Camden Junior School is to be run by the Harris Foundation, despite 91% local opposition.
Last night, as I watched a BBC London evening news a report the on that Camden Junior School was to be turned into an Academy caught my eye. Now what particularly interested me in this news items, was in despite of a landslide response of 91% (494 out of 545) of parents voted for their preference for Camden Junior School to be taken over by Greenshaw High School, with the additional support of the local council leader Ruth Dombey and local MP Tom Brake, The Department for Education has chosen to ignore this consultation and award the Harris Foundation for sponsorship.
Councillor Ruth Dombey, leader of Sutton Council, said (1): “The council, MPs and everybody agreed Greenshaw was the best option.” and “So much for localism. People feel completely disempowered some parents worked incredibly hard on that campaign – what’s the point if the decision was made behind closed doors?”
Tom Brake, the MP for Carshalton and Wallington said(1): “I’m clearly very disappointed at the outcome when the community had expressed a very clear preference for the local sponsor Greenshaw. When there is more than one sponsor for a school I think it is completely wrong for the Department for Education to express a preference. It risks predetermining the outcome.”
Now why on earth would The Department for Education ignore the democratic voice of its people and favour the Harris Foundation???
Maybe, just maybe, the fact that Lord Philip Harris has been a key financial contributor to the Tory party (2) and is close pals with David Cameron, may have influenced the decision… The BBC forgot to mention that in their report…
While looking into Lord Harris, I came across this interesting article…http://antiacademies.org.uk/2012/03/harris-federation-spotlight-on-sponsors/
Ref (2): http://searchthemoney.com/profile/657/1473