Brent NEU issues urgent appeal to Brent MPs and Council leaders on contagion dangers of full opening of nursery classes

 Continuing his hapless mismanagement of the education service during the pandemic, Gavin Williamson has changed guidance on the opening of nurseries from that initially sent out at the beginning of term.  The opening of school-based nurseries had initially been left to headteachers to decide and in schools open to only vulnerable and critical workers (the latter a widened category compared with key workers) it made little sense to open nurseries to all children and thus increase the potential of contagion.

The DfE has now issued guidance that nurseries should be full open.

 Brent NEU has written a letter to Brent MPs Barry Gardiner, Tulip Siddiq and Dawn Butler; Muhammed Butt leader of Brent Council and Cllr Tom Stephens lead member for schools asking them to intervene in what could be a life or death matter.

 

Dear Brent Councillors and MPs,

 

As you know, there is great pressure to open nurseries and special schools fully during this lockdown despite the fact that Sadiq Khan has today declared a major incident and school settings have been shown to be a major transmission factor with the new variant of Covid-19.

 

In Brent our nursery and special school headteachers have, as usual, put safety first, and resisted opening to increased numbers of children. As you know this is in line with the policies of all education unions, the NEU included.

 

However they are now being pressured to implement this government's shameless edict just at the moment that deaths and cases reach a record high, the virus is out of control, we hear of deaths of our workers every day and the NHS in London is at breaking point.

 

I'm afraid I have to be brutally honest with you here. I cannot morally bring myself to advise my members (when they write to me concerned that their settings are going to fully open to children and staff) that they must go into their school or nursery, because the reality is that I know that if I give this advice, some will subsequently become seriously ill or die. This is the reality.

 

I feel I have no option but to advise against this. However it is within the gift of the council and MPs to come out publicly and state that you will not require your schools and council officers, in Brent, to adhere to DfE advice where that advice contradicts with the evidence we have on safety, risk and the headteachers' own risk assessments.

 

With that in mind I am asking you now if you can offer this support? Of course, not only would this protect my members from harm but it would help halt the spread of the virus, help save hospital beds and also prevent the deaths of pupils, bearing in mind that children with learning disabilities are six times more likely to die from Covid-19.

 

I am happy to meet with any of you to discuss this further, or indeed, organise a public meeting so that you can hear the views of our Brent community on this.

 

I look forward to hearing from you on this matter, as soon as possible.

 

Jenny Cooper

 

Brent NEU Joint District Secretary.

Vice Chair, NEU National Health and Safety Organising Forum.

 

Meanwhile the National Governors Association (NGA) has drawn attention to the problem of more than the expected number of vulnerable and critical worker children attended school, undermining the intention of school closures to stop the spread of the virus. Boris Johnson had insisted both that schools are safe and should close as they are vectors for the spread of the new strain:

One of the main issues we are currently in dialogue with the DfE is on the number of children who are attending schools despite there being a national lockdown with a stay at home request from the Prime Minister with supposedly schools closed to most pupils: significant numbers of governing boards are reporting that they have between 40 and 70% of their pupils attending in strong contrast to the first lockdown.  We are also aware that there are particular challenges for special schools, alternative provision and those with large numbers of disadvantaged children, but it is helpful to make the case if we have your stories to bring the points alive.

 

Mail to: covidfeedback@nga.org.uk

Barry Gardiner concerned about potential vaccination delay in Brent care homes

 Yesterday Barry Gardiner, MP for Brent North, in the House of Commons, raised the issue of potential delay in vaccinating people in Brent Care Homes

Barry Gardiner:

Mr James Canning became our first octogenarian in Brent to receive the vaccine earlier this week. While congratulating him and the Wembley Practice team who delivered it, does the Secretary of State share my concern that care homes in Brent have been advised that the 970 doses that are in the vaccine packs cannot be split because of the licensing conditions, meaning that those in our care homes who are over 80 may have to wait until February or for the Oxford vaccine before they get vaccinated? Is that the case? If so, why? That is hardly the “protective ring” around care homes that he promised.

