Plans to force the last community school in Brent to become an academy met opposition from teachers, parents and pupils at a public meeting yesterday evening.

Copland school in the west London borough is set to be taken over by academy chain Ark after schools inspector Ofsted put it into special measures in March.

Tony Deady, whose daughter is in year 11, said parents are being "kept in the dark."

"I know the majority of students are very unhappy about what's going on at the school," he told the Star before the meeting.

"Parents are not kept informed of what's going on at the school at all. The parents that I speak to and the teachers at the school are in no doubt that what this is really about is the privatisation of education."

The school's problems started when ex-headteacher Alan Davies paid £2.7 million in school funds to himself and five others between April 2007 and June 2009.

He was found guilty of six charges of false accounting in October but Labour-run Brent council has not written off the debt and supports plans to hand the school to privateer Ark.

Councillor Michael Pavey claimed the plan is "about social justice."

He said: "Under the present arrangements the children who most need a good education are not getting it, and that view is supported by Ofsted."

But teachers have announced plans for three days of strike action, starting next Tuesday and continuing on December 17 and January 14.

Jean Roberts of the ATL and NUT teaching unions was clear the takeover is part of Con-Dem plans to run schools for profit. She pointed out that Lord Stanley Fink juggles his role as an Ark trustee with being Conservative Party treasurer.

"Ark is a group of hedge fund speculators and they should not be allowed to take over education, as is the plan of Michael Gove," Ms Roberts said.

A spokeswoman for Ark said: "We want to give as many children as possible access to quality education."