From Brent National Education Union
MEMBERS OF NATIONAL EDUCATION UNION STRIKING TO SAVE THEIR LOCAL SCHOOL
NEU members at Byron Court Primary School are to strike in a fight to save their local community school which is threatened with a forced privatisation by the huge Harris Federation chain of academies. PICKET LINE OUTSIDE THE SCHOOL FRIDAY 17TH MAY 7.30-9.30am!
Staff at Byron Court Primary School in Wembley will be on strike to save their local community school from a forced “academy order” following an intimidating Ofsted inspection which has left some staff fearing for their mental health and their futures. Many of these long-serving staff served the school’s community throughout the pandemic and face uncertainty in their jobs, pay and conditions as they face a takeover by the hostile Harris multi-academy trust.
NEU MEMBERS VOTED IN HUGE NUMBERS TO TAKE STRIKE ACTION OVER MULTIPLE DATES FOLLOWING A HIGH PROFILE PARENT CAMPAIGN which is supported by many in the local community including Councillors and MP.
Staff and parent supporters will protest at a picket line outside the school from 7.30am Tuesday and will continue to lobby the Secretary of State to get their academy order revoked. Staff are asking for a reinspection, handled fairly and proportionately, while a live complaint lodged with Ofsted is being looked at externally after reports that Ofsted lied during the complaints process.
Jenny Cooper of the NEU national executive has stated:
These striking members undertake difficult jobs every day and have the expertise and knowledge that should be valued in our schools. There has been no consultation whatsoever with any stakeholder and we do not believe it is the right decision to hand this school to a glorified carpet salesman who is paid half a million a year for the privilege. The NEU will NOT accept privatisation of our schools through a politicised Ofsted process which is what we are seeing.
36 comments:
So the children are receiving a failing education and the solution is to completely stop their education to make it worse? Why isn't there grit and determination to improve standards to give the children the education they deserve to secure their futures? Instead of pretending the Ofsted result didn't happen. Other schools in the same area have done well in Ofsted. Why not this school? This is the question parents need an answer to.
Parents of this school stand in solidarity with teachers. Parents are aware that Ofsted happened, and the manner in whitch it was carried out, and that the findings are currently in dispute. All parties: parents, local residents, local crossparty politicians, MP, and teachers are strongly against accademisation of Byron Court School. The question is: why is Brent Council and Departemnt of Education are so eager to rip this fabulous community school out of its historic background and place it into a 'care' of an accademy trust with very questionable reputation and practices.
? Like parents, staff and the community, the Council have no say in this either - the Govt are forcing the academisation and takeover by Harris Fed. If they are so confident that this is the right way, why don't they give us a say
Because it isn't fabulous. It is failing the children. Some parents will agree and some won't. Many will be concerned about their children receiving a poor education at a school where racism has been normalised. Children deserve a good education. At the moment they aren't getting that. Under the current circumstances, children are being left with a poor education. That's where anger should be directed. Why is it acceptable for any child to go to a school with normalised racism, poor results and incidents detailed in Ofsted. There's more anger about an academy than there is about normalised racism.
Ofsted reports are meaningless, and just express one person's opinion on a particular day.
What is important is whether the school is financially viable to give all pupils a good all round education which includes a varied curriculum, days out, field trips, facilities to enable the children to embrace their different talents, healthy school meals, and good sports facilities.
IF Brent Council are unable to do this then an Academy may be the best option provided it can achieve all of the above and supported by the parents and teachers, however I do think in this case this Academy group is probably not the right choice, and striking is not the answer as it damages the children's education and parents are left hanging in desperate need of childcare if they work.
Reply received to 15th May 23.12
Most parents don't feel that our children are getting a 'failed education'! Anyone can see the school clearly has gone through a turbulent time - 4 acting or perm Headteachers in 4.5 years, significant churn in governing body - so a period of stability is needed to make improvements and progress. What Ofsted and the DfE have done is ignore any of this important context, make a decision that will forever change everything about the school based on a 2 day inspection (despite serious staff concerns around the process and minimal parental input), creating huge uncertainty and anxiety in the process. The school has made significant progress in the last few months, including getting more members in senior leadership and Jon Parry (experienced Head of Uxendon Primary) closely overseeing things in an Exec Head role. It is only right and fair that the school be given time to continue making improvements, for Ofsted to recognise this by way of a reinspection, and a chance for Byron Court to remain a community school
Agree with comments above
Most parents don't feel that our children are getting a 'failed education'! Anyone can see the school clearly has gone through a turbulent time - 4 acting or perm Headteachers in 4.5 years, significant churn in governing body - so a period of stability is needed to make improvements and progress. What Ofsted and the DfE have done is ignore any of this important context, make a decision that will forever change everything about the school based on a 2 day inspection (despite serious staff concerns around the process and minimal parental input), creating huge uncertainty and anxiety in the process. The school has made significant progress in the last few months, including getting more members in senior leadership and Jon Parry (experienced Head of Uxendon Primary) closely overseeing things in an Exec Head role. It is only right and fair that the school be given time to continue making improvements, for Ofsted to recognise this by way of a reinspection, and a chance for Byron Court to remain a community school
A small group of parents do not speak for everyone. If anyone dares to have a different opinion, they are bullied into silence. Therefore you will not hear from them. Those parents also deserve a voice and the right not to be ignored. They are rightly worried about their children not receiving the education they deserve. It is a two day inspection for everyone including other schools that did not receive inadequate
This is using our children’s education as a pawn piece in an effective pay dispute. I do not support this action at all despite sympathising with teachers over their concerns. There is no plan B so I would urge parents to stop and think about it- whether it is right to disadvantage our children even further and prevent what is inevitable. Maybe now the teachers can see how frustrating it is to wait for a response to what they perceive as a serious matter for them (but they happily ignore serious complaints and issues raised by parents and carers in relation to their safety and needs)!
