CONCERNED teachers, parents and trade unionists are set to protest against controversial plans to make a Halesowen high school an independent academy.

A demonstration will be held at Earls High against proposals to bring it out of local authority control.

Placard-waving campaigners will gather at the school gates in Furnace Lane as a meeting of governors is held on the issue on Thursday October 13, from 5.30pm till 6.30pm.

NUT spokesman Martin Lynch, of The Earls Action Group, said the school was “hell bent” on forging ahead with proposals despite overwhelming feeling amongst teachers against the plan.

He said the protest was designed to make the community aware of the “wide reaching implications” of academy status.

Martin said: “Parents would have no effective way of holding the school to account, with it being run, in effect, as a private school.

“The majority of governors would not be elected so there could be no guarantees over admission procedures, times of the school day and holiday periods and no requirement to consult anyone.

“There are also fears that previously publicly owned land could be sold off by the school with no benefit to the local community, as has already happened with schools in Trafford and Cornwall.”

Windsor High in Halesowen became an academy earlier this year.

Martin said: “Ironically, in their GCSEs, Earls students outperformed their counterparts Windsor High but the school still seems hell-bent on the academy course, making decisions with limited consultation with those affected most - children, parents and staff.”

However, in a presentation to parents Tom Johnston, principal of The Earls High School, explained in detail about the academy bid.

He said:”In its time the school has been a Free School, a Grammar School, a Fee paying school, a Grant Maintained Grammar School, a Community School, a Foundation School and a Trust School.

“I strongly suspect it will have many more designations before it’s finished.”

The principal also outlined the school would continue to lose funding if it did not become an academy.

He added: “We have lost funding this year and I expect to lose more next year, compounded by rising inflation.

“The £129k we get for Performing Arts is still in the budget but now in the main budget share and no longer ring fenced.

“We have lost funding from our additional specialisms: £90k for Modern Foreign Languages and £60k for Leading edge.”

He added: “The Governors are concerned to continue to have enough funds to protect the jobs of existing staff and to continue to sustain the quality of education we currently deliver to our students.”

The Earls Action group is also staging a public forum at Halesowen Library’s Caslon Suite on Tuesday October 18, from 7.30pm till 9.30pm.

To contact the group ring Martin on 07941 834125 or visit the website www.wix.com/earlsactiongroup/antiacademycampaign.