Copland’s Green Left Reds are Over the Moon

...But celebrations marred by Unsporting Conduct from the Managers

Guest blog by ‘Shankly’s  Pony’ 

Green Left Reds may be a political niche too far, but all Wembley Matters readers can take some pleasure in the success this season of local lad and ex Copland student Raheem Sterling. In addition to helping to guide Liverpool FC to League success and being selected for England’s World Cup campaign in Brazil, last weekend  Raheem  achieved the ultimate accolade: starring in Paul Trevillion’s  cult comic strip ’You Are The Ref’ in Sunday’s Observer (above). 

At the footballing star’s old school, however,  foul play is the norm. Fourteen more compulsory redundancies are among the fixtures for this term, despite the IEB’s promise that there would be none. Copland’s athletics and football  fields will be flogged off for housing or offices just as soon as they can figure out who actually owns the land and how the little matter of the title restriction can be fixed.  Strangely enough, events at the school seem more and more to be influenced by the world of professional football. 

Having early on adopted the Millwall fans’ slogan of ‘Nobody likes us, We don’t care’ (accepting reality rather than out of choice) the management  handed Copland over to a bunch of dodgy millionaires (as at Chelsea,Fulham FC, Manchester City, Cardiff et al).  To find  the new school’s new  ‘manager’ these shysters plumped for  the ‘Chosen One’ method which they presumably  judged had been so  successful in selecting  David Moyes for Man United. The  drafted-in owners are now trying to impose  a new name on the school (as at Hull City) and are about to completely  change the school strip (see Cardiff).  Soon the ground will be moved (not quite as far as Milton Keynes, see Wimbledon FC) and most of the ground staff have already been ‘let go’.   

If, in September,  the school actually is taken over by the ‘Chosen One’   Ms Bates, (no relation to Leeds United’s Ken, hopefully) , Copland will have had more managers in recent times than the notoriously profligate Blackburn Rovers  (six since you ask). This is not to mention the Delia Smith connection (Ark Wembley head, TV cook and Norwich City majority shareholder) or the remarkable similarities between the  organisational prowess demonstrated by respectively Ark’s attempt at a consultation and Torquay United’s attempt at a defence. 

But as we enter the end-of-season  ‘run-in’,  the mythmakers of Ofsted are about to show that it’s all been worthwhile. At the end of the summer term the final prewritten chapter of the prewritten narrative journey will be taken down off the shelf and added to last autumn’s  Prewritten Ofsted Inspection  Report 1    ( ‘It’s going to be a struggle but if we all pull together, and with 58 redundancies, Copland might just make it’) which was followed by last month’s release of Prewritten Ofsted Inspection Report 2  ( ‘Following tough DfE  policies, honest and objective Ofsted verification, and 75 redundancies, Everything at Copland is Getting Better and Better ’).   

Leaks from the government department which writes these things confirmed last October  that the final chapter, due in July,  declares: ‘Mission Accomplished!: After 119 redundancies and with the new leaner and fitter curriculum offer of only 2 subjects (Malaysian Maths and Singaporean Maths)  Copland is now Fit For Purpose! The management and both remaining members of the teaching staff are to be congratulated on their achievement.’ 

By then, of course, Raheem Sterling’s form might well have continued on its current trajectory and brought England  a hat full of goals in Brazil. Let’s hope so.  It’s just a  pity that  the only ones celebrating at what remains of his old school will be a bunch of hedge fund billionaires, the spineless guardians of local democracy at Brent Council (or those who survived the May 22 play-offs),  a couple of hapless Future Leaders:  and Michael Gove. 

Never mind, you can be confident that, with Ofsted providing the facts and figures to support their ‘evidence-based’ bullshit (and nobody around anymore to remember what life was actually like before the Pigs took over) , it will inevitably go down in history as the greatest season Copland ever had.