 

Matt Hancock:

I am glad to say that we are making significant progress on tackling this issue. When the hon. Gentleman says it is a licensing concern, that should not be read to imply that it is some bureaucratic rule; it is about ensuring that things are done safely. If the vaccine is not delivered safely to the site, it is not an effective vaccine. Therefore, we are taking it carefully to be able to vaccinate in care homes. There has been some vaccination in care homes across the UK, so it can be done, and I hope we can make good progress soon.

MP and Assembly Member join battle against the Jubilee line screechers

Barry Gardiner MP and Navin Shah London Assembly Member for Brent and Harrow have backed local campaigners whose lives have been blighted by a loud screech made by Jubilee line trains at a curve in the track in Kingsbury.

For over 2 years, houses that back onto the Jubilee Line’s Kingsbury Curve and farther afield have been affected by the increase in noise levels from the passing trains.

Residents are unable to socialise or relax in their gardens.  People cannot sleep.  Those working from home in the heat of the summer are unable to open their windows due to the noise disturbance.  The Jubilee Line is on the Night Time network so on Friday and Saturdays, when it starts running again, there will be no let-up through the night.

In desperation, two neighbours from either side of the tracks, Anne Bovett and Karen Flaum, met by chance and decided to take action.  Having written to TfL on a number of occasions and urging neighbours to do the same, they have now presented their MP Barry Gardiner with a petition of over 200 signatories asking him to take up their request for the speed limit on the Curve to be re-introduced, believing this will curb the noise.

Quotes from neighbours:

•  The noise is affecting my ability work from home as I can’t open the window.
•  We can hear the noise from our house 200m away
•  Cannot hear anybody in garden or hear TV or phone when train passe
•  We are long overdue for some peace
•  The frequency of the trains results in a continuous barrage of noise.
•  I cannot stay in the garden for any length of time.

Due to the pandemic, rather than go door-to-door with the petition, Anne Bovett and Karen Flaum posted individual copies into homes in Ravenscroft Avenue, Uxendon Hill and surrounding roads and hoped that neighbours would sign.  They did!

 The campaigners sent the petition to Barry Gardiner who wrote to Andy Byford, Commissioner at Transport for London asking that he:

• provides an update regarding the progress that has been made to investigate possible solutions and take readings at affected properties
• passes on the documents provided which sets out the concerns of residents so that they can be reviewed and assessed by the appropriate team when investigating the solutions available.
• ensures the request of the 205 signatories for a reduction in speed to 20mph on The Kingsbury Curve is appropriately considered as a possible measure to improve the noise pollution that residents are having to endure.
• ensures that affected residents are consulted throughout this process and they are provided with assurances that the necessary steps are being taken by TfL to address their concerns.

Navin Shah went as far as to threaten to pick up a banner and join the campaigners when he wrote to Heidi Alexander, Deputy Mayor for Transport:

Over two years TfL’s efforts at lowering noise levels at the above location(s) have failed and local residents are seeking renewed and urgent action to get their quality of life back from the persistent intrusive noise. I am writing to you to express my strong support to their concerns and help my constituents to regain the ‘quieter life’ as they put it.  

FYI in early June this year, grease output of the track lubricant on Kingsbury curve was increased to reduce the screeching of rails but this has failed. Recently Mr Barros the TfL Noise and Vibration engineer visited the locality and confirmed the noise levels had increased. His report is awaited to confirm the current situation 

I am hugely disappointed that despite so many investigations, inspections, email writings not a hint of the progress of equal to a tip of a pin can be presented to the residents of the area. I feel ashamed because this is the only task I have failed for residents. Please note I want to see demonstrable progress and want it as soon as possible otherwise I will have no alternative but to pick up the banners along with others and start campaigning with the local  residents without any ifs or buts. There must remain the urgent need and genuine desire for bringing back noise level to a bearable level for residents any further delay would be unacceptable for the goodwill and respect we have for each other.  TFL must act now, please.

