Academies have proved to be one of the most contentious of the Labour government's education policies. The education policies of the Labour government, including Academies, have been the subject of a large body of academic research and analysis, much of it critical. However, it has tended to neglect popular dissent and movements of opposition. This matters for two reasons. First, policy is always constructed with an eye to identifying and minimising potential or actual opposition and analysis of policy therefore has to include it. Second, concerns for social justice benefit from being grounded in the experiences of those actively working for it. The procedures for establishing an Academy comprise two processes, one for setting up the Academy, the other for closing an existing school where the Academy is replacing it (as in most cases it is). Since Academy proposals often generate opposition, the process of setting up the Academy needs to be carefully managed by its proponents. Individuals need to distinguish between the period of development, from the initiation of the proposal to the final decision to open the Academy, which may take one or even two years, and the period of consultation, which is a period of a few weeks within it.