Tough Times at Copland Today

Guest blog by So Macho

We live in tough times, as the cushioned and the comfortable  frequently remind us, and there can be few more nauseating contemporary  sights than effete middle-class Englishmen like Osborne, Cameron and Gove, with the might of the state at their disposal, boasting of the toughness of the decisions they have to make in order to intimidate, bully or impoverish the vulnerable.  It was tough times too at Copland today as another swathe of teachers collected their P45s, the consequence of the tough decisions the IEB has had to make in order to make Copland into a tempting morsel for Ark Inc. No time for sentiment either as no recognition was made by the tough management of the fact that staff with up to 12 years of  service were getting their dismissal letters. No official farewells, no gathering of the staff for an organised and dignified recognition of colleagues’ contribution and no time for staff to hold even an unofficial goodbye as, contrary to tradition and custom and practice in other schools, they were told toughly that ‘Friday will be a normal day’. 

Not for those being made redundant it wasn't. Tough eh?

Parents and students join Copland strikers' picket line

Parents demand a voice

Students demand a voice

Photo: Stefan Simms

Parents and students joined striking teachers on the picket line at Copland Community School this morning. Teachers are striking for the 6th time against forced academisation which means a takeover of the school by ARK.

They are calling for an independently supervised democratic ballot over the issue.

Copland teachers stage unprecedented 5th strike against forced academisation

Copland Community School teaching unions remain solid in their determination to stop the ARK academy chain taking over their school in Wembley. They will be taking an unprecedented fifth day of strike action tomorrow (14^th January). The IEB continue to refuse to take part in any negotiations let alone even reply to communications from the Unions.

Hank Roberts, Immediate Past national President of ATL said:

The IEB have yet to respond to an offer of further talks nor even yet able to respond to staff and parents demand to be given a proposed timetable for the proposed conversion! The massive strength of feeling is because staff know that this is really about privatisation and Gove intends to allow those running academies like ARK to make profit out of state education. Their intention is to impose a third world education system in England.

Our intention is to continue and increase the level of resistance to stop them.

 Tom Stone, Acting NASUWT Brent Secretary said:

Copland staff are showing amazing tenacity in continuing to be prepared to stand up for their school by taking yet another day of strike action. The NASUWT fully supports members taking action at any school where management try to impose academisation.

Jean Roberts, Joint Brent Teachers Association Secretary said:

By standing firm staff have won on a collective grievance over job titles and also, through the threat of further strike action, the threat of compulsory redundancies for teachers has been withdrawn. At the well attended joint unions meeting last week staff were up beat and fully behind the campaign to defeat ARK. Just today there were revelations in The Guardian after freedom of information requests showed taxpayer-funded academy chains have paid millions of pounds into the private businesses of directors, trustees and their relatives.

Leaflets will be handed out today outside Copland for pupils to take home to parents explaining why the action is taking place. This leaflet from the school’s anti academy working party has been translated into the most common languages used by pupils. 

This has not been done for any letters sent out by the IEB.

There will be a mass picket outside the school from 7.30 am tomorrow until 9.00 and then there will be a letter writing session to the local councillors and MPs. There will also be discussion on what further action will take place to further the campaign.

Copland teachers striking for democracy on Tuesday

Teaching staff at Copland Community School, Wembley, will be mounting pickets lines from 7.30am on Tuesday morning as they strike once again to try and win a democratic ballot, independently run, on the proposed academy conversion. They also stipulate the Interim Executive Board, imposed on the school by Brent Council, should take the ballot result into account.

At present Ark appears to be the only academy sponsor option despite the fact that Cllr Michael Pavey, lead member for children and families, told a public meeting before Christmas that it 'wasn't a done deal' and another sponsor was possible.

Despite requests Ark has still not provided a breakdown of the ehtnic background of its teaching force at the Wembley Park site. See LINK

Staff at Woodfield Special School are also reported to be opposed to plans by their governing body for academy conversion. LINK

'HANDS OFF COPLAND!' strikers tell Ark Academy

The demonstration outside Ark Academy, Wembley

Copland Community High School in Wembley was closed today as teachers went on strike against a proposed take over by Ark Academy. Following an inspection visit by Ofsted the school governing body was sacked by Brent Council and an Interim Excutive Board imposed in its place. The IEB is negotiating a take over by Ark Academy and the despite consultation not being completed, a letter has been sent to parents, via pupils, informing them that Delia Smith, Principal of Wembley Ark Academy would head up both schools.

