school have been in place for some time and they have been regularly reviewed to ensure their ongoing effectiveness.”
Parent campaigner Ash Webster said: “I am hugely disappointed and hold a very heavy heart to hear the verdict delivered by the judge in our request for interim relief. East Sussex County Council and the IEB have simply ignored our basic and reasonable request for transparency and fairness with a new consultation.
“We put up a good fight and the community spirit to push this campaign forward has been amazing. The local community will continue to remain united to protect our primary schools in the face of any threat from being pushed into academisation.”
Phil Clarke, NEU East Sussex Branch Secretary, said: "Whilst East Sussex County Council may have won the legal argument, which is no surprise in a legislative framework designed to privatise schools, they have clearly lost the moral argument which is why they ended up in court.”
Clarke also claimed that the council were putting the needs of a private academy company above the needs of the students and community.