Agree completely
If some parents want an academy or Harris Fed, shouldn't all be given a choice?
Where is our voice right now? The Govt are pushing this onto Byron and not listening to parents
Agreed
The school SMT acknowledged that the results reflected the current situation in the parents teacher meeting. So we should accept the results
It's the government not the council.
Parents campaign has all been about positive action and fighting for our voice to be heard, not simply having a moan online
BC should like any other school that receives a negative rating, should be allowed the legal right to make the improvements listed from Ofsted, before this rush into making it an academy. It seems as if there's people behind the scenes that want to sign BC off to the highest bidder and collect a cheque..... This screams conspiracy.
The previous head (who's just resigned) has a track record of changing schools from being LA run into an academy.
It seems the strikes are in response to not having a voice or say? The government bulldozing decisions through and ignoring any voices that feel community schools can fix their own problems. I agree with the original post, we all deserve a voice - parents wanting to secure a great education for their children, parents who chose a community school, staff who dedicate upwards of 50 hours a week to care for those children and have a great responsibility that they are trusted with. All the processes and procedures have been followed but the DfE are not listening, what other recourse do the teachers have?
Isn't this more like plan c? They raised their concerns with Ofsted and were ignored. They wrote to Gilliam Keegan to consider their case and were ignored. The appealed to the LAB and were ignored. So plan d I guess. It's bizarre when it's set up as parents Vs teachers, as if we're not all working towards giving our children the best opportunities in school. It the teachers are striking, they must feel they have no other options left to them. I hope the DfE finally listen.
There have been a number of changes at the school since November, including an increase in the leadership capacity and procedures put in place in response to the Ofsted. Perhaps the school should inform parents of some of the improvements it has implemented since November?
I dont recognise the claims of racism or bullying made in the Ofsted report. My child has told me that he has only heard racism terms used in reference to memes from social media and not for aggressive purposes. BC is the most racially diverse school in the entire country (it has the most languages spoken) so it is not surprising that there may sometimes be misunderstandings or miscommunication.
I also dont recognise the teaching ratings, the Ofted report is excessively critical and it will be relatively easy for any more balanced reassessment to turn this around easily. The DfE seem to have a plan to academise no matter the opposition from community and parents and they will then be able to turn around the rating with ease, and present this as some kind of wonder, when really, it is a cynical ploy.
Harris federation is a for-profit organisation that spends some £4m every year on executive salaries (over 150% more per pupil than any other academy). It is in dispute with 1000 of its teachers teachers over substandard pay and conditions. They send normal teachers home and send in outside elite teachers when their schools have Ofsted reviews to unfairly boost their performance. We can really do far better as a community school or with practically any other academy group.
I would reserve some criticism for BC SMT who did not properly replace the head during his year long unplanned absence. Also the school governors have systematically excluded parents from decision making and that should and must change. As far as I am concerned, the teachers are doing a good job under difficult circumstances and parents should support their effects and this community school.
That's fine. You don't agree with Ofsted. Please suggest a better way to deciding how good a school is and not based on the experience of individual children. It's good if children have not experienced racism. Some have. No child should experience it. No doubt Ofsted may have flaws. But at the moment it is the only way to gauge the quality of a school.
If a community school is better, then why does this school have poor results compared to the others in the vicinity. Why the exceptionally for one case.
Shocking that racism is being denied. Once again its more offensive to talk about racism than actually be racist. Dismissing the experience of kids. Wow
It is like every other school. Every school once inadequate is subject to forced academisation to rapidly improve. So no, it's not an exceptional case. Happened many times up and down the country... but as its inadequate in all areas, that means not a quick turnaround unless radical change. Small changes won't cut it
Well done teachers! Fight for what's right. Now the head teacher has gone, the school can be turned around, but they need to be given that chance. To those parents who want it to become an academy, isn't it better to improve what you have and know rather than go into something blind and unknown, apart from the awful things you read about the Academies?
There is a live complaint lodged with Ofsted as it was not fairly handled in our view. We are demanding a reinspection
Academisation is not the right solution. It is opposed by the staff because it will take funds AWAY from the school
Well expressed!
This school has developed so many incredible practices and the staff work tremendously in nurturing the whole child beyond a great education.
Ofsted is a politicised group that appears at times when data is down. It gives rigged judgements precisely so spivs like Harris can clean up our schools and use them to launder public money into a few rich private pockets.
Hi all. I have been reading an academic article on the rise of academies and MATS that I found helpful and interesting. I don't necessarily endorse everything said but it does given a wider perspective nad highlight some of the main issues.
Read it here (free): https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13632434.2022.2095996
You are blaming the miscommunication on the fact that it is racially diverse and attributing to people who don't speak English as the first language. Guess what. In a post where you say there isn't racism, ironically that is actually racist. No evidence that the racism comes from racially diverse communities. What an assumption. That's called unconscious bias.
Oh it's only racist memes? It was only a joke? That's ok then - not. Racist memes is still racism. If we make racism acceptable to Primary school children, what hope is there for adults ...
Racist memes on social media are also racist. It doesn't matter if it was said with aggression or as a joke. It's still racist. It has no place in society; it has certainly no place in a primary school.
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