Parent threatens Gove with legal action over removal of governing body

A parent of a child at the primary school where the Education Secretary axed the entire governing body has announced plans to bring a judicial review action over the decision.

Susan Moyse, who is being advised by law firm Hickman and Rose, will seek to challenge Michael Gove over his appointment of a five-member Interim Executive Board at Downhills Primary School.

The Education Secretary signed an academy order on 15 March which set out that the school should become an academy sponsored by the Harris Foundation.

In her letter of claim, Moyse argued that Gove acted unlawfully in imposing the board. She asked for the former governing body to be reinstated and for it to be allowed to hold a consultation on whether Downhills should remain a local community school or become a sponsored academy.

An Ofsted inspection in January 2011 had led to Downhills being given a notice to improve. However, a satisfactory monitoring visit took place in September with the inspector noting “a clear trend of improvement”.

The school was placed in special measures following another inspection on 26-27 January. The school leadership and governing body accepted the conclusions of Ofsted and did not seek to challenge the watchdog’s report.

They also drew up an action plan in response and the governing body announced a consultation on academy conversion. A survey of parents saw more than half take part and more than 90% oppose forced conversion.

Meetings with representatives of the Education Secretary followed in early March but Gove subsequently signed the academy order.

Moyse said: “This school was already rapidly improving as a community school. The parents recognise this and have voted overwhelmingly against academy status. We’re not the ideologues and we don’t want our children used as guinea pigs in the forced academy experiment.”

Hickman and Rose partner Beth Handley said: “The Secretary of State has considerable powers under the laws surrounding Academy conversion, however there remain checks and balances in the system which the Secretary of State has ridden roughshod over.”

In a statement the Department for Education statement told the BBC that the Interim Executive Board would consult on whether conversion should take place.

It said: "Downhills school has been underperforming for several years. Most recently Ofsted found that the school is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and that those responsible for leading, managing and governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement.”