The Director of Assets for London Underground told the Kilburn Times LINK that they were aware of the concerns of residents who lived around the Kingsbury Curve and had been told that recent work on the track had not reduced noise sufficiently.  They will investigate additional measures including alternative lubrication for train wheels. 

A wider solution which would require more fundamental change was suggested by Cedric Lynch who commenting on the story said:

Train wheel treads used to be machined to a slightly conical shape that allowed them to roll quietly round curves because the flanges did not have to touch the rails to make the wheels follow the curve. This wheel shape was found to cause "hunting" (a rapid oscillation) at high speeds on British Rail trains and was changed to a perfectly cylindrical shape that stopped the hunting but caused screeching on curves. Perhaps the solution is to go back to the conical shape on Underground trains, which do not go fast enough for hunting to be a problem.

Fighting Covid19 in Brent Zoom Meeting May 27th

Zoom ID: 4648578247  Password: 274903

Background (Source:  ons.gov.uk)

Fighting Covid19 in Brent Rally to be addressed by local MPs, councillors & trade unionists - May 27th

Zoom ID: 4648578247

Password: 274903

Barry Gardiner out of Shadow Cabinet

Barry Gardiner MP for Brent North has just tweeted that he is out of the new Shadow Cabinet:

Just received a courteous phone call from Keir Starmer standing me down from Shadow Cabinet. I wished him and his new team well. I will continue to do all I can to serve the party and ensure a Labour victory at the next General Election.

Yesterday  Gardiner welcomed the election of Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner:

Principled and united, Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner will lead our party forward to create a better future for our country. Warmest congratulations to them both.

Barry Gardiner's potential leadership bid gets mixed reception

The possibility of a late entry in the Labour leadership by Brry Gardiner MP has received a mixed reception on social media. Some have been impressed by his appearances on TV and radio as a supporter of Corbyn but others asked 'Who is he?'

on Gardiner's politics, Seema Chandwani, vice chair of London Labour tweeted:

There is no way I'd support Brarry Gardiner for Leader. His pro-Modi stance, his stirring with the Indian community over Kashmir and his inability now, despite getting involved in Indian politics, to condemn Modi and the Citizenship Amendment Act is too much.

.......

 The thought of him being Leader is a total kick in the teeth for Asian members like me.

 On the other hand Ben Jolly tweeted:

Barry Gardiner cut through the lies about Jeremy Corbyn beautifully. His intelligence & clarity reaches over the noise of every journalist or Tory MP he faces. He is well briefed on Party policy & extreme passionate for change. This is why he gets my vote.

Dawn Butler has already announced her bid for the deputy leadership which raises the possibility of a Brent (rather than Islington) national Labour leadership.

Not likely to impress the northern towns?

Barry Gardiner speaking today LINK  What makes him stand out from rivals? 'I can win a General Election.'

Brent Council nows faces further strikes as well as Call-in Scrutiny over Roe Green Strathcona closure decision

Encouraged by the support of Brent councillors who, as reported first here, have called-in the Cabinet's decision to close Strathcona School for further scrutiny, determined NEU members voted unanimously today to resume their strikes.

In the background both groups have been heartened by the support of Barry Gardiner MP who write to Brent Council back in July opposing the proposed closure LINK. This is a key section of his letter:

If council officers had actively been trying to prepare a case for the closure of the school, these are precisely the measures they might have taken. First ensure nobody knows about the place and even when they live next door, refer them to another school. In fact the head teacher has said that she has several reports of prospective parents who asked for their child to come to the school actually being told by council officers that the roll at Strathcona is full and they can take no more children. I would ask that the cabinet investigate these allegations which, if true, represent a serious breach of trust on the part of public officials.

