Parents launch petition in wake of shock schools’ recommendation

A CAMPAIGN has been launched to keep two schools under the same leadership in West Yorkshire, following a shock recommendation from the schools commissioner to prise them apart.

Kettlethorpe High, in Wakefield, has been running the nearby Mackie Hill Junior and Infant School since January after the latter was rated inadequate by Ofsted.

Now, as the Department for Education effectively pulls the plug on council plans to make the move permanent, suggesting the primary should become an academy, dismayed parents have launched a petition to maintain the status quo. The move, said parent Sarah Cox in a letter to the regional schools commissioner, was “short-sighted, destructive and utterly pointless”.

“As a parent I am absolutely aghast that you would choose to cause more upheaval rather than continue with the system that is clearly working to the benefit of the children,” said Ms Cox.

“Following a welcome period of stabilisation after a tough year, we are faced now with the prospect of new changes and upheaval as the process of academisation is forced upon us.”

Kettlethorpe headteacher Tudor Griffiths said he was “very disappointed” by the decision as nearly 400 people backed the petition.

The collapse of Wakefield Cities Academies Trust (WCAT) last year is also cited as a concern for parents, many of whom have said they are sceptical about what benefits academy status might bring.

Sally Kincaid, from the Wakefield branch of the National Education Union, said: “This is nothing about education, this is purely about playing political football with children.”