The Secretary of state imposed an Interim Executive Board and Academy Order on 6 January.

On 16 January 2014 Barking and Dagenham Local Authority and the governing body of Warren School gained a High Court injunction against Michael Gove's plans to impose academy status on the school.

[4][5] Mr Justice Collins ruled that an Interim Executive Board and Academy Order could not go ahead until there had been proper consultation on the school's plans to federate with the nearby Robert Clack School.

The Judge said “this decision should never have been made", and Michael Gove had failed to make any arguments against the council's alternative proposal.

Mr Justice Collins said it seemed that present Secretary of State "thinks academies are the cat's whiskers - but we know some of them are not".