Of course much of this might be more understandable were the school underperforming. In fact despite all the problems it has experienced, Roe Green Strathcona School is an excellent School, with their first cohort of Year 6 students achieving progress in the top 3% of Schools in England this academic year. This is particularly remarkable when one considers the extent of mid year admissions. In the public meeting held at Roe Green Strathcona on 6^th June 2019, which was attended by local councillors, many parents testified to the quality of teaching and the quality of pastoral care that the school provides.

Just 3 years ago Council officers made an urgent recommendation that Roe Green Strathcona School become permanent by September 2016. They are now trying to persuade councillors that the school is not viable. What was then a saving is now said to be a financial drain on the council. What was then required to cope with the primary admissions crisis is now said to be part of an unnecessary and unsustainable surplus. What was then said to provide parental choice into the future is now having its very existence airbrushed from the Council admissions website.

Teachers and staff at the Roe Green School are rightly proud of the progress that has been made since the creation of the Strathcona school five years ago. In a borough where children had been out of formal education for many months, the School has added significant value to the educational development of every child that has entered its classrooms. They have served the council well. If the cabinet were to rubber stamp the proposal to launch a formal consultation for the closure of the Strathcona School site. I believe they would be betraying that service and acting arbitrarily.

Brent Council did launch a formal consultation. In over 300 responses only one supported closure but the Cabinet have gone ahead with closure plans.  Brent North's Labour Party MP is rightly holding his Labour colleagues in the Brent Cabinet to account.

For the NEU this is a much wider issue than just Brent. It is the first attempt at urban school closures since the 70s and 80s when falling school rolls led to school closures and amalgamations and indirectly to some of the super-sized schools that we see today. Brent Labour Council is setting a precedent that if successful, other councils may follow. This is why it is important to win this particular battle.

Barry Gardiner's trenchant views on Brent Council's proposal to close Strathcona School

Roe Green Strathcona staff, parents & pupils protest at Brent Civic Centre

 The Brent Council Cabinet is likely to make a decision on the future of Roe Green Strathcona School at its September Meeting. The formal consultation closed last night.  It is worth reading the detailed letter that Brent North MP, Barry Gardiner, wrote to the June Cabinet which made the decision to move to formal consultation.

Meanwhile there is speculation about the possible plans that Brent Council may have for the Strathcona site including possible sell-off to a developer or provision for the Islamia Primary School which is short of space at its present site LINK.

Barry Gardiner wrote: 

I write to you prior to the cabinet decision to be taken on Monday 17^th June 2019 in relation to the future of Roe Green Strathcona Primary School.

You will be aware that it is very rare that I comment upon what I recognise to be the proper functions of the council. That I do so now is because I am deeply concerned by the proposal to move to a formal consultation on the closure of the school which I believe to be flawed on every level.

On the evening of the 6^th of June, 120 people attended a public meeting at the school to voice their protest against the Council, the substance of the proposal and the process by which the council has conducted its dealings with the school.

The officers report for the meeting of the council where the informal consultation was set out, presented what can only be described as an extremely partial view of the history of the school. In particular it failed to explain the discrepancies between the current reasons for the proposed closure and the original reasons for opening the school in 2014 and for confirming it with permanent status in 2016.

Brent Council’s stated rationale for closing the School is in response to an estimated surplus of pupil places in the borough’s “Primary Planning Area 2” at reception level, which has been predicted in Brent Council’s 2019-23 School Place Planning Strategy. The Council have also said that other high quality schools in the area have capacity to provide education to those pupils who would need to be relocated. It has also been suggested that the school receives an additional amount of funding for operating on a split site and closure would therefore save scarce resources.

