A ROW over a school's bid to become an academy could be on the verge of ending after governors reaffirmed their support for the plans, it is claimed.

Connaught School for Girls, in Leytonstone, has faced ten days of teacher strikes this term following concerns from the National Union of Teachers (NUT) about the impact of the proposals.

In October governors voted eight to six in favour of applying for academy status, but the NUT demanded a new ballot because some governors were absent from the crucial meeting.

The union also said that the consultation process was rushed and unfair, a claim denied by the school.

But this week governors voted ten to five against a resolution to halt the academy application process.

Headteacher Ann Betts said the school was now on course to gain the new status on February 1 - and added that there are no more governors meetings planned before that date.

She told the Guardian: "Hopefully that will be the end of the matter. 

"The strikes have been very disruptive to the girls' education and for their parents."

Waltham Forest NUT secretary Steve White said he was disappointed by the outcome of the governors meeting.

He said: "Unfortunately they were not prepared to listen to reason and believed the conspiracy theories about the council's future plans for the school instead.

"I'll admit it does now seem unlikely that the governors will change their mind, but it's always possible that this could still be reversed."

Mr White said he would meet with NUT members next week to discuss if they should take any further action, but added that no more strikes were planned at present.

Academy status will allow the school to break away from council control and receive all its funding direct from the government.

Ms Betts said governors were concerned that the council was planning on merging Connaught with another school and they felt becoming an academy was the only way to safeguard its future.

She also claims the school will be £97,000 better off.


But the council says there are no merger plans and academy status will not lead to extra funding.

The row prompted the school and the council to both accuse each other of providing inaccurate information to parents.

Leyton Labour MP John Cryer has also criticised the school's leadership and said that becoming an academy will not benefit Connaught in any way.