Not so 'simplistic' after all! Cllr Butt takes up Lib Dem suggestion on CIL with the Labour Government

 

 

From the Brent Infrastructure Funding Statement that went to Brent Cabinet in December 2023

Despite having dismissed Liberal Democrat Leader Anton Georgiou's suggestion that Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) could be used to bridge the funding gap ahead of a new local government finance settlement as 'simplistic', Cllr Butt Labour Leader has written to the Government asking for the flexibility to do just that.

Butt had told Cllr Georgiou, 'To make a simplistic statement that we can use CIL is counter-productive to the conversation.'

He has had been asked straightforwardly, 'Would you support asking the Government  to change the way CIL can be spent?'

There was no direct answer but just over a month later Cllr Butt and Cllr Tatler have written to the Labour Government stating that diminishing budgets meant that councils were looking for innovate ways to raise income:

 

I am therefore writing today to put forward an additional case for flexibility to ease restrictions around the usage of Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) funds, devolving the decision making to local councils to decide how to invest in their local aras, as they see fit. It’s our responsibility, as a dual Labour administration, to get these funds to where they need to go.

 

Infrastructure projects alone cannot address the challenges which local areas and residents face. Greater flexibility in the use of CIL funds would mean that councils can address urgent non-infrastructure needs, allowing this council to pilot and pay for new projects that would meaningfully make a difference. Today, CIL funding cannot be utilised for investing in a new waste enforcement team, or community safety officers, for example. We therefore ought to expand the criteria if what we mean by infrastructure and impact mitigations, allowing for the recruitment and retention of additional staff to keep our borough safe and clean.

 

Easing restrictions does not mean abandoning fiscal responsibility, rather adapting to current realities and the challenges councils are facing. Councils can still practice sound financial management while using CIL more flexibly. Establishing clear guidelines and accountability for the use of CIL funds would ensure that the funds are used effectively and responsibly.

 

I urge the Government to implement these reasoned flexibilities and help us to unlock funding that is sorely needed today

 

This is not so very different to what Anton Georgiou had written earlier to Angela Rayner, Secretary of State for Housing, Councils and Local Government:

 

Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) has the potential to deliver improved infrastructure within local areas but there is a long wait for this. The stringent criteria imposed on the use of CIL makes it far too difficult to use.

 

As a result in the case of the London Borough of Brent the Council in its 2024/25 budget estimates that it will have a staggering £250 million of unused CIL in its reserves at the end of its financial year on 31 March 2025.

 

For years Councils have been pleading with the Conservative Government to set longer term Local Government financial settlements to provide some element of certainty and the ability for Councils to plan ahead. This has fallen on deaf ears.

 

There will inevitably be appeals to the new Labour Government to address this and more importantly to provide more money for local Government. Judging from the statement from the Chancellor this week the financial outlook is tough and the chances of more money for local Government are very slim.

 

There is however something very simple and quick that you could do for Local Government without extra money from the Treasury at this time:

 

Give local councils greater freedom and greater flexibility on how to use CIL for essential services (Revenue and Capital) in their area.

 

Currently the use of main CIL is extremely restrictive and expenditure which is normal in the course of everyday Council business cannot be funded. Brent for example has a massive backlog of road and pavement repairs due to decades of past underspending. Why cannot part of the large CIL pot not be used to tackle this backlog? Who benefits with the money being unspent and simply accumulating and ever growing reserves? It makes no sense at all.

 

At present 15% of CIL is allocated to a Neighbourhood Pot for local residents to allocate. Why not change the rules so that say 42.5% of the remainder is allocated to the expected infrastructure projects and the other 42.5% freed up to be used on essential Revenue and Capital spending to meet the Council’s own priorities.

 

Brent is not the only borough with large amount of unspent CIL. I am convinced that across Local Government the unused CIL pot will amount to many £Billions.

 

So why not do something positive and quick to help Local Government from its current funding crises and at no cost to the Treasury.

