To:

Chair of Governors: Philip Thickett
Headteacher: Mike Dunn
Akira Hippolyte - LA governor 
Gem Durham - parent governor
Hailey Tinsley -  LA governor 
Jennifer Reynolds - appointed by GB
Joe Miles - parent governor
Nicola Collins - parent governor
Nighat Rafiq - appointed by GB 
Uzma Mahmood - parent governor
Zaid Ahmed - parent governor
Zoe Robbins - staff governor

We the undersigned call upon the Governing Body to overturn their decision to academise Swanshurst School and form West Midlands Academy Trust (WMAT) with King's Norton Girls and Hall Green Secondary School.

The academisation of the school will be a disaster for the community. It will see the ownership and accountability of our school handed over to a private and unaccountable Multi Academy Trust (MAT).

There are too many examples of MATs turning our schools into soulless exam factories rather than a place for children and young people to be curious, to learn and enjoy their school experience.

If our school is academised, we lose the school to privatisation for a generation! 

Swanshurst Governing Body may claim that the proposed WMAT is small and connected to the community, but in reality such a small MAT is not financially viable in the long run. It will be more vulnerable to monopolisation, where small MATs get swallowed by the big ones. We have seen how corporate MATs destroy the ethos and identity of our community schools.

We do not want that for Swanshurst School.

Academisation undermines our young people's well-being. Treating children as products and commodities by running schools as businesses is taking its toll on our children's mental health. 

Staff turnover in MATs is high. MATs can opt out of national terms and conditions for staff, and they can use their control of admissions to exclude children with SEND needs.

There is no evidence to suggest MATs improve the quality of education compared to Local Authority schools.

We want Swanshurst School to remain a community school, supported by the Local Authority, working in collaboration with schools in the locality, and accountable to its community.

Our Governing Body should be focusing on our young people's education and supporting its staff, not pursuing a divisive policy of academisation. 

Our school has been a community school since 1959. Let's keep it that way. 

Keep Swanshurst a community school.

No to academisation. No to WMAT!