Schools campaigners urged communities to "stand and fight" Michael Gove's academy threats yesterday after the Education Secretary's latest privatisation bid was overtuned in the High Court.

Mr Justice Collins ruled on Wednesday that Barking and Dagenham's Warren Comprehensive could not be converted without consultation.

In an unprecedented ruling, he described Mr Gove's power to hand schools to privateers against the wishes of parents as "crazy."

He said: "This is an extraordinary piece of legislation. The Secretary of State has wide powers to make an interim executive board and academy order and thereafter consult.

"On the face of it that is crazy. How can he be impartial by consulting thereafter?

"It seems from reports the present Secretary of State thinks academies are the cats whiskers - we know of course some of them are not."

The ruling was the first time one of Mr Gove's academy diktats has been successfully challenged in court.

Barking and Dagenham council, which made the appeal, called the decision a "victory both for common sense and the education of our children."

National Union of Teachers regional organiser Dominic Byrne praised the council for "refusing to relinquish its duties and fight with guile for the best interests of pupils locally."

He added: "Let's hope it encourages others to stand and fight."

Campaign for State Education spokesman Michael Pyke said the victory will "encourage other parents and governors who have been deprived of their democratic rights by Gove's overbearing policies to consider similar types of action."

NASUWT union leader Chris Keates said she was surprised the courts had not previously intervened to stop schools being stripped from public ownership.

"This judgement is a reflection of the deep and growing concern among parents and the wider public about the use by the coalition of forced academisation to drive through its agenda to privatise and marketise our public education system," she said.

The Department for Education has not yet confirmed whether it will appeal Mr Justice Collins's ruling, but a spokesman claimed taxpayers would be "dismayed" that the council has prevented "much-needed intervention at the school."