Adult education classes and social work team to move into Willesden Green Library

Announcement from Brent Council:

Exciting new changes will be coming to The Library at Willesden Green this year, including two new classrooms for Brent Start and the arrival of a team of social workers supporting Brent’s children and young people.

This is the start of a new era for The Library at Willesden Green. Since its opening in 2015, it has been serving the local community through its library services, teaching visitors about Brent’s rich cultural heritage through the Museum and Archives and through being a Community Hub for vulnerable residents to help them access council services.

The new improvements include the creation of two new modern classrooms for Brent Start*, an adult education college offering skills and employment training for local people. The classrooms will be located at the front of the building, showcasing to passers-by what a fantastic initiative this is. This will increase awareness of the courses on offer and encourage more to take advantage of education and training opportunities to improve the lives of Brent residents.

A team of social workers will also be moving into the top floor of the library, giving them the opportunity to be even closer to the children and young people they work with and have an office space fit for their needs. This is in line with our commitment to helping to improve the outcomes for all our young people.

These changes will enhance the services we provide in The Library at Willesden Green, a space that is already so versatile in its offering for Brent residents.

The library also boasts a number of spaces that can hired by anyone for cultural or other activities, which include a performance space, exhibition gallery, education room and reading room.
Changes are expected to be in place by Summer 2020, and in the meantime, library services will continue as normal.

*Editor's note: The Cabinet will be discussing plans to redevelop the Brent Start premises in Harlesden-Stonebridge which will require decanting of classes to the building that previously housed the Stonebrudge Primary School  Annex.

If we have to close down, who will help the disabled in Brent?

From Brent Advocacy Concerns (for background see LINK)

Yesterday a 74 year old disabled lady visited our office for her third appointment.  Her main issue is that she lives in a council flat with no heating and is on the third floor in a block with no lifts.  She has to stay in bed all the time to keep warm.  We have had to pass her case onto Brent Start, as we do not know how much longer we can remain in our office.  Normally we would do the work ourselves but we could not be certain that we could complete her case before we had to leave our office.

Brent Clinical Commissioning Group informed us  exactly one month ago today, that they need our office for clinical use but they have not given us any further information and they do not reply to our emails.

This time last year (23rd Nov. 2016) the CCG and the council gave us assurances at 'The Well Being Scrutiny meeting' that they would support us to remain in Brent but they have not been in touch and the councillors do not reply to our emails either. 

The Dementia luncheon club adjacent to our office are still waiting to hear back from the CCG about their future.

Burnley Medical Practice have published on their website that they will start their new contract to deliver GP services from April, 2018.  But before they move in, they have reported that the construction of 8 new clinics will begin in January 2018 on the space currently used by the luncheon club.  A further 4/5 clinics will be based in the area which includes our office.

Burnley also report that they have held several meetings with the CCG and which have included the architects, the planners and others involved in the design of the practice relocation.

But to date, we have not been invited to any meetings concerning our future, nor have we been told anything about Burnley's relocation plans. Like you Martin, I can search and find out relevant information that affects us but it would be nice if the CCG would actually reply to us to officially tell us what is going on.

If we make it to next June (2018) we will have been providing services across Brent for 30 years, so we feel up for a fight, as there are still many disabled people needing our help and if we go who will take our place.

Brent Start ESOL cuts hit the voiceless and reveal government hypocrisy

Guest blog by 'Enda Mess'

It's good to have the opportunity to raise awareness of the severe cuts that are affecting Adult Education and, very recently, ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) courses in particular. These cuts often go unnoticed as those who take up these services are often those whose voices are least likely to be heard. However, the classes are highly valued and often vital to those who use them.

At Brent Start (formerly Brent Adult and Community Education Service - BACES) the recent central government cuts mean that 40% of ESOL provision will be cut - with job losses to match! The cut has been very sudden - the government announced the withdrawal of all funding for classes for those on Job Seekers Allowance with immediate effect at the end of July - just when everyone was finishing for the year and all timetables and staffing was planned.

Despite the fact that services in other areas seem to be managing to hold off from making immediate redundancies, here in Brent the decision has been made act very swiftly in implementing the cuts and staff are returning to work to find they may not have a job by mid October.

What were known as the JCP (Job Centre Plus) classes were problematic for most adult educators and trade unionists in that they were 'mandated' - the new euphemism for compulsory. Students were referred from the Job Centre and there could be sanctions for non attendance. However, their withdrawal removes an opportunity for free classes and 40% of any provision is a huge loss.

This of course comes at a time when the plight of refugees and migrants is very topical. The cut was announced the day after Cameron said: 'At the moment we have parts of the country where opportunities remain limited ... where language remains a real barrier, where too many women from minority communities remain trapped outside the workforce, and where educational attainment is low'. Such decisions show the hypocrisy of the current government’s  stated aim to help individuals develop skills in order to gain jobs and communicate with others and  ‘lift the horizons of some of our most isolated and deprived communities’. (David Cameron’s extremism speech 20/07/2015)

Since then however, many thousands of people have connected with the humanitarian aspect of the refugee situation and have clearly shown that they do not support the government's hostile stand towards people who are driven to leave what they know behind and take enormous risks to start a new life for their families.

For me, the huge but often unrecognised value of adult and community learning (everything from computer classes to pottery to sign language to childcare courses – as well as ESOL)  lies not just in the structured learning of the courses provided. It provides spaces and opportunities for a wealth of informal learning to take place. There is a real diversity of backgrounds amongst those who attend - people's lives overlap here in a way they seldom do elsewhere and these interactions can create really positive opportunities for the exchange and building of knowledge, skills and experience amongst students, that can be empowering way beyond the scope of the actual course.

We have a very long history in Brent of providing ESOL classes and it will be a terrible loss to dismantle nearly half of what has been a strong, committed and thriving department providing a quality service to the community for many years. ESOL classes provide a way in for people to access crucial services, participate in education and find work. They help parents support their children at school. They enable people who, when they arrive here bring valuable skills and experience of all kinds, to practise those skills and share that experience for the benefit of us all.

The University and College Union (UCU) which represents staff teaching in Adult Education as well as FE and HE, is campaigning against these cuts both locally and nationally and the ‘Action for ESOL’ campaign is also very active

A demonstration has been organised to protest against the cuts in ESOL classes on

Wednesday 16th September at 5.30, outside the Department of Business Innovation and Skills (this is where the cuts come from!)

Here is a link to the Facebook page for this event LINK 

Please share, support, come along!

UCU and 'Action for ESOL' will also be attending the ‘Refugees are Welcome Here’ event on Saturday 12^th September.