Outside the school (Credit: Pete Firmin)
Parents, staff, Brent Trades Council and members of the community, as well as Labour candidate for Brent West, Barry Gardiner, were on the picket line for Byron Court Primary School again today - but this time with a difference.
They were joined by a big red traditional London bus to take a trip to Westminster to show the DfE and the incoming government that they mean business in their fight against a forced takeover by Harris Federation.
Spirits high and determination clear on the tops deck (Credit Jenny Cooper)
In the rain in Parliament Square (Credit: Pete Firmin)
Parent campaigner Matt Paul said:
Wow - what an incredible show of unity and fighting spirit today with our very special ‘Byron bus' taking staff, kids and parents, supporters (including the NEU Assistant General Secretary) down to Westminster! Barry Gardiner joined the morning picket and encouraged us to keep fighting before waving us off.
The bus was rocking away with chanting, singalongs (including far too much Taylor Swift), and plenty of support from other cars and passers-by. A quick stop in Westminster Square opposite Parliament first, then on to the Department for Education where we made sure they heard us. A brilliant, powerful and emotional day that I won't ever forget.
5 comments:
Quite a small group considering how big the school is. Still not clear why Barry Gardiner chooses to listen to a handful of parents rather than the ones worried about children having so much time off. It's great to see the entitled few have a jolly good time while parents worry about their children out of school, not to mention no tangible plans of how the school will actually improve without radical measures. Very difficult to the reasoning behind keeping it as an LA school if they allowed it to get into this state in the first place - parents should be angry about that- that their kids were failed in the first place. Funny how Barry suddenly cares so close to an election. Did he bother doing anything before or not? What an opportunist. Barry doesn't care about the wider community; otherwise he would actually find out what they think, rather than lobbying on behalf of small group of a vocal few. But at least some people had a nice day out. It really is disgusting. This time could be spent on improving the school. This money for a bus could be raised for books.
A great day out and a great crowd to be with. Let's hope the campaigning ends with a win, Byron Court must stay as a community school, not part of a faceless academy.
Could one person explain a) that if Ofsted is rigged then where's the sense in getting a reinspection, b) if political and rigged then why did other community schools also in Brent get good or outstanding? Why make an exception for BC if its rigged.
Finally, someone who finally speaks sense!
It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog
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