Campaigners fighting to prevent Peers School from becoming an academy say they remain unimpressed with the plans and are urging parents not to be duped by "spin".

In today's Oxford Mail, we unveiled the Diocese of Oxford's proposals to turn Peers into the Oxford Academy.

If the plans get the go-ahead, the Littlemore school will close next summer and reopen in September 2008 with new buildings opening in 2010.

The Government would provide £25m towards the school while the sponsors - which so far include the diocese and Oxford Brookes University - would fund a £1.5m trust, which would be used for educational purposes only.

But those campaigning against the academy are warning that it wouldn't be "all it's cracked up to be".

Chris Blakey, vice president of the Oxfordshire branch of the National Union of Teachers (NUT), is part of the newly-formed Oxford Anti-Academy Alliance group.

He said: "We have said right from the outset that we are not against investment in schools, but we feel money should be spent across the board. This is public money which would effectively be given to the private sector who would have control over the school and how the money is spent. Our concerns about the lack of accountability and direct control remain the same."

Oxfordshire county councillor Deborah Glass Woodin has added her voice to the anti-academy campaign and believes allowing Peers to become an academy is "selling out".

She said: "We all want to see brand new state-of-the-art school buildings, but not all of us are prepared to sell out to get them. We do not believe academies are all they are cracked up to be.

"We have grave concerns about this. Research shows that academies do not improve standards in the way they claim to.

"There are also three to four times more exclusions in academies than in other schools, which makes things worse for those children who are more likely to be excluded.

"The academy may start off saying it is going to stick to the existing admissions arrangements but we know that this is only a verbal agreement, there's nothing in writing. What will stop it from changing admissions policy in the future?"

Mrs Glass Woodin, a mother of two, added: "I can see why parents would want this brand new building but we have to think about what will happen in the future."