West Sussex’s Conservative-led county council has joined the chorus of opposition to the government’s plan to turn all state schools into academies, saying it could hurt provision for vulnerable children and undermine the local economy.
In a letter to the education secretary, Nicky Morgan, West Sussex county council leader, Louise Goldsmith, said the council was united in opposing the proposals in Morgan’s education white paper, with no evidence that the county’s schools would be improved.
“I have reservations that the ‘one size fits all’ academies approach that ministers are proposing does not seem to promote any benefits to pupils and parents in West Sussex,” Goldsmith wrote. “We have very specific concerns about how vulnerable children will fare under the proposals – a statutory responsibility that will rightly remain with the council but with very few powers to help us to fulfil that duty.”
East Devon Watch 