Copland on strike again tomorrow against Ark take over

Staff at Copland Community School in Wembley will tomorrow  hold their third day of strike action against an attempt by Michael Gove and an imposed Interim Executive Board (IEB) to force the school to become an academy. Despite Cllr Michael Pavey, Lead member for Education in Brent, saying 'it is not a done deal' so far there had been no other option but ARK.

Staff will hold a rally outside The Torch pub at 10am  in Bridge Rd, Wembley against ARK forcibly taking over their school.

Hank Roberts, ATL Secretary and Immediate Past President said:

Stanley Fink, a leading ARK trustee, is the National Treasurer of the Conservative party and a friend of Michael Gove. He supports Gove's and the Conservatives policy, as revealed in the Independent, of handing over state schools to be run for profit. They're not in it for charitable giving. If they want to give Copland money we'd welcome it. Long term they're for taking money out of the system to add to the many millions they already have.

Tom Stone, NASUWT Acting Secretary said:

If Brent would only go and get the money the ex headteacher spirited away, the whole scenario of becoming an academy would disappear and Copland school would be a flourishing and effective school.

Lesley Gouldbourne, Joint NUT Secretary said,:

A recent leadership review of Copland carried out in October 2013 showed many improvements in teaching and learning and more robust financial management. Give the school time to continue this good work.

Debate the future of Copland tomorrow

Hands off Copland School - Public Meeting Thursday

The Copland Action Committee, supported by ATL, GMB, NASUWT and NUT have organised the public meeting below as Copland faces forced academisation. This will leave NO local authority secondary schools in the London Borough of Brent.

STOP GOVE'S PRIVATISATION OF

 SCHOOLS FOR PROFIT

HANDS OFF COPLAND SCHOOL

 THURSDAY NOVEMBER 28TH 7PM

 Holiday Inn, Empire Way, Wembley, HA9 8DS

Map LINK

A public meeting for staff, parents, pupils and the community

 

Fundraiser: Walk the Walk to enable Copland to Talk the Talk

The Anti-Academy Working Party at Copland School has organised a pub walk to take place on Friday 22nd November around London Bridge.

The purpose of the walk is to raise £300 to book a room for a public meeting.

Those wishing to take part should gather in the Old King's Head (King's Head Yard, 45-49 Borough High Street, London, SE1 1NA) from 6 o'clock on Friday.  The walk will start at 7 o'clock.

There will be a Dickensian theme to the walk as participants will visit some of the places mentioned by Dickens in Barnaby Rudge, Little Dorrit and The Pickwick Papers.

Places familiar to Edmund Burke, Geoffrey Chaucer, Oliver Goldsmith, Samuel Johnson, Samuel Pepys and William Shakespeare will be visited.

The walk will finish beside London Bridge tube station.

There will be a cost of £5 for joining the walk

'Consultation': An Anthropologist Explains

Guest Post from 'Malinowski'

From today's Wembley and Willesden Observer

As Copland Community School begins its Academy 'Consultation', interested parties, or anyone with a passing interest in cultural relativism, might like to know what this 'consultation' business is all about, and in what ways it differs from  our everyday, common-sense understanding of what consultation might mean.

The first thing to remember is that, in certain advanced societies, 'consultation' is a word with a specific cultural meaning. Put simply, it describes a period of time which begins at a certain point and then ends some time later. The period in between these points is called a 'consultation period'. (Indeed, the ancients used to measure time and age in 'consultations' and would refer to an elder of the village as 'a wise man of four score consultations').

Current custom demands that the 'consultation' must not begin unless and until its subject's outcome has been decided; (and commonly,as in the case of the current Copland 'consultation',  not until the outcome has actually been announced and published to those affected by it). 

 The 'consultation' itself involves various traditional 'consultative' activities and behaviours which are of no more than ritual significance  but which are nevertheless strictly observed, especially by those who have previously decided or approved the outcome, (invariably those of higher status within the group's power hierarchy).

Those occupying lower positions in the  pecking order are also encouraged to take an active part (or 'participate') in these ritual behaviours as tradition has it that this gives them 'ownership'  of the pre-ordained outcome.

