ANGER spilled over at a public meeting as parents, staff and governors were given more details about Radcliffe Primary School’s future as an academy.

But Charlie Deane, principal of the academy’s proposed sponsor, Bury College, pledged to make the venture such a success that people would be “queueing down the road” to get their children into the school.

He said he was taking a “massive risk” and insisted the college had never had any plans to sponsor an academy but had agreed to get involved after they were approached by the local education authority when the DfE decided to convert the school, in Coronation Road.

Dozens of people attended the meeting on Monday, nearly a year after it was announced the school would become the first forced academy in the borough.

The Department for Education (DfE) decided it was the best way to improve standards after the school was placed in special measures.

The conversion will be made on January 1 and Bury College is expected to be the lead sponsor.

But many people were concerned about what the change will mean for the school and its pupils and questioned why the college was getting involved.

Mr Deane told the meeting: “As a college, we had no desire to start a multi-academy trust. This might be part of your fear about us taking over schools, but it was never our plan.

“Our aim is to get this school doing so well there is a queue of people down the road waiting to come here.”

Some parents raised fears that he wanted to make a profit from the school, after Mr Deane said the college generates £33 million a year.

It will cost £120,000 to convert to an academy and the school could have an income of £1.5 million.

But Mr Deane said becoming an academy would allow the school to have more control over how money was spent.