Parents have won their fight to prevent an academy trust taking over their children's primary school after the governors voted against the trust.

On Friday, the governors at Twydall Primary School voted no to adopting the Thinking Schools Academy Trust (TSAT), the Department for Education's preferred sponsor for the school.

The official announcement was made on the school's website at noon today, with the governors calling it "the most difficult, decision the Governing Body has had to make since the schools merged back in 2011".

The letter addressed to parents, carers and stakeholders, said: "We were mindful of the consultation outcome, but we also seriously considered how the ethos and approach of Twydall Primary School might fit into the ethos and approach of TSAT and what else they could offer the school.

"Central to our discussion were the current improvements and significant changes that have begun to put the school back on track. We had to be mindful that the school is now on course to the removal of Special Measures and whether the process could be impacted by the approval of the currently proposed sponsor."

The governors were also "very much aware" of the letter Lord Nash, parliamentary under secretary for Education, had sent the week before in which he said he "expected" them to vote yes to TSAT on Friday.

A spokesman for Parents and Twydall Together (PATT - previously called Parents Against Twydall Takeover) said the group were delighted at the governors' decision.

She said: "We are very encouraged to hear governors have taken parents’ concerns on board by voting against a takeover by TSAT. This decision was made even more difficult for them after Lord Nash threatened to remove them all and impose an interim board if they chose to vote no.

"We sincerely hope the DfE now listens to our governors who are best placed to understand the needs of such a unique school as Twydall Primary. We will do everything we can to support the governing body every step of the way in achieving that."

Denise Shepherd, Chief Executive of TSAT said the trust were disappointed at the news.

Ms Shepherd said: "The next steps for Twydall remain for the Governing body to agree with the Local Authority and DfE. TSAT will remain outside this process but will continue to offer immediate support for Twydall in terms of supporting children’s education and the opportunity for sponsorship of Twydall.

"We continue to believe that through our sponsorship the school will have the greatest opportunity to drive sustainable long term educational improvements."

The results of a consultation released last week, showed that the majority of respondents did not agree that Twydall Primary School should become an academy and join TSAT.

A total of 436 written responses were received by the school's governing body of which 383 said no, 15 said yes and 32 said they were not sure. Only half said they had enough information to understand whether TSAT's ethos on education and development is right for the pupils now and in the future.

More than 300 also said they had concerns about the school leaving the management of Medway Council and coming under the management of TSAT.

The move to turn the school into an academy came after it was placed in special measures by Ofsted in May 2014. The inspection was unscheduled and came after allegations of a “serious incident”. Following protests from staff and parents, Ofsted deleted references to the incident.

A recent Ofsted visit found the school is "making reasonable progress towards the removal of special measures" and that Anne Pratt, the interim headteacher, provides "astute inspirational leadership" and works closely with the "extremely able deputy headteacher, whose leadership is flourishing as a result".

The school in Twydall Lane, merged with the infants school in September 2011.
With 555 pupils aged between three and 11, Twydall is a larger than average primary schools.

Concerned parents had been protesting against the move as they do not believe TSAT is right for the school, which is one of the few primary schools in Medway which has provision for a large number of special needs pupils.

Parents were worried that TSAT does not have proven experience in this area and want the decision to be fair, transparent and to give them a choice in the future of their children’s education.

They also believe the vote to become an academy was "rigged" after it was discovered that governors on the board has undisclosed interests or connections to TSAT. Two governors have since stood down.

The governors still believe the best route is for the primary school to become an academy and will be writing to the Academy Team at the DfE to seek their support in continuing to convert the school.