As 'ownership' of any kind (especially 'private') is a high-status concept in such groups' belief-systems, this can be seductive to the more suggestible members of the group and conformity is further reinforced by the fact that  to point out the fatuity of the 'consultation' is regarded as taboo within the community and can lead to the disapproval or opprobrium of the community elders and their more compliant subjects.

In societies which practise it, the 'consultation' phenomenon is most commonly observed during what is called the 'planning' period, (named thus because it occurs after all the plans have been made).  Members of the public who unexpectedly come upon a group engaged in a 'consultation exercise' ( so called because it involves the expenditure of a great deal of energy to no particular purpose )  are advised to remain at a respectful distance from the participants but can be confident that they are perfectly safe.

Despite the solemnity and sometimes alarming  vigour with which the 'consultation exercise' is apparently being performed, the moment it is over observers may rest assured that life will calmly carry on as if the whole process had never ever actually taken place.

Further advice for travellers likely to be visiting communities where 'consultations' are prevalent can be found at https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice.

Copland own goal over football coach redundancy

Local press coverage some time ago

 'Fourth Official' writes a Guest Blog

Just 3 months after their ‘postponement’ (ie cancellation) of the school’s  long- planned annual Sports Day in July, the new management at Copland  are planning another spectacular sport-related own goal by proposing to sack  the school’s long-standing and widely-respected football coach Paul Lawrence, who has done so much for the school, for the development of boys’ and girls’ football  in north London generally, and even for the England national team in the shape of new 18 year old  star and ex-Copland student, Raheem Sterling, (coached from age 10 by Paul and  who recently joined Roy Hodgson’s squad in England’s successful qualifiers for next year’s  World Cup in Brazil).         

 This latest public relations disaster by Copland and Brent is likely to go national when Monday’s edition of the Independent carries the story of coach Lawrence’s inclusion in a list of 32 Copland mentors, caretakers, support staff and librarians who are the subjects of a redundancy ‘proposal’,  an axing of key support staff aimed at cutting the school’s debt in order to make Copland easier to flog off to some dodgy academy chain looking for a prime-site bargain. (The school’s debt dates from the recently-convicted Sir Alan Davies’s  ‘false accounting’ days.)

 The London Borough of Brent, whose ‘light touch’ approach to auditing and ostrich-like attitude to the nepotism and dodgy dealing in the school at the time contributed to the budgetary black hole, have always refused to cancel the debt or even to attempt to retrieve for the school the missing money, estimated at the time at up to £2million).         

 While the Copland management were drawing up their hit-list of who was to receive the early Christmas present of 32 red cards, Greg Dyke, now head of the Football Association, was announcing the setting up of a special Football Commission to try to find out what is wrong with football in this country; why we underachieve internationally; why top English clubs have to import foreign players,  and so on. 

With immaculate timing worthy of Theo Walcott at his best, Copland was simultaneously planning its own uniquely helpful answer to some of these questions; which is that, while at one end of the system the sports minister and the FA are spouting aspirational bromides about grass-roots, academies and excellence, at the other end, in the real world,  Brent’s  benighted bean-counting administrators, anxious to satisfy the demands of Gove’s ‘forced academy’ policy, fail to see the irony in casually sacking  a successful football coach who has made a huge contribution to community cohesion, let alone to the enjoyment of the ‘beautiful  game’ itself,  at a school situated  a few hundred yards from our national sport’s national home.        
  
 Meanwhile, Heather Rabbatts, now an FA director, on Saturday criticised Greg Dyke’s all-white Football Commission for its lack  of ethnic diversity. She said: ‘we are not only failing to reflect our national game but we are also letting down so many black and ethnic minority people - players, ex-players, coaches and volunteers, who have so much to offer and are so often discouraged and disheartened by the attitudes they encounter.’  Paul Lawrence could be forgiven for yelling ‘Tell me about it!’ when he read those words.      

Greg Dyke’s  reply to Ms Rabbatts  was this:  ‘The aim of the Commission  is to ensure that talented English kids, whatever their ethnicity or creed, are able to fulfil their potential to play at the highest level in English football, something which currently we are not sure is happening. We still want to see people with relevant experience from the BAME community on the Commission.’  

