Pupils walk out over academy plans
Secondary school pupils staged a mass walkout the day after some teachers went on strike over academy plans.
In scenes that one parent described as "a riot", up to 100 Filsham Valley pupils downed pens and gathered on the school's tennis courts. Police later arrived to break up the demonstration.
A year 11 prefect, who asked not to be named, said: "The idea is to show we are against the academies. We think they are a really bad idea, we do not want to merge with The Grove and we do not want the teachers to lose their jobs.
"This school has been getting better and we have been put in the same boat as the others.
"The teachers went on strike and now we wanted to do our bit."
Details of last Friday's protest at the Edinburgh Road school were spread on social networking tools Facebook and Twitter, as well as by word of mouth.
Pupils acted after members of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) who work at the school went on strike last Thursday, in a last-ditch attempt to persuade the Government not to approve plans to merge Filsham Valley with The Grove to create Academy West.
A police spokesman declined to comment beyond confirming they had attended.
One parent, who took this snap of the school, spoke anonymously: "I along with another friend, and the father of yet another pupil, drove to the school as quick as we could to find out what the hell was going on.
"There were police cars and vans everywhere. There were children hiding behind cars when we drove in, and children climbing over fences.
"When we got to reception of course they tried to play it down, but we were having none of it."
East Sussex County Council, which is sponsoring the academy plans to merge Hillcrest, The Grove and Filsham Valley with BT and Brighton University, approved the scheme earlier this year.
Ed Balls, secretary of state for Education, is now due to make the final decision.
The school and its governors declined to comment on the demonstration.
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Weather for Lewes
Thursday 09 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 0 C to 2 C
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Wind direction: North east
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