 

My colleague Councillor Paul Lorber wrote on this same issue to Michael Gove a few months ago. You won’t be surprised to learn that he received a negative answer which failed to address the issue – which Mr Gove probably failed to grasp.

 

I am hopeful that you not only understand the point I am making but that you are more sympathetic to the plight of Local Government and therefore more determined to free up some of the CIL money and thus help local Council’s to start tackling the backlog of accumulating neglect in their areas.

 

Hopefully, this is a sign of new maturity on Cllr Butt's part. After some reflection and perhaps discussion with colleagues and officers he has recognised that there was merit in the Opposition's suggestion of 'reasoned flexibilities' in the use of CIL. 

 

 

Perhaps it is not too late for a bi-partisan approach to the challenges facing Brent Council and its residents.

Michael Gove warns one of Brent's leading housing associations over 'severe maladministration' findings

 

Wembley Matters was contacted by a Sovereign Network Group (SNG)  leaseholder in Brent who was at the end of his tether because, despite  appealing to the recently merged housing association (Sovereign Housing Association plus Netwrok Housing), his MP and others, has been unable to get satisfaction with a series of complaints about the state of his building, service charges and a £800 excess.

He is clearly not alone. Michael Gove's letter above shows equal frustration and there are clearly other cases.  SNG also features in Barry Gardiner's documentary on leasehold released today LINK.

Closer investigation reveals many complaints over the last year or so LINK:

 

Utterly poor service by this company, it does not care for its clients. I ordered fob keys a month ago and paid for them but they still have not produced them. incompetent staff and a lot of useless bureaucracy to get simple things done. Any new customers avoid this company

 

Missing CCTV cameras for four months. Still paying full service charge for CCTV. Network Homes refused to take accountability for it. And said "it's a mystery". Quick to take the service money though.

 

I would not recommend Network Homes. In the past week we have had no water at all. The fobs haven’t worked in months, homeless people are gaining access and sleeping in the stairwell and service charges have gone up thousands of pounds within a year.

When you call the ‘emergency line’ nothing is done.

They are incompetent.

 

Disgusting organisation, demanding money for services not carried out or carried out in a totally unacceptable way. Check your service charges, they try to charge for things that dont apply. Threaten with court action to force payment out of you, yet are in breach of their own lease for refusing to show proof of work carried out. Avoid buying or renting a home under their management at all costs.

 

 

Network homes have been withholding information on the estate accounts for 4 years. I chase and I’m ignored. What are you hiding, over charging lease holders for work that has not been carried out seems to be a favourite.

 

So it is puzzling that SNG is so well embedded in Brent with the biggest project 1,600 homes in Northwick Park, 654 of which are in phase 1. They also have properties in Electric House in Willesden, Rosemary House, Wood Court and Greenfield  Court;  Print Works in Neasden and Wembley High Road.

In Northwick Park they are partners with Brent Council, Westminster University and the NHS through the government sponsored 'One Public Estate'. LINK

Brent Council used them for feasibility and design processes in Kilburn Square, Windmill Court and Watling Gardens. LINK

Current leaseholders ask if they are fit partners for the Council given the above issues.

 Network Homes moved out of their building at the junction of Olympic Way and Engineers Way into a new HQ  closer to the London Designer Outlook. The vacated building will house a new building for the College of North West London.  The College of North West London Olympic Way/Bridge Road site will be redeveloped as will their Dudden Hill site. Brent Council did a financial deal with United Colleges (who own the college and its land) by offering a bridging loan of £50 million in 2019 LINK.

Since then a rather cryptic note has appeared on Brent Council's Forward Plan indicating a revised sum but that is restricted.  Decisions are left to the Chief Executive in consultation with the Deputy Leader of the Council.

 Note. My ward map indicates that the Wembley Park campus of CNWL is in Wembley Park ward

 

Whether SNG is embedded or enmeshed with Brent Council there are clearly questions to be answered about the Council's involvement with an organisation that is under such heavy criticism.

