Parents and teachers who campaigned against plans to turn two popular primary schools in East Sussex into academies are celebrating after governors decided they should remain under the control of their local authority.

Families and staff from Telscombe Cliffs and Peacehaven Heights primary schools in Peacehaven staged a day of action this month in protest at proposals to hand over the two schools to the Kent-based Swale Academies Trust.

A community celebration – with cake – will be held after school on Thursday evening to mark the victory, which is the latest in a number of successful campaigns by parents in England who oppose their schools being taken over by academy trusts.

“We are all absolutely ecstatic,” said Cherry Lean, whose daughter Naomi is in year two and son Joshua is in the nursery at Telscombe Cliffs. “We did not think an academy would be the right route. We feel like we’ve been listened to.”

The Peacehaven development comes as new research suggests schools that remain under council control are more likely to retain a good or outstanding rating from the education watchdog than those that become academies.

The study, commissioned by the Local Government Association (LGA), which represents councils in England and Wales, examined primary and secondary schools’ Ofsted grades over the past five years.

Based on a sample of just under 13,000 schools that remained under local authority control between 2014 and 2019 and just over 4,000 schools that were academised, researchers found 90% of council-maintained schools kept their good or outstanding ranking. Among schools that converted to academies the figure was 81%.

The study also found that 88% of schools requiring improvement or judged inadequate in 2014 that remained under council control improved to either good or outstanding by 2019, compared with 59% of schools that became academies.

Anntoinette Bramble, the chair of the LGA’s children and young people board, said academisation might be the answer in some cases but was not always the best solution.

“These findings clearly show that staying under council control delivers better results for a school than those which convert to an academy,” she said. “Not only do more schools keep a good or outstanding rating if they remain maintained, but a significantly greater proportion are being turned around from struggling or failing into highly performing and successful schools.”

The research was based on a new methodology, which for the first time took into account earlier Ofsted ratings for sponsored academies. Previously they were treated as new schools and as such were given a blank slate, which according to the LGA put academies in an unfairly flattering light.

The academies minister, Lord Agnew, said the LGA’s interpretation of the analysis was deeply flawed. “It is unsurprising that local authorities fare better in an analysis which excludes schools that had failed under their leadership. It does not say anything about the effectiveness of sponsored academies.

“Contrary to the LGA’s interpretation, data published earlier this year shows that in many cases standards have risen more quickly in under-performing schools that have become academies than in similar council-run schools, reversing long-term cases of underperformance across the country.”

In East Sussex, school staff at Peacehaven Heights and Telscombe Cliffs have called off further strike action due to take place on Thursday and beyond into June after governors at both schools voted against academisation. However, the future of a third Peacehaven school, the community secondary, remains in doubt.

In a letter to parents and staff at Peacehaven Heights, the governors said: “After much careful consideration, the governing body has now reached a decision regarding the best way forward for the future of our school. We believe this is to remain as a maintained school under the auspices of East Sussex local authority.”

Lib Whitfield, the regional organiser for the GMB union, whose members took part in the action, said: “The town of Peacehaven sent an absolutely clear message to East Sussex county council that we will not stand by as they try to force our schools into private academy hands, against the interest of the staff and children.”