The quiet suburban streets, lined with spring flowers and blossoms, around Byron Court Primary School. burst into passionate life today as the community rose up, united in their desire to save the much-loved school from forced academisation following a poor Ofsted report.
Meanwhile in an anonymous London Department for Education building the fate of the school was being decided by equally anonymous civil servants.
What a contrast!
Those attending were united in their belief that the school could and would improve without being handed over to the Harris Federation academy chain whose reputation is poor. Importantly they wanted the school to remain within the community and accountable to that community.
4 comments:
Why are so many schools forced to become Harris Federation acadamies?
Lord Harris is a Tory Donor!!!
Before I started typing out my thoughts on the issue of the growing public opposition to the Byron Court Primary School being turned into a 'Harris Federation Academy,
I bowed my head and sighed deeply because it was hypocritical for Labour to apparently take the lead in joining in with local residents even though the Blair Government introduced Academies into the education system in March 2000 because many poorly performing schools were working against the core purpose of education.
As for the argument about ''the Harris Federation academy chain whose reputation is poor,'' That is a fair point to make.
However, Brent Council's 'reputation' concerning local schools hasn't been flawless.
Indeed, Ofsted reports about four schools in Brent during 2019, 2022, and 2023, that ''required improvement'' and ''inadequate.''
I don't know if that remains the case at the present time, but the point is,
Brent Council needs a flawless reputation for living up to its responsibility for running social services, libraries, waste collection and disposal, traffic, roads, and environmental health.
Indeed, can anyone list what positive and lasting benefits Labour and Conservatives have delivered for local residents over the past 58 years?
Harris Federation LAND
Byron Primary has been badly let down by Brent Council by forcing to expand by far too much. Going from 2 forms of entry (as a local school) a few years back to a 5 form entry school to serve a much large area is the main cause of the present problems.
Local people living in Northwick Park and around the school opposed such a large expansion but all their concerns were ignored by the Labour Councillors running Brent.
Once enlarged to 5 forms of entry (one of the largest primary schools in Brent) much of the school buildings remained empty creating a major drain on the school finances. We do not know if the School is solvent or facing a major Budget deficit.
Opposing an Academy is one thing BUT what is the realistic alternative Plan? Having created the problem WHAT support is Brent Council providing to give the school the stability and finances to continue to provide good education for the children?
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