Skip to main content
School staff at an East Sussex school considering strike action against academisation

SCHOOL staff in East Sussex are considering strike action against the academisation of their school.

National Education Union (NEU) members at Peacehaven Community School are balloting on whether they should fight against plans to turn the local school into an academy.

East Sussex County Council intends to hand over control of the schools to the Swale Academies Trust, which runs 16 schools in the region.

However, the NEU has pointed out that if the council hands over control of the school to the trust, it will still be paying for the private finance initiative (PFI) bill, which helped build the school in 2001, until 2026.

NEU district secretary Phil Clarke said: “This is in effect a taxpayer subsidy of the Swale Academies Trust and our members have signalled very strongly to us they do not have faith in Swale being able to sustain improvements in the school.”

The union believes that before any decision is taken about the future of Peacehaven Community School, the school’s interim executive board (IEB) of governors should be dissolved and reconstituted as an elected body.

Mr Clarke added: “The academy conversion will hand over the school to an unaccountable private chain and this decision should rest with elected governors. It’s time for East Sussex County Council to give the parents and Peacehaven community a say and hold elections for a governing body.

“The community who campaigned so hard to get a secondary school should decide its future.”

An East Sussex County Council spokesman said a consultation revealed “very strong support from parents for the continued involvement of Swale Academies Trust.

“It remains the view of the local authority and the IEB that this is the right course of action to secure strong leadership and continued improvements at the school.”

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Britain / 27 February 2020
27 February 2020
Britain / 27 February 2020
27 February 2020
Britain / 26 February 2020
26 February 2020
Similar stories
NEU delegate David Room speaks at the union’s conference i
NEU Conference 2025 / 15 April 2025
15 April 2025
NEU conference urges Labour to fix school funding crisis by getting rid of academy bosses earning over £500,000
CONSERVATIVE POSTER CHILD: School head Katharine Birbalsingh
Features / 10 March 2025
10 March 2025
As the government moves to rein in academy freedoms, former darling of conservative education reform Katharine Birbalsingh cries ‘Marxism.’ Education columnist ROBERT POOLE examines how academisation has failed our children while enriching executives and empowering ideologues at the expense of democratic accountability