Barking infant school forges ahead with academy plans

Education chiefs have expressed disappointment after an outstanding infant school agreed to press ahead with plans to become the borough’s first academy.

Thames View Infants in Bastable Avenue, Barking, could be run outside local authority control from September. It could benefit from �120,000 of extra funding in its first year alone.

The governing body consulted parents on the proposals in May and decided to pursue the academy avenue on June 26.

But Barking and Dagenham Council expressed concerns.

Education cabinet member Cllr Rocky Gill said: “Parents and their children will have to live with this decision, which in my view is not in the interest of the pupils or the wider community.”

The school’s headteacher, Paul Jordan, was unavailable for comment.