Well, the people of Brent might know one of those people you say you’re looking for, Greg. Time to call  Paul, maybe?  Perhaps the Commission would  appreciate his contributions more than a Wembley school’s management seem capable of doing. Perhaps Copland’s  loss could be English football’s gain.          

  But, of course, what Paul Lawrence would really like to do at the moment is to simply carry on doing what he’s done so successfully up to now: coaching Copland’s ordinary kids and its prospective England stars to fulfil their potential, so that they may  ‘have that true sense of self-worth which will enable them  to stand up for themselves and for a purpose greater than themselves, and, in doing so,  be of value to society.’          
                                                                                                     

 Just like it says in the ‘Welcome’ message on Copland Community School’s website, in fact.

Previous coverage of Raheem's connection with Copland and Wembley  LINK

Copland victimisations: glimmer of hope?

Guest post by Mistleflower:

Michael Pavey, head of  Children and Families for Brent, yesterday posted this reply to a comment on my earlier post  ‘Deafening silence on Copland victimisation allegations’. LINK

‘ I met with the Unions last week and discussed these matters in detail. It's not appropriate to disclose our discussions with anonymous people on blogs but I'll continue to meet them and to take their concerns very seriously’

I may be being optimistic but, reading between the lines, it may be that Mr Pavey was as dismayed as Copland staff were by the tactics attempted  by Mr Marshall and Mr John  since they were drafted in to the school a few weeks ago:  victimisation, misuse of capability procedures  and threats of redundancy to those heads of department  unwilling to set up their own colleagues for redundancy.  

 Let’s hope that Mr Pavey  has,  now he’s been made aware of what’s been going on,‘had a word’. The test of this will be the future behaviour of the new management  but at least some  context has now been established. For now, the petty and vindictive treatment of the Humanities department ( or those few who remain) needs to be abandoned.

As far as the use of anonymity is concerned, this  is unfortunately  inevitable when a climate of fear has been intentionally introduced by managers  as a way of closing down open comment and discussion. There is a simple solution to this: regular and acknowledged communication based on mutual respect between management and genuine representatives of staff at  scheduled  meetings which are not unilaterally cancelled (or ‘postponed)’  and through  which management and genuine staff representatives attempt to come to agreement  in a civilised, professional  and collegiate fashion.  If someone hasn’t already stolen the name it could perhaps be called the ‘JCC’.

Deafening silence on Copland victimisation allegations

Guest post by Mistleflower

According to the  Brent and Kilburn Times website last Friday,  teachers union president Hank Roberts has accused the new management at Copland School of victimisation of union members who  have opposed  the forced academisation  of Copland School and the privatisation of English education in general.   As the man who brought to an end (with no help from Brent or the DfE)  the  financial corruption at Copland which resulted in the upcoming trial on fraud charges of  Alan Davies and five others, Mr Roberts knows a thing or two about blowing the whistle on  unlawful activity by school managements and the victimisation of union members which results. He and his union colleagues acted, at great risk to their present jobs and their career futures, to stop the haemorrhaging  of  Brent taxpayers’ money into the pockets of their chiselling bosses. His observations, therefore, carry some weight in Brent and beyond. Despite this, the only response from the new Copland management to appear in the BKT article are these words  from Mr Nick John, one of the two new men hired by Brent and responsible for the alleged victimisation:

Teachers and students at Copland Community School are preparing for the new school year, we are looking forward to working with parents and families to improve standards and secure good lessons for all children.

While this is nice to know and possibly entirely accurate it has nothing whatever to do with the serious allegation made by Mr Roberts, which is  that  Copland’s Humanities faculty has been singled out for ‘special measures’ as a result of its containing  4 union officers and a Teacher Governor  each of whom have a high profile in opposing forced academisation, workplace bullying and the recent blatant misuse of capability procedures connected with this . It’s possible, of course, that the words quoted were uttered by Mr John on some completely different occasion about an entirely unrelated matter and that Mr John had, in fact, gone off on his holidays before Mr Roberts made his allegations. Whatever the circumstances though, you would expect that the new management of a school with a well-known history of unlawful management activity (allegedly) would wish to ensure that its conduct now and in future would be  squeaky-clean in such matters and perceived to be so by the public. Further, the default position of kneejerk defence of the school management by the governing body and by Brent council is already beginning to remind some observers of the bad old days of Alan Davies and I.P.Patel.

