Edutrust will own the assets of the school and will control the governing body. It will have freedoms to alter the curriculum, the admissions policy and the pay and conditions of the staff if they so wish.

This is no partnership; it is a takeover!

How much of a takeover it is will become apparent to parents when they approach the local education authority to adjudicate on some issue or other and are told it is no longer any of their business.

What price can we place on any assurances thet might be given by Edutrust at this stage when they will have complete control once the paper is signed?

A community asset is in prospect of being swallowed up by a group of individuals led by a so-called 'people's peer' who was widely seen as a New Labour 'stooge', a group including another property multi-millionaire, Trevor Pears, whose company's behaviour was criticised by a judge, the Chairman of Bestway, Sir Anwar Pervez, who is proud to call himself a Thatcherite and David Khalili whose property ownership has made him the fifth richest man in the country.

If Mr Mallaband wishes to believe that these are people who are accustomed to forming partnerships, that is a matter for him.

The rest of us can only sit back and be aghast that one of our 'family of schools' leade rs has such little regard for the community his school purports to serve and will happily see it taken away from democratic, community accountability and handed over to people we cannot reach.

VK Lockwood, Nether Edge