We, the undersigned, call on the Regional Schools Commissioner to cease looking for an academy trust to sponsor Moulsecoomb Primary School until Ofsted has returned and the school has been given an opportunity to demonstrate the progress that is being made.

The school is due a monitoring inspection by Ofsted, which we believe will show that it is in a much better place than it was at the previous inspection. We therefore call on Ofsted to return without delay and should a monitoring inspection show these improvements, a full inspection should be carried out before the school is forced to convert to academy status.

We note that in the previous Ofsted report outcomes were heavily criticised. Since then, SATs results have improved significantly in every single area and the school is now close to the national average in reading, writing and maths. The Ofsted report also criticised leaders’ and governors’ evaluation of the school as “inaccurate”, yet the latest SATs results confirmed their evaluations.

96% of parents voted against the school being forced to become an academy in a ballot run by the council. They voted to keep the school within a local authority with an excellent track record of running our local schools. Brighton & Hove City Council has provided additional support to the school and we are seeing improvements to behaviour and persistent absence as a result.

We also note that academy schools in the same position are given the opportunity to improve when they fall into special measures and we believe that our school should be treated the same. For example, a Freedom of Information request shows that when Copperfield Academy in Kent was rated as “inadequate” by Ofsted, the Regional Schools Commissioner chose to serve a “warning notice” and gave it an opportunity to improve, instead of “rebrokering” the school to another academy trust.

Moulsecoomb Primary School is in one of the most deprived areas of the country, with 63% of pupils eligible for free school meals, which is almost 3 times the national average. A quarter of pupils require special educational needs support which is twice the national average and Government funding cuts have meant that vital one-to-one support for our children has had to be stripped back.

Despite these factors, Moulsecoomb Primary School does an amazing job of providing our children with an inclusive and nurturing education environment. Our school is a good school. Give us a chance to prove it before permanently forcing us into a multi-academy trust against the will of parents, staff and the wider community.

#AGoodSchoolForAll #MightyMoulsecoomb