Guest columnist Jonny Crawshaw gives his view on the future of the Southbank schools in York

In April 2015, shortly after the South Bank Multi-Academy Trust was first proposed, I spoke at a packed meeting of concerned parents and community members and called for the community’s voice to be heard.

Later today the last of the three Governing Bodies – Scarcroft – will meet and decide the future direction of my daughter’s School and with it, the proposed South Bank MAT.

I did not want to find myself opposing the leadership of my child’s school but nor did I feel I could stay quiet when I believed so strongly that Academisation was the wrong direction for our schools to take.

Those of us that took the difficult decision to speak out have been maligned as a small group of noisy parents and broad allegations have been made on several occasions that our behaviour has been somehow unwarranted, disrespectful or inappropriate.

It has been stressful and distressing, but all we have wanted throughout is for all parents to be genuinely included in discussions about the future direction of our children’s education; not the day-to-day running of our schools, but about what constitute fundamental changes to the nature of our schools and state education as a whole.

Over the course of the last 9 months we have shown repeatedly that the community wants meaningful involvement in this decision. We initially collected over 500 requests calling for a public ballot, though none was forth-coming. City of York Council passed Cllr Julie Gunnell’s motion supporting parent-ballots in any future Academy conversions but without legal bite this too was dismissed.

We collected 480 signatures in just 4 hours standing on Bishopthorpe Rd calling directly on our Governors to vote against the MAT proposal. We surveyed our community and found almost 70% of respondents (mainly parents, all within the proposed MAT catchment area) were against the proposal. We have fought and fought to be heard, but often it has felt like our arguments have fallen on deaf ears.

A new fight is looming for Scarcroft parents: a proposed expansion with an annex on Millthorpe land will mean an extra 210 pupils and years 4, 5 & 6 moving out of the main building on Scarcroft Green (originally built to accommodate 1000 pupils).

Many parents feel incensed that this proposal seems to have come from nowhere with less than two weeks to influence the decision. The reality, of course, is that once schools become Academies they can expand, contract, change admissions policies, even physically relocate and communities have little recourse to object if the Trustees choose not to listen.

When the MAT was first proposed, the schools insisted that this “exciting opportunity” was not a done deal. Was I foolish to believe that? Maybe. Have the Governing Bodies too readily accepted reassurances about what becoming an Academy could mean? Possibly.

The education landscape in York is changing rapidly and an intricate web of inter-linked Trusts, Companies and individuals undoubtedly have agendas to push. Sometimes they will collide, like the Ebor Academy Trust’s rapid exploitation of the Scarcroft split-site proposal to further its own ambitions for a Free School at Askham Bar. Sometimes they will be more benign. What is certain is that local democratic accountability in education has been lost.

Likewise, as in all competition – and the Academies program is without doubt premised on driving up standards through competition - there will be winners and losers.

I believe that a community school should reflect the community it is a part of. That means listening to the community and maintaining an ongoing, respectful, open dialogue at all times and in all circumstances (on both sides). I believe we have done this and it is to our credit.

We were demonstrably not a small group, even if some of us made more noise than others. We have been through a lot together and it has been hard at times. Bridges will need mending and in the course of time I’m sure they can be.

If Scarcroft Governors do vote to convert I genuinely hope my fears prove unfounded. Sadly we may have already glimpsed the future for state education - in York and the country - and from where I’m sitting right now, it doesn’t look pretty.