Greens call for overhaul of education system after results fiasco

Ahead of GCSE results later today, the Green Party has warned the recent fiasco over using an algorithm to determine results illustrates the failings of placing too much emphasis on national examinations and league tables over the learning needs of individual children.

The Greens have now called for an overhaul of the education system in order to  tackle the disadvantage and inequality within it and provide further opportunities to learn throughout life.

Green Party education spokesperson Vix Lowthion, who is also a secondary school teacher on the Isle of Wight, said:

The education system needs a complete overhaul to bring it into the 21st century.

The results fiasco is a clear example of how the current system is not fit for purpose. The mere idea of adjusting results by algorithm in order to fit in with league tables shows just how warped the system has become and how little it prioritises the most important aspect, the students.

As teachers we are nurturing the leaders of tomorrow and so we must stop limiting their potential through high stakes testing which creates unnecessary pressure and instead promote a system of continuous assessment to enhance the learning of each individual child. 

The Green Party has issued a five point plan to overhaul the education system and encourage learning for life:

• Trust teachers and take into account regular centre assessed grades at fixed points throughout the course for GCSE and A level
• Reinstate opportunities for coursework and modular assessment, which was removed by Michael Gove’s reforms
• Scrap league tables of exam results, and instead focus on reporting to parents on a mix of academic, practical and cultural achievements and opportunities for students in our schools
• Evaluate the purpose of education, which is not merely to pass exams, but to equip young people with practical and academic skills for the 21st century. Students do not need a curriculum for the office workers of the past, but to become problem solvers of the future
• Support educational opportunities outside of schools including home learning, adult learning and distance learning

Character building FEAT on a concrete slab in Colindale

The concrete slab viewed through perspex window

Purple marks the proposed school site

Brent's new Cabinet will tomorrow  consider a proposed new free school to be built at the back of the new Morrisons Supermarket on the Oriental City regeneration site in the Edgware Road.

Both the design of the school and the chosen free school provider are likely to be controversial.  The Cabinet papers state:

The site comprises a concrete slab at first floor level with parking beneath.

It is proposed that the Council have a 999 lease interest in the land which it will then lease to the free school provider for 125 years at a peppercorn rent on the basis of the 'template' lease which the Secretary of State is empowered to grant.

The site is physically 'constrained' so it is proposed that the school will be on two levels (on top of the slab) with a roof top playspace for the 420 pupils as there is no space for a playground.  Add to this that fact that the school is very close to the traffic pollution of the Edgware Road and it is not exactly ideal.

The free school provider is Floreat Education Academies Trust (FEAT) of which more later. To enable them to take pupils from September 2016 the Council wish to grant FEAT a 3 year lease on the former Kingsbury Pupil Referral Unit in Church Lane, Kingsbury. This was refurbished to provide additional temporary infant class places but the Cabinet paper states 'but has not been used for classes to date as demand has not required it.' I also understand existing primary schools were relectant to take on the additional unit as a 'satellite'.

The fact that 'demand has not required it' but somehow there will be a demand when it opens as a free school  is a little strange.  It is very close to Fryent Primary School but a long way from the Oriental City site so it is difficult to see how there will be continuity between the two sites in terms of actual pupils. Pupils who live in Church Lane will have to take two buses or a bus (302) and a walk to get to the Morrisons site.

The Church Lane site

Never mind. Floreat seem to have assumed that the Brent Cabinet will deliver the goods. They have already set up a website for the Church Lane school LINK

So why do I sound a note of caution about FEAT?

It was founded by James O'Shaughnessy, (now Lord) former Director of Policy for  David Cameron. He was a visting fellow at the Govite Policy Exchange, consultant to Pearson, and an Honorary Senior Research fellow at the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtue.  LINK

He has described current education 'reforms' as a 'huge battle in an already very long war.'

Thanks to Powerbase for the following information.

