Staff at Sandown Bay Academy are said to have been left bewildered by this week’s news about the proposed merger with Ryde Academy some 6 miles away.
GMB, the union for school staff, has said it will resist the proposals, warning of the potential damage to the local community.
The controversial London-based Academies Enterprise Trust’s announcement of a 30-day consultation period for a proposed merger with the Ryde Academy was met with anger by Sandown Bay workers at a meeting on Thursday.
Adrian Baker, GMB Regional Organiser said:
“There will be uproar when parents of children, some of them with special educational needs find out that they face having their school snatched away and will potentially have to commute six miles further every single day. When the phone starts ringing and queues of parents are on the doorstep, what answer will AET be giving them?”
“There is more to this than meets the eye – this is just the latest in a series of attempts to run down what was before AET arrived a successful and thriving school at the heart of Sandown Bay community.”
“This is our school and more importantly is a school that the Sandown community knows has a proud and impressive heritage. We will simply not allow AET to force our children pay for management’s mistakes.”
Following the meeting a school worker who does not wish to be named stated:
“This is nothing short of educational vandalism and asset stripping of the highest order. Why are they doing this to us from their Ivory tower in London? If they think we will sit down and take this, they don’t know us. We will fight for our community’s future”.
GMB along with other unions will be holding regular meetings with staff parents and the community over the coming weeks.
