Dear Mr Trimmer, Mr Nicholls and the governors of Hove Park School, Having attended a consultation evening on Wednesday, May 14, I have a couple of queries I would like answered.

The first query was raised by a gentleman on the evening of the meeting and I feel that the response given completely avoided the actual question that was asked.

During the meeting we heard many times of the successes of Hove Park, particularly what has been done in the past three years to raise the standards and achieve a “good” grading by Ofsted.

With Hove Park enjoying such success without being an academy I would like to know exactly what will be gained by the conversion?

During the course of the evening, as well as highlighting how far Hove Park has come, Mr Trimmer was very keen to talk of how becoming an academy will allow them to work with other schools in the area, offer staff ongoing professional development and possibly move away from the national curriculum.

Is it true, then, that without the conversion staff will not continue their professional development?

I understood that every teacher has to complete a specific number of hours in relation to CPD in accordance with the hours that they work?

Will it also mean that Hove Park will not be able to work with other local schools? And with regards to the possibility of moving away from the national curriculum, I would like some clarification on what would be gained by doing this.

Finally, I feel this proposal is being rushed through and I have concerns that it is not being done for the good of the children at Hove Park.

There is enough evidence to show that academies do not work.

In fact six were highlighted in the news recently with a Department for Education spokesman informing us that two of them had gone into special measures.

With this in mind, I am surprised that Mr Trimmer and the governors would still consider proposing this conversion.

Lindsay Collard, St Richards Road, Portslade

I saw a local green councillor on the local news singing with parents outside Hove Park School.

It’s great to see Hove Park is being well supported.

My daughter went there, passing many GCSEs.

Lesley Kite, Brighton