For the past few years I have had a theory that the reason why this government has made so much noise about education is that it stops us looking at the economy. Budget week is usually the exception, so I’ve looked forward to it: for once the news is all about how much petrol is going to cost. Not this time. The chancellor announced compulsory academisation for all schools and that almost all will need to be part of a multi-academy trust and, in triumphal fashion, the end of local authority involvement in education.

I’d be a hypocrite to say I think becoming an academy is the wrong choice, because for our school it hasn’t been. What you call a school doesn’t matter to me. My governors had that choice and they decided it was the right opportunity, at the right time, for us. But if what I see happening already in our partial academy system is not dealt with, there are major problems ahead for our communities and our children under an all-academy system.

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I am worried, in the words of Iain Duncan Smith, that we are not going to be “all in this together” when it comes to educational opportunities. I have heard too many horrific accounts from parents whose children don’t tick the A*-C box, or else have an additional learning need, being told that one academy or another cannot meet the needs of their child. This is normally followed by “but the school down the road can”.

How are schools able to manipulate their intake in such a manner? Of course parents of young people made to feel unwelcome simply apply elsewhere: who would choose an academy for their child when it is clear they are not wanted?

I am proud of the inclusive nature of my school. The range of additional needs among our student population is challenging but life-affirming. I want our young people to develop empathy as much as I want them to develop their writing skills. It makes me proud to see them helping each other, accepting that we are all different. Ours is a local school, for local people: we welcome them all and we’ll face whatever the challenge is together. But to fully meet the needs of all young people it helps when every school in a location opens its doors, regardless of the challenge.

I have received numerous emails outlining the manipulative practices used by some schools, such as not having a special needs coordinator at the year 6 open evening to send the message that if your child needs this kind of help, that school is not the right one for you.

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It may come as a surprise to my colleagues in the special needs area for my local authority, Essex, but I think their work is vital and I know the problems are not their fault. My frustration is that they don’t have the teeth to tackle academies that are blatantly not meeting their legal and moral responsibility to serve their whole community. If they don’t speak up for our young people with additional needs, who will? The regional schools commissioner? Not from what I’ve seen and heard so far; they are going to be too busy forcing schools to convert to have the time to do that.

We have heard much about schools “gaming” the exam system and policies have been designed to control this. But the government is ignoring the most blatant gaming of all. If someone is not given the job of overseeing academy admissions, then we will not all be in this together. The young people who don’t help an academy with its league table position will be made to feel like second-class citizens. We must not allow academies to decide which child is worthy of a place. Schools doing this must be tackled in the harshest way.

Vic Goddard is principal of Passmores academy, Harlow, Essex, and featured on the Channel 4 programme Educating Essex