Durand Academy Trust has paved the way for its takeover by the Harris Federation, abandoning a campaign against the move that had divided staff and governors.

The controversial South London academy launched the campaign earlier this year, after the Department for Education announced that it wanted Harris to run the school.

As part of the campaign, the academy trust has set up an external website, hired an external consultant, protested at Downing Street and launched a change.org petition.

But last month, school staff wrote to the board of governors, asking them to end the campaign, saying it no longer represented their views.

Now, governors have decided to stop fighting the takeover, following a board meeting yesterday evening.

‘We look forward to Harris partnership’

Tes understands that, if governors had refused, staff would have threatened a vote of no confidence in the chair of governors, Angel Leue Taim.

The school’s website still features a link to the Protect Durand campaign on its home page.

However, a school spokesperson for said today: “We welcome this decision by the governing body and look forward to working in partnership with the Harris Federation.” 

It is still unclear who will own the land at the primary school’s site in Hackford Road, Lambeth, which was transferred to a charity, Durand Education Trust (DET), in 2010 and contains a leisure centre and an accommodation block.

These on-site facilities were developed by Durand’s former executive headteacher Sir Greg Martin, who was paid nearly £400,000 in a single year - a package that included pay relating to the leisure centre as well as his headteacher’s salary. 

Last June, the DfE gave the trust one year’s notice that its funding agreement would be ended and the school would be transferred to a new sponsor, because of breaches to its funding agreement and its refusal to comply with requirements from the DfE.