The management’s red herring concerning the English department (that it needs to improve and must therefore be relocated to the remotest and most isolated part of the school)  has already been laughed out of court, not least by the English department itself. But there must surely be one member of Copland’s new leadership, or of the newly imposed IEB governing body, or of Mr Pavey’s Children and Families department, who is not yet on holiday and is capable of making at least  a partly convincing rebuttal of Mr Roberts’s  specific allegations.

 On his arrival at Copland, new Head Richard Marshall apparently promised the staff he would not be a ‘Hero Head’ but that he would be ‘transparent’,  and transparency is a quality that Mr John, the IEB and Mr Pavey would all presumably  like to lay claim to. 

However, in the absence of any demonstration of such transparency,  staff, students and parents will have  to come to their own conclusions as to why the Humanities Faculty at Copland is being selected for special treatment by the new management. Below are 5 points any or all of  which currently have wide credence among the staff.  

1.       Humanities is being targeted as a punishment and a warning to others of the consequences  of  legitimately exercising legal democratic rights to dissent.

2.       Humanities is being targeted as a warning to other staff of the consequences of trade union activity under the new regime.

3.       Humanities subjects such as Economics, Law, Psychology, Sociology and Politics are being scrapped in a bid to limit the range of subjects at Copland to the sort of narrow Secondary Modern School curriculum dreamed of by Michael Gove in his Back-to-the-Fifties fantasies.

4.       Copland is being set up ultimately to be a  ‘Grade B’  (or ‘Secondary Modern’)  Academy, catering for those who, in Gove’s plans for a return to selection by national tests ranking children at age 11, come in the lower deciles (10% bands) of ability.  A narrow curriculum will be good enough for these kinds of students.

5.       Achieving the above at Copland (and also the ‘voluntary’ erosion of conditions of service already suggested by the new head) requires that dissent is neutralised and this requires the creation of a climate of fear among  staff.  The interviews Mr John  conducted with Heads of Faculty shortly after arriving ( in which he demanded they name 2 members of their faculty who they would like to see go, and then threatened that they would be the ones  going if they refused) set the tone.  Concocted capability procedures against a large number of staff came next. Refusal to communicate with staff through existing and long-established procedures was there from the start and continues.

There is evidence within the school itself and also in the wider political educational context, both in Brent and nationally, for all of these views.  In the absence of any contrary evidence, or of any specific denial, by the school management or by Brent, either of Mr Roberts’s allegations or of the 5 points set out above, staff can be excused for coming to their own conclusions.

Brent Council face united challenge on imposition of IEB at Copland School

The governing body of Copland High School has joined with unions in challenging Brent Council's intention to  impose an  Interim Executive Board at the school following Ofsted's judgement that the school is failing.

Interim Executive Boards (IEBs) are appointed by the local authority and replace the usual governing body that includes elected parent and staff representatives, community and local authority governors. They are often appointed when the governing body is deemed to have failed but also when the authorities, local and central government,  encounter opposition to plans to forced a school to convert to academy status.

In letters to Dr Krutika Pau, Director of  Children and Families at Brent Council, they argue that an IEB is not necessary and may well be detrimental to the school's interests. The school has already experienced an IEB which was appointed following the loss of senior staff in the wake of the financial mismanagement scandal..

Dima Khazem, Chair of Governors,  writes:

Imposing a new IEB now will probably face opposition from staff at a time when the current GB has worked well in tandem with the JCC to put into effect a voluntary redundancy programme which will see staffing reduced drastically and will achieve significant budget deficit reduction alongside removal of ineffective staff. We are worried that this will delay the momentum of positive change and cause an upheaval which will harm the school, its pupils and the LA at a time of great change for all.