However, this rationale is in stark contrast to the decision made at Cabinet only three years ago on 11 April 2016 to permanently increase the age range and expand Roe Green Infant School on a split site. At that time councillors were explicitly informed that whilst there was a shortage of places predicted up to 2019/20, thereafter there was expected to be a surplus of places. Councillors in 2016 were advised that this would enable Brent to meet the guideline of a 5% surplus which was deemed necessary to give appropriate parental choice. The current figure was then only 2.2% and was deemed insufficient. It is simply untrue therefore to claim that the current surplus was unforeseen and that the council are having now to respond to a new set of circumstances.

One of the key reasons put forward in 2016 in favour of making Strathcona permanent was that it would save the council £500,000 and it is therefore a matter of concern that councillors are now being told that the £200,000 split-site funding is a reason to close the school. I trust the cabinet will want to examine very carefully the basis upon which the original cost saving was predicated and why it no longer appears to be the case.

When doing so councillors will no doubt also consider that their decision in 2016 to make the school permanent also means that those teachers’ contracts which had originally been temporary, were at that point made permanent. A decision now to close the school would therefore also lead to serious redundancy costs which appear not to have been quantified in the earlier officers’ report.

Perhaps the most perplexing issue relating to the estimated surplus of places however, is that the council gave approval for a major expansion of places at Byron Court Primary and the creation of a new primary school at East Lane Primary AFTER the decision had been taken to make Strathcona permanent. The development at Byron Court was extensively opposed by local residents, and yet the council pressed ahead on the grounds that these places would be required. It seems perverse now to decide to close Strathcona when it was known at the time that the bulge in nursery admissions would decline by 2019/20.

The officers have suggested that other schools in the area would be able to provide places for the students who needed to transfer after any closure at Strathcona. This ignores the disruption to the education of those children who would be asked to change schools. Such disruption would be particularly acute for those children expected to go into year 6 at a new school just before they sit their SATS. The need to make new friends and settle into a different school routine would inevitably be damaging for those children’s achievement.

It is also right that the council consider whether their action has been fair on the whole school.

Roe Green Strathcona opened in 2014, in response to an emergency request from Brent Council. A large number of children were unable to be provided with a primary place. In fact many children had been out of mainstream education for as much as ten months. It was on this basis that Brent asked Roe Green Infants if they would set up a second site. Originally a site owned by Kingsbury High School was to be the location, but when that proved too costly the Council asked Roe Green to open the new site at Strathcona — some 1.6 miles away from their central site. This was an enormous challenge for the school, but it was a challenge Roe Green readily accepted.

The Governing Body of Roe Green Infant School agreed to manage a new provision of Students at the Strathcona site at a Governing Body meeting of 14 January 2014. Teachers and staff worked day and night for seven weeks in order to convert the dilapidated Strathcona buildings and meet the Council’s deadline for a fully operational School. This was achieved and the Roe Green Strathcona site successfully admitted its first pupils in two months later in March 2014.

In October 2014, the Cabinet approved the “School Place Planning Strategy 2014-2018”. A refresh of the strategy was subsequently considered and agreed by Members at the November 2015 Cabinet.

In this report, the Council recognised the need for school places, and also acknowledged that such places should be established through the expansion of existing schools.

In 2015, Roe Green Strathcona were informed by the Department of Education that their temporary status prevented the School from extending by more that two year groups. The School would be in breach of DoE rules, if a permanent school status was not formalised by the next academic year. It is important to understand that the Council officers did not approach the school to advise them of this. It was the DoE that notified them of this deadline. On 11 April 2016, a determination was reached by Cabinet, agreeing to expand and alter – on a permanent basis – the age-range of Roe Green Strathcona School, effective from September 2016 on the grounds I have set out above.

Despite all the significant work that the school has done and the cooperation it’s staff have given to help the council resolve the very serious problem they had with a lack of places, the council appears not to have reciprocated that good will. It has long been a matter of contention that Brent Council have continuously failed to ensure the school is properly advertised on the Council’s electronic enrolment system.

