Hove Park head teacher Derek Trimmer has offered reassurance to those worried about the prospect of his school becoming an academy.
If the governors chose to explore the possibility, he said, they would consult parents, staff and the wider community fully before reaching any conclusion.
But the governors would not even be making a decision about whether to look at the academy option and consult on it until their next meeting on Monday 31 March.
Mr Trimmer said that he and the governors were under a duty to make strategic decisions in the best interests of the school and its pupils.
And that exploring whether to become an academy was one of the options that the governors had to consider.
He said that he understood that in the current changing landscape this could give rise to uncertainty, concern and fear for some.
He said: “I want to alleviate people’s fears that an outside sponsor is coming in.
“If we look to become an academy, it will be about us having the power to shape our own future.
“It’s about partnerships and having the capacity to support other schools.
“Naturally, there are big fears around pensions, term dates and pay.
“All of those we would continue to operate as they are, with the local pay structures that have been agreed, and there will be pensions continuity. We will work with unions.
“And we’re not suddenly going to have five terms or have a day that ends at 5 o’clock.”
“This is about raising aspiration and ambitions.
“Look at how far we’ve moved in the past three years. You can’t keep being the most improved school.
“We’ve introduced the new uniform. Behaviour has improved. Performance has improved. We’ve radically altered the quality of teaching.
“We take children who would never have managed sixth form before and we’ve kept hold of them and given them a chance to succeed.
