WHY SHOULD A PRIMARY SCHOOL IN NEWBOLD IN RUGBY BE OWNED BY A PRIVATE COMPANY IN LONDON? - COME TO THE PUBLIC MEETING ON MONDAY 15TH OCTOBER AT 7.30PM

Newbold Riverside & Oakfield Primary School Parents Against Academies invite ALL

 to our Public Meeting, Monday 15th October, Oakfield Club, 32 Bilton Road at 7.30pm.

Micheal Gove MP - Minster for Education invited!

As well as NUT, Anti Academies Alliance and  Warwickshire County Council representative

Rugby Green Party members have actively been supporting parents at Newbold Riverside Primary School school in their fight against the plans for a private company based in London called REAch2 to come in and take over their village school on a 125 year lease.

Parents (led by ex Green Candidate Lorna Dunleavy) have been kept in the dark about the plans for their school to become an 'Academy' and even worse a link with the  controversial REAch2 London based private company.

REAch2 have come under fire from educationalists, teachers unions and according to the Anti Academies Alliance have plans to remove local community Governors from schools, paying massive salaries to head teachers to do their bidding at the same time as using poorly paid and untrained teaching staff and removing monitoring from many aspects of basic standards we expect in the education provision in our schools including financial accountability.

One of the biggest concerns for local parents and the local community is that the lease of the school, the building and large amount of land at Newbold Riverside would go to REAch2 for 125 years and that only the Secretary of State for Education - currently the awful Micheal Gove could remove this company,  but only with 7 years notice we understand.

While New Labour thought up the idea of Academy Schools (Which unfortunately is no surprise) the CONDEM Government and Micheal Gove has grasp the nettle fully and seen a chance to promote the ideology of privatisation - where by the interests of big business out strips the needs of students, parents, teachers and the local community.

REAch2 have also cast their sights on the newly rebuild school called Oakfield Primary in Rugby and parents at Newbold  Riverside have been trying to ensure that parents and teachers at Oakfield  are fully aware of the proposals and not just the partial information that has been provided so far.

Rugby Green Party applauds  local parents for not taking the threat to their school lightly and demanding answers to their concerns.

We support the call by parents to both Governing Boards to step away from the abyss and reject the ill informed  choice of giving the schools to REAch2 in November and instead postponed any decisions to  allow proper detailed discussions with parents that fully investigate the risks of taking this move and also the need to become an academy.

by Roy Sandison (Old boy Newbold (Riverside) Middle school)