Downhills Primary carpet Lord Harris

On Saturday, about 50 parents and children from Downhills Primary and other local  Haringey schools had a ‘carpet time’ in Carpetright, Tottenham Hail to protest against the Secretary of State’s attempts to force our school (and at least one other Haringey primary) to become an academy sponsored by Lord Harris.  Lord Harris has donated millions of pounds to the Tory party and is described as a ‘close friend’ by Prime Minister David Cameron; he made his fortune selling carpets, not educating children.  We thought that if Lord Harris wants to take over our school, we should take over his shop for a short while.  The children listened to the story of ‘The Magic Carpet Seller’ who came to realise that children cannot be mass produced and manufactured in the way that carpet can.  We left the shop after ‘carpet time’ and assembled outside to sing our campaign song ‘Save our school’.  Thanks to Hazel Gould for writing the fantastic story and Andy Graves for the illustrations.

Brent Labour's poor geography

Comments are closed on the Brent Labour blog LINK otherwise I would have posted a correction on the site.

They state that Labour Barnhill by-election candidate, Michael Pavey is 'the Chair of Wembley Primary School in Barnhill'. In fact of course Wembley Primary is not in Barnhill but in the heart of Preston ward. Michael lives in Kilburn.

Will Brent Labour sell-out on free schools?

In January it appeared that Brent Labour was ready to gear up to defend community schools when they held an Education Conference for members and Labour governors on academies and free schools.  They decided to be more proactive in making the argument for schools to remain within the Brent 'family of schools' working with the local authority, rather than to convert to academy status. LINK

I welcomed this move but it appears that Brent Council officers have stepped in quickly to thwart any attempt at independent thinking. On Monday in a presentation to the Labour Group Brent Council officers recommended that Brent Council should collaborate with the Coalition's free school policy and actively seek partners to set up free schools.  It is unlikely that they would have been such a move without at least the tacit support of Ann John, Labour leader.  John was late for the Education Conference as she and Muhammed Butt were at an Area Consultative Forum making their presentation on the budget.

The suggestion provoked a lot of discussion at the Labour Group but no decisions were taken.  It will now go to the LGC on Thursday as an emergency item.  It will be interesting to see if Labour members let Brent Council officers dictate policy, or whether they take a stand on Michael Gove's  policy that undermines local authority school provision and commandeers  a disproportionate slice of the education budget.

Meanwhile Brent Council's provision of school improvement services will be discussed with governors at two meetings (Wednesday March 14th 10am-Noon, Thursday 22nd March 2012 7pm-9pm). Unfortunately the latter coincides with the Dollis Hill by-election which will rule attendance out for quite a few people.

The two issues are connected because one of the arguments for academy conversion or free schools is that local education authorities are now so weak that they cannot provide adequate services and they they do not represent good value.

Brent Council is proposing that in 2013-14 it only offers a core statutory service which will be provided free to schools. Everything else will be subject to 'self-funded trading arrangements' which means that schools will have to make their own arrangements and pay for them themselves.  Apart from amounting to an actual cut in the schools' budgets this also removes a major part of the argument for staying with the local authority.

Brent Council seems to be in the process of opting out of its education authority role unless urgent action is taken by those who support community schools and democratic accountability.

'The Mouse that Roared' 3 - Can Gove be beaten?

'The Mouse that Roared': Downhills Primary School takes on Michael Gove

Michael Gove is trying to force Downhills Primary School and others in Haringey to become academies. Little did he realise how the local community would rise up against his plans. This afternoon parents, grandparents, teachers, anti-cuts activists, youth and children  marched from Downhills to Haringey Civic Centre to defend democratically accountable community schools.

They were joined by Haringey Anti-Cuts Campaign, Haringey Anti Academies Alliance, Haringey Trades Council and NUT Teacher Associations from across the capital. They received warm support from the locals out shopping and those waving from windows above the shops and the balconies of flats.

It was a spirited demonstration led by the sheer energy of the many children took part. This is the sort of determined broad-based, community demonstration, that we need to see to protect our local schools.

Congratulations Haringey!

Here are some extracts from the song lyrics (Downhills Campaign with James Redwood and Hazel Gould)

Save Our School

Save our school! Save our  school!

This is an S.O.S. to common sense,

Get us out of this mess,

And help us save our school!

Academy or communiyy?

Big business or diversity?

I know which I'd rather see,

So listen to our voice!

Save our school! Save our school!

This is an S.O.S. to common sense,

Get us out of this mess,

And help us save our school!

Our school is a family -

It's not for sale:

Not a commodity.

Hear us sing now in harmony,

And listen to our voice!

Save our school! Save our  school!

This is an S.O.S. to common sense,

Get us out of this mess,

And help us save our school!

You say you want  more parent choice,

"Let local people have a voice",

This is your Big Society:

Listen to our community,

And help us save our school!

This is an S.O.S. to common sense,

Get us out of this mess,

And help us save our school!

Please help save Downhills School.

This is what a real community school looks like! Support Downhills' fight against Gove

I don't mind telling you that this video moved me. It sums up all of what is best about primary schools and how they can bring a community together. Michael Gove doesn't know what he has taken on!

There's a demonstration supporting the school's fight against being forced to become an academy next Saturday January 28th