Two primary schools have been told that if they resist a change to academy status under the government’s controversial new scheme their hand will be forced by the government.

A third primary school was due to be delivered the same news this morning during a similar meeting with the Department for Education (DfE).

The DfE visited Noel Park and Nightingale primary schools in Wood Green on Tuesday to inform them that unless plans are put in place to convert to academy status in the New Year, the move will be forced upon them.

The Journal understands Downhills Primary School in Philip Lane, Tottenham, will have received the same instruction at a meeting with DfE officials this morning.

Critics question the wisdom of rolling out the government’s academy model in Haringey as it is completely untested elsewhere. It will remove schools from local authority control and ally each with a private ‘sponsor’ in a move to drive up standards.

Julie Davies, of Haringey’s National Union of Teachers (NUT) branch, said: “It’s absolutely outrageous, bullying tactics by the Secretary of State. The governors don’t want their schools to become academies, this is grotesquely unfair.”

Ms Davies said management at Nightingale primary, in Bounds Green Road, were told by the DfE on Tuesday night that all governors would be sacked unless the school made plans to become an academy in January.

Under the government’s academies policy, Secretary of State Michael Gove has threatened to forcibly convert hundreds of primary schools in England into academies.

In January this year, Downhills was served with a ‘notice to improve’ following a poor Ofsted inspection, and Nightingale followed suit after inspectors published their report last week. A recent Ofsted inspection report on Noel Park primary in Gladstone Avenue is due to be published tomorrow.

Following her meeting with the DfE on Tuesday morning, Noel Park headteacher Tunay Hussein said: “[There is a] deadline by the middle of January to come up with a plan to become an academy. There is an expectation by Michael Gove that certain schools should become an academy and we are one of them.

“We don’t really have any good models to say how this will benefit the school – that is a concern.”

Downhills headteacher Leslie Church told the Journal he expected a discussion about academy conversion with DfE officials tomorrow morning.

A DfE spokeswoman insisted academies are “proven to work” – at secondary school level – and added: “This is about rooting out underperformance and driving up standards, so that students reach their academic potential.”

Cllr Lorna Reith, cabinet member for children said the council opposed the decision to forcibly conversion, adding: “We have our own school improvement programme and work closely with all of them on achieving and maintaining high standards.”