London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Oct 06, 2025

West Midlands primary school wins appeal against academy status

West Midlands primary school wins appeal against academy status

Judge calls decision not to revoke academy order ‘irrational’, as inspections halted during pandemic
A primary school in Sandwell, West Midlands, has become the first school to win a high court appeal against being forced to turn into an academy, arguing it could not demonstrate its improvement because Ofsted inspections were suspended because of Covid.

The governing body of Yew Tree primary school brought a judicial review against the education secretary, Gavin Williamson, after he refused to revoke an academy order imposed on the school in 2019, when it was rated inadequate by Ofsted.

In a judgment on Friday, Gavin Mansfield QC said he had “grave concern” about several aspects of the decision and there was clear evidence from the school “of both continued efforts to improve and success in achieving those improvements” that appeared to have been disregarded. He said the decision not to revoke the academy order was “irrational” and seemed swayed by a “perceived lack of support for academisation” from the local authority.

Jamie Barry, the headteacher at Yew Tree primary, described the result as a “huge relief”.

“We’re really pleased the judge has ruled the secretary of state acted irrationally because we’ve been corresponding for the best part of two years now and no matter how much evidence we were putting forwards, it never seemed to be enough,” he said.

“We’re not anti-academy, it is the right decision for some schools, and it could be the right decision for our school at some point, but at the moment that isn’t the case and we feel it would serve as a distraction to our school improvement journey to have significant change.”

Yew Tree was rated “inadequate” by Ofsted in January 2019 and upgraded in October to “requires improvement”. Governors and its local authority believe it would be rated “good” if visited by Ofsted again.

Mansfield noted that the suspension of Ofsted inspections for Covid constituted exceptional circumstances, and the decision on the academy order should have been based on “the substance of the performance of the school, not with whether there has been a formal grading by Ofsted”.

Barry said: “We invited [Ofsted inspectors in] and we said we would gladly risk assess it, but they weren’t legally allowed to because the law has changed because of Covid.”

If the school had been converted into an academy, changes would have come into effect in September, when children returned to school after a year of Covid disruption.

Paul Whiteman, the general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: “This case is important as the unnecessary disruption of a conversion would have been counterproductive.”

He said that while for some schools converting to academy status was a positive step, it could be “an unnecessary and unhelpful distraction” for others. “There are other schools in similar circumstances,” he said. “The pandemic prevented Ofsted from visiting schools but that does not mean that improvement journeys have halted. I hope that this decision will bring sufficient reassurance to them that their efforts and success throughout the most difficult of years will not be disregarded.”

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We direct underperforming schools with an inadequate Ofsted rating to become academies because we know the support of a strong academy trust is the best way to secure sustained improvement in the best interests of pupils and the school community.

“We are now considering the next steps in relation to Yew Tree primary’s academy order following today’s high court judgment, which may include appealing [against] the court’s decision or assessing a new application from Yew Tree to set aside their academy order.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
×