There have been significant difficulties experienced at the School with pupil admissions. Within the Cabinet Report of 11 April 2016, Brent Council acknowledge that pupil admission arrangements will be a big challenge for the School:

“Currently there is no mechanism for parents to select the Strathcona site. By making the provision permanent it enables the authority (as the admissions authority for Roe Green Infant School because it is a community school) to consult in winter 2016/17 upon admissions criteria for 2017/18 year that would enable parents to express a preference for the Strathcona provision.”

Despite this statement, the most recent Council report dated 17^th June 2019 now states that pupil admission arrangements at Roe Green Strathcona are “not considered to be sustainable”. This is hardly surprising when Roe Green Strathcona does not appear on the “drop down” list on the council’s website. It is unacceptable for the council to fail to ensure that parents are able to access information about the school on the electronic enrolment system and then accuse the school of not having “sustainable admissions”.

The effect is that parents are presently not able to choose Strathcona as a main option for primary provision on Brent Council’s website, and that the Strathcona School only ever appears as a subsidiary option of the Roe Green Infant School site. Indeed, councillors might be shocked to find that even when one uses the School’s postcode as a student’s residential address on Brent Council’s enrolment system, the Strathcona site is not offered. Only alternative local Schools are suggested in the search results. It is clear that there is a strong positive correlation between the decrease in pupil intake at the School, and the difficulty many parents have in registering their children onto the Strathcona roll.

Council officers have been alerted to this issue repeatedly but have never resolved the matter. It is also the case that in the past five years, up to 85% of pupil admissions at the Strathcona site have been during the middle of the academic year. I understand that Ms Sidhu, the headteacher, believes that in-year admission data has not been properly accounted for in any of the drafted Brent Council reports.

If council officers had actively been trying to prepare a case for the closure of the school, these are precisely the measures they might have taken. First ensure nobody knows about the place and even when they live next door, refer them to another school. In fact the head teacher has said that she has several reports of prospective parents who asked for their child to come to the school actually being told by council officers that the roll at Strathcona is full and they can take no more children. I would ask that the cabinet investigate these allegations which, if true, represent a serious breach of trust on the part of public officials.

Of course much of this might be more understandable were the school underperforming. In fact despite all the problems it has experienced, Roe Green Strathcona School is an excellent School, with their first cohort of Year 6 students achieving progress in the top 3% of Schools in England this academic year. This is particularly remarkable when one considers the extent of mid year admissions. In the public meeting held at Roe Green Strathcona on 6^th June 2019, which was attended by local councillors, many parents testified to the quality of teaching and the quality of pastoral care that the school provides.

Just 3 years ago Council officers made an urgent recommendation that Roe Green Strathcona School become permanent by September 2016. They are now trying to persuade councillors that the school is not viable. What was then a saving is now said to be a financial drain on the council. What was then required to cope with the primary admissions crisis is now said to be part of an unnecessary and unsustainable surplus. What was then said to provide parental choice into the future is now having its very existence airbrushed from the Council admissions website.

Teachers and staff at the Roe Green School are rightly proud of the progress that has been made since the creation of the Strathcona school five years ago. In a borough where children had been out of formal education for many months, the School has added significant value to the educational development of every child that has entered its classrooms. They have served the council well. If the cabinet were to rubber stamp the proposal to launch a formal consultation for the closure of the Strathcona School site. I believe they would be betraying that service and acting arbitrarily.

Thank you for considering the matters I have raised.

-->

SAFER KIDS: Brent parents launch petition to local politicans calling for immediate action on 'daily threats' their children face

Local people have launched a petition demanding that Brent's three MPs  and local councillors  act quickly to ensure that

We demand immediate solutions to the daily threat our children face through:

·      More police/security details patrolling the Kensal Green, Kensal Rise, Queens Park and Harlesden area, especially at key points in the day

·      More CCTV in key locations

·      The creation of a positive action network consisting of schools, residents and local businesses that raises awareness and encourages positive, social behaviour within the community.

