Open letter adds to pressure on the Village School to reject academisation

The following open letter has been sent to local and national newspapers regarding the proposed academisation of The Village School, a special school in Kingsbury. It has been signed by a number of Brent Labour councillors (The Village School Chair of Governors is Cllr Sandra Kabir, the Labour Group whip), union activists and educationalists:

The Village School is an important, valuable local asset. We oppose the unnecessary proposals for its academisation, and strongly believe that it should remain within the direct control of Brent Council.

Having been rated 'Outstanding' in its most recent Ofsted inspection, it is not only one of Brent Council’s flagship special needs school, but represents its very best. Much taxpayers' money, time and energy has been poured into this priceless local institution, and it should be directly accountable to, managed and owned by the people of Brent.

The academisation agenda is another fallacious government venture designed to fragment our state education system, pit quality staff against one another, and remove all semblance of real democratic accountability. The outstanding, hard-working and passionate teachers and support staff at the Village School – who work tirelessly every day to nurture the school’s young students and maximise their potential – have taken action to fend off this threat of academisation. We applaud their actions, and will continue to support them until this unconstructive proposal is dropped.

We implore the governing body of The Village School to halt any further discussions of academisation, and to explore other more sensible ways of working with other schools, such as legal partnerships with other schools whilst remaining in direct control of Brent Council.

Cllr Jumbo Chan, Brent (Lab)

Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretary of the National Education Union

Louise Regan, President of the National Education Union (NUT section)

Kiri Tunks, Vice-President of the National Education Union (NUT section)

Martin Powell-Davies, London Regional Secretary of the National Education Union (NUT section)

Ian Murch, Treasurer of the National Education Union (NUT section)

Hank Roberts, Past National President of ATL and National Education Union London Executive (ATL section)

Lesley Gouldbourne, Secretary of Brent National Education Union (NUT section)

John Roche, Secretary of Brent National Education Union (ATL section) 

Jenny Cooper, Joint National Education Union Representative at The Village School

Oscar Ayyadi, Joint National Education Union Representative at The Village School

Cllr Claudia Hector, Brent (Lab)

Cllr Roxanne Mashari, Brent (Lab)

Cllr Mikey Pavey, Brent (Lab)

Cllr Sarah Marquis, Brent (Lab) 

Cllr Keith Perrin, Brent (Lab)

Cllr Ruth Moher, Brent (Lab)

Cllr Lesley Jones, Brent (Lab)

Cllr Parvez Ahmed, Brent (Lab)

Cllr Pat Harrison, Brent (Lab)

Cllr Ahmad Shahzad, Brent (Lab)

Cllr Janice Long, Brent (Lab)

Cllr Abdi Aden, Brent (Lab)

Prof Sir Tim Brighouse, Former Honorary Norham Fellow at the Department of Education, University of Oxford

Prof Diane Reay, Professor of Education at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge

Dr Christine Doddington, Fellow Emerita at Homerton College, University of Cambridge 

Prof Stephen Ball, Distinguished Service Professor of Sociology of Education at the UCL Institute of Education

Dr Melanie Cooke, Senior Teaching Fellow at the School of Education, Communication and Society, King’s College London, and Executive Committee member of King’s College London UCU

Dr Martin Dewey, Senior Lecturer at the School of Education, Communication and Society, King’s College London

Dr Nick Andon, Lecturer at the School of Education, Communication and Society, King’s College London

Prof Richard Hatcher, Professor of Education at the School of Education and Social Work, Birmingham City University

Dr Henry Tam, Director of Question the Powerful

Madeleine Holt, Co-founder of Rescue Our Schools

Anne Clarke , Co-founder of Rescue Our Schools 

Jonny Crawshaw, Co-founder of Rescue Our Schools 

Shana Carquez, Joint Chair of National Education Union London Young Teachers Network

Laurence Rose, Joint Chair of National Education Union London Young Teachers Network

Dr Michael Calderbank, Secretary of Brent Central Constituency Labour Party

Colin Adams, Treasurer of Brent North Constituency Labour Party

Dr Mike Phipps, Chair of Kensal Green Branch Labour Party

Alasdair Smith, National Secretary of the Anti Academies Alliance