|
|
 |
| |
Academy High Court test case
A CONTROVERSIAL test case – which could affect the future of dozens of city academies – was fought out in the High Courts yesterday (Wednesday).
David Wolfe, a barrister representing residents in Islington, hopes to save a primary school threatened with closure by a new city academy.
Although work has already begun on the site, in Liverpool Road, Holloway – a stone’s throw from the home of Academy champion Lord Adonis – Mr Wolfe challenged the School Adjudicator’s decision to close St Mary Magdalene Primary School to make way for the new building.
The High Court case hinges on a technicality.
Mr Wolfe told Mr Justice Wilkie the School Adjudicator’s decision to close the school while only relying on “assurances and undertakings” from sponsor The Diocese of London, would not guarantee “adequate rights and protections for pupils and parents”.
He said academies rely on a ‘Funding Agreement’ made between Education Secretary Alan Johnson and the proposed sponsor, which details policy on admissions, exclusions, special needs requirements and the make-up of the school governors panel.
Yet the adjudicator was only allowed to see the draft agreement before condemning the school to closure, he said.
Clive Lewis, representing the adjudicator, told the court the Funding Agreement was identical to the draft and so the argument was “academic”. |
| |
|
|
|
