Petition opposing primary school academies (Histon & Impington and Hatton Park)

The governors at Histon & Impington Infant and Junior Schools and Hatton Park Primary School are proposing that the schools become academies. This will have huge implications for the children and young people growing up in our villages.

We are a community group who believe that academies are a move towards fragmented, privatised education. There are financial risks for academies, and those risks are greatest for smaller primary schools even if they convert as a group. Academies lack the accountability of maintained schools and the rights of parents and staff are greatly reduced.

There is no evidence that academies improve the standard of education; the key to school improvement lies in school leadership and improving the quality of teaching and learning.

The staff and governors at our local schools are doing a great job. As a ‘Teaching School’ Histon and Impington Junior School has helped improve standards at Hatton Park Primary School without being an academy.

The majority of primary schools in Cambridgeshire are not academies and we feel that the governors should not take this risky step. They will be better off within a co-ordinated and accountable primary education system in Cambridgeshire.