A TEACHERS union has today warned against the privatisation of state schools as the battle over the future of Holywells High School continues.Roger MacKay, spokesman for the Ipswich Association of the National Union of Teachers, warned Suffolk County Council of the example of the Richard Rose Central Academy in Carlisle which was recently placed into special measures.

A TEACHERS union has today warned against the privatisation of state schools as the battle over the future of Holywells High School continues.

Roger MacKay, spokesman for the Ipswich Association of the National Union of Teachers, warned Suffolk County Council of the example of the Richard Rose Central Academy in Carlisle which was recently placed into special measures.

Suffolk education bosses want to transform Holywells into a church-sponsored academy, but the plans have been fiercely opposed by staff, governors and students.

Today Mr MacKay said: “I hope everyone concerned will take note of the chaos that ensued this week in Carlisle, where the imposition of academy status on a high school has resulted in falling educational standards, a loss of experienced teachers and staff, violence in the classroom and the resignation of the head and chief executive of the school's ruling body after just five months.

“As those communities that have had academies imposed on their schools have become aware of their limitations, a groundswell of discontent is growing.

“This privatisation of state schools is not the panacea for schools that have been under funded and under resourced for too long. What we need is good local schools in all areas, not a system that leads to selection and division and, as in the Carlisle case, failure.”

What do you think about plans to turn Holywells into an academy? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk.