Evening Standard covers Gladstone Park, Roke and Thomas Gamuel resistance to forced academy status

Parents join forces to fight academy takeovers

Campaign: families protest outside Gladstone Park primary in Brent

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From today's Evening Standard LINK

Parents of pupils at London schools under threat of being forced to become academies are uniting to fight the plans.

A growing number of schools are at risk of compulsory takeover by private sponsors following unsatisfactory Ofsted reports. Parents from three primaries are working together to combat the plans and are due to contact campaigners at a fourth. They say the move is “politically-driven, disproportionate and undemocratic”.

At Gladstone Park primary in Brent, families have accused Education Secretary Michael Gove of setting the “attack dogs” on them and held a protest outside the school this weekend.

The school received an inadequate Ofsted report before Christmas and governors were told a sponsor would be chosen to take over the running of the school within weeks.

Roke primary in Croydon and Thomas Gamuel primary in Walthamstow are also on the “hit list” after inadequate Ofsted reports. Parents at the schools argue the reports are a “blip”
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Alex Colas, whose daughter goes to Gladstone Park, said: “The Government has set the attack dogs on us. There is a sense we are being picked on. Bullied is a term that was used.” Parents at Gladstone Park dispute the Ofsted report. The school has previously been rated as “good”.

Mr Colas said they were getting advice from protesters at Downhills in Tottenham, who failed to stop the school becoming an academy last year. There are plans to contact Thomas Gamuel school where 180 parents have signed a petition against academy proposals.

A Department for Education spokeswoman said: “We cannot just stand by if a school is failing children. We need to make changes quickly.”

She added that Ofsted’s report and representations from Gladstone Park were being considered before making a decision.

Dogs not consulted on new Control Orders

Details of the proposals on Dog Control Orders have now been published. They will be going to the Council Executive for approval on November 14th.  There has been some opposition from professional dog walkers to the restriction on the number of dogs walked to six per person, with some walkers and the people who employ them arguing there should be no restriction at all. However other respondents suggested a limit of four dogs per person.

The document notes that this is not the same as a limit on the number of dogs walked together. This means that several individuals walking together could have a combined total of more than six dogs. There is a possibility that professional dogs walkers could avoid the restriction if they got a friend or two to accompany them. Clearly this will need to be monitored but overall the restriction seems to be sensible and a way of maximising the enjoyment and safety of open spaces such as Fryent Country Park and the Welsh Harp.

The control order instructing that dogs be kept on a lead in some areas mainly applies to children's playgrounds, sports areas and special areas such as the Roe Green Walled Garden. The report makes it clear that dogs do not have to be kept on a lead in the whole of Gladstone Park s some had claimed.

There is a lovely straight-faced sentence in the consultation report:

It is not possible to consult directly with dogs that may be affected.

The Impact Needs Assessment, including details of the consultation response can be found HERE and a list of the parks and playgrounds where dogs will be required to be kept on a lead in part of the space or the whole area can be found HERE