DID YOU KNOW THAT AS OF 1st SEPTEMBER 2011 A SWATHE OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS BETWEEN LIVERPOOL AND SOUTHPORT, NAMELY.... *BIRKDALE HIGH *CHESTERFIELD HIGH *DEYES HIGH *FORMBY HIGH *GREENBANK HIGH *MAGHULL HIGH *RANGE HIGH ....COULD ALL BECOME ACADEMIES? Our community schools will no longer be answerable to Sefton Council. Head teachers and govenors will take full control of their budgets - Sefton Local Authority will be stripped of cash usually redistributed amongst community nursery, primary and secondary schools based on need - the council won't be able to provide services for the schools and community as they have done previously. Sefton Save Our Schools is a campaign group consisting of parents, staff, union reps and community members from the affected schools. Our aim is to preserve fair, equal comprehensive education for all our children. If our community schools become academies, it will not be possible to achieve this aim. This decision about a change to the national education system is a monumental one. Local communities have not been adequately consulted in a genuinely meaningful way by the people who have the power to make these decisions. Many of the parties affected by the Academy Status proposals are against this potentially dangerous change to the way our schools are managed because of pay and job security issues, concerns about working conditions and because of moral implications for the wider community. Often, there is no need for a good school to convert to an academy. The only real benefit will be to managerial staff who see less accountability as bringing greater freedom (and whose wages tend to increase). PLEASE SIGN OUR PETITION AND SUPPORT OUR 'NO TO ACADEMY STATUS' CAMPAIGN. For more information visit: www.antiacademies.org.uk Facebook group: Anti Academies: Sefton Save Our Schools.