Moreover, research by Browne Jackobson has shown a generally low success rate for the 80 or so interim executive boards that have so far been introduced in maintained schools. LINK

We feel that interim executive boards are unsuccessful because of their interim and undemocratic nature and we therefore are not convinced that this is the best intervention that the LA can make in this instance, especially that it does not mirror what the OFSTED report has recommended.

Khazem concludes:

What this GB has tried to do, with increasing success recently, is to overcome barriers of distrust and build bridges of understanding and a culture of accountability across the school. Yet again, there is a limit to what this GB can do in the time frame it had and the textured, complex and widespread problems it faced. Based on the above, we are in disagreement with the LA that installing an IEB right now is the best course of action. It would be a real shame that when this GB started to understand and exercise its role and remit effectively, it is threatened with removal and gets blamed for a decade of neglect and negligence within and outside the school.

Writing to Brent Council leader Muhammed Butt, and the new lead member for children and families, Hank Roberts National President of the ATL and Brent branch secretary poses a number of questions:

Before you might act in haste to support this (Krutika Pau's proposal for an IEB)  I would ask you to respond to these questions.

1) What actual educational evidence, other than Government propaganda, do you have that turning a school into an academy improves teaching and learning?

2) Why would you seek to ignore the Ofsted Report's recommendation that there be “an external review of Governance” at Copland, which is not an imposition of an IEB?

3) How do you answer the detailed points raised in the Chair of Governors letter, written on behalf of the Governing Body, explaining what had been done and crucial background information?

4) If Brent is claiming to be acting in the best interests of pupils' education then will you be asking the Governors to call a meeting of parents and carers to actually establish their views, or do you intend to have no consultation with parents?

5) As the last IEB at Copland failed to overcome the school's problems, what leads you to believe, and what evidence do have, that it will succeed this time, especially if the staff did not want to co-operate with this imposed undemocratic body with no proper staff or parent representation?

6) Why would you and a Labour Council be acting to implement Gove's policies and do his 'dirty work' for him?

Copland teachers: Why we are striking on Thursday

Copland Community School in Wembley has been told by the DfE that it must become an academy. Unless agreement can be reached for a way forward for the school ATL, NASUWT and NUT members at Copland will be on strike on Thursday 23^rd May 2013 after they voted overwhelmingly for action.

When Ofsted inspected the school in March they put the school in category four; inadequate. This despite the Report stating that, “The building remains in very poor condition. This ... reported ... 2006, 2009 and 2010 inspection reports … classrooms provide a completely unacceptable environment in which to teach and learn. The budget deficit … still stands at around £1 million. The reduction in student numbers ... further budget cuts. The building and the budget are adversely affecting the school’s capacity to provide an adequate education for students.”

Hank Roberts, ATL National President and local Branch Secretary said:

Copland school has suffered enough. If Gove really wanted to help us he would have given us the new school we were promised and which he took away.

We have waited over fours years for the trial of our ex headteacher and other managers who allegedly took £2.7 million from school funds. The trial is in September. Surely they can wait for the judgement? If we got the money back this could be used to help rebuild the damage done to Copland's pupils.

Tom Stone, NASUWT Brent Assistant Secretary said:

Copland school, its pupils and its staff deserve a much better deal. What has happened in the past at Copland is a disgrace and needs addressing properly by the LA and Mr Gove. A total rebuild of the school would be a good start.

 Lesley Gouldbourne Joint NUT Secretary said:

Teachers at Copland have loyally supported their students through years of uncertainty and reduced finances and in appalling learning conditions. Students in return have supported their teachers. There is a future for Copland built on mutual co-operation and support if only the LA and Government will play their part.

Jean Roberts, Joint NUT Secretary said:

The Unions have given an assurance that there will be no disruption to any exams taking place on Thursday. This strike is not against the school and is pupils but in support of them. It is against Michael Gove and the DfE who are undemocratically forcing schools to become academies. A motion of no confidence in his policies was passed by 99.3%  of delegates at the NAHT conference on Saturday. As their President said, 'We cannot tolerate ..the completely unacceptable bullying of heads and governors to turn their schools into academies'.