Parents of children at a London school threatened with forced academisation received ballot papers yesterday for a landmark referendum on Tory privatisation bullying. 

Barking and Dagenham Council are polling parents over whether the Dorothy Barley primary school should be run by education privateer REAch2. 

The vote was iniated by councillors earlier this month after protests from parents who are furious about the forced takeover. 

Dozens of English schools deemed “inadequate” by politicised schools inspector Ofsted have been converted to academies since the Tories took power. 

A motion to the full council meeting noted the Department for Education has the power to convert schools “with a minimum of consultation.”

But Labour council leader Liam Smith said the referendum would give parents a real choice. 

He said: “As elected representatives of our residents our first responsibility is to address any concerns they have and nothing can be more important than the future of their children.” 

“We feel that as in everything to do with children, their views and most importantly those of their parents and carers should be taken into consideration when determining outcomes.”

The council’s unprecedented step was cheered by parents and teachers at a public meeting organised by unions on Tuesday. 

Alasdair Smith of the Anti Academies Alliance called it a “direct challenge” to Education Secretary Michael Gove. 

He said: “If all schools were balloted and the results of the ballot respected then academy conversions would dramatically decline.”

School governors have already been replaced with an interim executive board, including two REAch2 directors. 

The board has recently held two consultation events but the National Union of Teachers said the process is “a sham.”

NUT executive member Dominic Byrne said: “Michael Gove is trying to parachute in an academy chain that has no experience or local knowledge of the challenges in our community. 

“What practical support could REAch2 offer this school that a local authority, with years of experience of dealing with school improvement, can’t?

“This is ideologically driven — there is no evidence that academy status does anything to improve schools.”