Academy status will destroy local authority system in name of profit

Dear Editor, The head teacher of Harborne Academy is wrong to claim (Post 19 May, p24) that its achievements are due to it becoming an Academy.

The school’s successful partnership with Queen Elizabeth Hospital was established when it was a local authority school, long before it became an Academy.

Similarly, the school could have established a partnership with Birmingham Met, with all its benefits, without needing to leave the local authority system of schools and become an Academy run by Birmingham Met.

Mr Wright says: “The sponsor becomes in effect the local authority”. But with two big differences, Mr Wright.

The authority never controlled the school – Birmingham Met does. And the authority is democratically elected and accountable to the people of Birmingham – Birmingham Met isn’t, it’s a private organisation.

The government’s “new model of schools”, which Mr Wright refers to, may seem to offer some advantages, but don’t be taken in, its purpose is the destruction of the local authority system and its replacement by a market system of privatised schools open to private profit.

Richard Hatcher

Edgbaston

Birmingham