We also demand long-term solutions such as investment in local youth centres and helping the youth committing these crimes to become part of the community, rather than fighting against it.

Why is this important?

We the undersigned residents of Brent demand our streets be made safe for our children. We are writing to you to demand you immediately address the radical increase in muggings and assaults on children in our local area. Lawlessness is rampant and impunity is now rife in our neighbourhood. Our streets feel like the Wild West - anything goes, and no one can do a thing about it.

Muggings and assaults on children are now occurring daily, often between 2pm and 7pm on the peripheries of schools, in parks and around the Chamberlayne Rd area. These crimes are committed by youth, at times in balaclavas, often using knives, sometimes using steel bars as a threat, other times using direct violent assault - and all this in broad daylight.

In the cases where adults have tried to intervene, they too have been violently assaulted. One parent was recently punched in the head in Roundwood Park numerous times in front of his son, and another parent had a plank of wood smashed into his face, loosing several teeth in the Queens Park area - also in front of his children.

Sadly, many cases go unreported as the victims are fearful if they tell, they could be putting themselves in more danger. Moreover, parents at times fear nothing will be done as the police rarely turn up, or if they do it’s 30 minutes late, when the perpetrators are long gone.

At an age when our children should be cherishing a newfound independence, they now have to fear for their safety. They must ask themselves: Will I be attacked on the way home from school today? Is it safe to take my phone? Do I have to walk in a big group to be safe? What should I do if I get assaulted? Will they knife me?

No child should have to ask him or herself these questions. We want our children to:

- be able to walk to school and home from it
- go the the park/skatepark
- walk to a friend’s house
- go to the corner shop
- catch a bus/ the tube etc...

without having to worry that they will be assaulted or mugged.

The effect of daily fear in these young minds, if not addressed, is likely to lead to a dramatic increase in anxiety, depression and isolation in our local community.

May we remind you, in 1991 the UK signed the Convention on the Rights of the Child, one of the nine core UN human rights treaties. The CRC protects the rights of children in all areas of their life, including their rights to “freedom from violence, abuse and neglect”.

It is tragic that almost three decades later, in this supposedly civilised society, our children are not protected from violence or abuse in their very own neighbourhood.

It is tragic, that due to austerity, our society is now one in which crime is rampant, impunity rife and our children - our future - are the ones having to suffer the devastating consequences.

It is tragic that they must now live in fear in their own community.

We demand you make our streets safe for our children. We demand action and we demand it now.

Yours sincerely,
AC Collet on behalf of Safer Kids

LINK TO PETITION

UPDATE: Responding to a request for a comment by Wembley Matters, Cllr Tom Miller, lead member for community safety said:

We are broadly sympathetic to the aims of the petition and I've offered to meet with the organisers and anybody they would like to join with them.

NEU's 'deep disappointment' at role of Brent Labour leader and Chief Whip in The Village School academisation following news it will become part of a Multi-Academy Trust tomorrow

 The Brent branch of the National Education yesterday passed the reolution below on the 'very sad news' the The Village School in Kingsbury will become part of the Woodfield Multi-Academy Trust tomorrow. The NEU has fought hard and long against the proposals with widespread support from trade unions, political parties, parents,  community groups and Brent NorthMP Barry Gardiner.

The move means that apart from Phoenix School Arch on St Rapahel's Estate that special education in Brent has been privatised. A sad day indeed.

Brent NEU congratulates the members at The Village for their brilliant and hard fought campaign against becoming part of a Multi-Academy Trust with Woodfield academy. We also thank Barry Gardiner, Brent North MP, the local Constituency Labour Parties, and the community for their support.

We are however deeply disappointed that Cllr Sandra Kabir, Chair of Governors of The Village and Chief Whip of the Labour Group supported the academisation and Cllr Muhammed Butt, Leader of Brent Council did not use his position and offices to strongly oppose this privatisation of our outstanding Local Authority school.