After months of campaigning, the Bow Group is pleased to welcome the Government’s decision to end the coercive conversion of schools into academies.

The Bow Group challenged the ‘Educational Excellence Everywhere’ White Paper, gaining widespread traction in national news outlets through its opposition to the proposal unannounced in the 2015 Conservative Party Manifesto and which transferred power away from the local tier.

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The government is dropping a bill to convert all schools to academies, announced in the Queen’s speech.

The Education Bill was based on a white paper which initially suggested all schools in England would be compelled to become academies.

But the element of compulsion was dropped after protests from councils and, instead, the bill encouraged schools to convert.

Education Secretary Justine Greening said no new legislation was required.

In a written Parliamentary statement Ms Greening said: “Our ambition remains that all schools should benefit from the freedom and autonomy that academy status brings. Our focus, however, is on building capacity in the system and encouraging schools to convert voluntarily.

“No changes to legislation are required for these purposes and therefore we do not require wider education legislation in this session to make progress on our ambitious education agenda.”

The element of compulsion was dropped by the government after protests from many councils, including the mainly Conservative members of the County Council Network, who were opposed to forcing high-performing schools in their areas to convert.

Academies are independently run – but state-funded – schools, overseen by a not-for-profit business, known as an academy trust. They are often part of a chain.

The original plans would have required all schools to convert to academy status, or have plans to do so, by 2022.

BBC Education Editor Branwen Jeffreys says the statement clears the way for draft plans to be brought forward, including Theresa May’s proposals for more grammar schools in England.

The Prime Minister announced plans last month to reverse Labour’s 1998 ban on new grammar schools.