DESPITE a vigorous campaign in support of retaining community links and 550 signatories opposing academy status, Cheney governors have ignored local wishes and decided to convert to an academy.

In reality, the fate of Cheney’s status was decided last autumn, when Cherwell used a caricature of a consultation process to convert.

Cherwell claimed in its consultation document that it would benefit by £1.8m over five years.

Cheney governors and management were hungry to get in on the act, especially as rumours were rife that Gove would shortly withdraw the sweetener and there were fears that Cheney could become a dumping ground for Cherwell Academy’s excluded pupils.

It is worth mentioning that both schools have become academies for reasons that have little to do with educational provision.

They have succumbed to a combination of government bribery and blackmail.

We have governments at both national and local county level favouring the private sector over the public, the rich over the struggling working class.

Cheney was robbed of millions for rebuilding by the Con-Dems in 2010. Now it is depriving non-academy schools of vital funds in a shameful, beggar-my-neighbour scenario.

Of course the pendulum always swings the other way eventually. When parents at both schools who hope their children can get the advantages of a private education without them having to pay for it are disabused, they will understandably be angry.

When a government makes vague promises it has no intention of honouring, it will have to pay the price – sooner, let’s hope, than later.

J Saunders Ramsay Road Headington