Ian Moore, Director of Education, was seconded from PwC to the prime minister's education delivery team in 2006 and a senior adviser to the Conservative Party's 'Implementation Team' 2008-10,

And then there is Annaliese Briggs, who at 27 survived for just 6 months at Pimlico Primary School (one of Education Minister John Nash's chain) having no teaching qualification. Nevertheless she is in charge of FEAT's curriculum delivery!

See Powerbase for more but you get the picture.

So what is all this 'character building' stuff?

Imported from the US (there is a statement from the US Secretary of State for Defense on the  Jubilee Centre's website LINK) it is rapidly becoming a government supported industry penetrating into our schools. This is their rather dull film about the programme:



 

An article by Matthew Bennett on the Local Schools Network website LINK explains some of the background:

‘No excuses’ charter schools are a product of the test-based accountability systems that have dominated American public education since George W. Bush’s first term.  In the same way, English academy chains like ARK Schools and the Harris Federation developed within the culture of ‘hyper-accountability’ – to use Warwick Mansell’s term – created by the Education Act of 1988.  The ARK Schools chain is, in fact, closely modelled on the KIPP ‘network’ of charter schools.  Both target the inner cities.  Both argue that severe economic and social deprivation is ‘no excuse’ for educational underperformance.  Both aim to demonstrate – by dramatically boosting test and exam scores – that privatisation can be the miracle cure for decades of failure by state or public schools.  Both have a surprising number of financiers on their boards (of the eight trustees on the ARK Schools board, five are hedge fund managers;  none has any background in education). 

The new character education cannot really be understood without looking at the methods of behaviour management used in ‘no excuses’ schools and their English imitators.  These schools love mnemonics – displayed in every classroom, chanted by students – and their mnemonics are quite revealing.  SLANT:  Sit up, Listen, Ask questions, Nod, Track the speaker.  SMARTS:  Stand and sit straight, Make good choices, Always 100% on task, Respect, Track the speaker, Shine.  HALL:  Hallway heads and eyes forward, Arms with finger on lips, Legs straight, Lips sealed.  The rules cover the smallest details of students’ behaviour, and the slightest infraction of the rules – for example, failing to maintain eye contact with the teacher at all times – meets with immediate punishment (this is what one defender of the model calls ‘sweating the small stuff’).  Sanctions include detentions, a period wearing a special ‘miscreant’s shirt’, or a deduction from the student’s account of ‘KIPP dollars’.  (In a training video aimed at teachers in charter schools, a student is told at one point:  ‘Laughing is ten dollars’.)  Some charter schools push the principle to insane extremes.  A list of complaints made by parents against a ‘no excuses’ charter in Texas, Nashville Prep, includes the following:  ‘One student received a demerit for saying, “bless you” when a classmate sneezed.  He also received detention (1) for saying “excuse me” while stepping over another child’s backpack and (2) for picking up a pencil for a classmate’.

James O'Shaughnessy is an advisor to the US Character Lab, co-founded by Dave Levin who also co-founded the KIPP network of charter schools.

It looks as if Katharine Birbalsingh will soon have a rival in the Brent 'scariest teacher' league.

Meanwhile I hear that Gladstone School's Maria Evans and Jim Gatten LINK are to move to Oxford in July.  Gladstone has announced that it is now not in a position to open to year 7 pupils in September as no site has been found.

Paul Phillips, in post since January 2014 as Principal Designate continues in his role.  Accounts have not been filed since 2014 and there have been recent changes in directorships.

Gladstone has yet to educate a single child but has spent £175,000 on 'educational operations'.

Click on image to enlarge

Hunt's neo-liberalism distorts his understanding of education policy

Tristram Hunt's Guardian attack on the Green party's education policy LINK , characteristising it as 'total madness', seems to have spectacularly misfired today. Guardian readers looking up the detail have come back to comment favourably on the policy.

Our policy does of course mark a clear break with the neo-liberal policies of the three main parties which support competition and marketisation of schools based on what Chomsky recently called the 'grading of students and teachers'.

Labour of course began the marketisation of schools with their sponsored academies and this, along with the privatisation of the NHS, was a key element in Blair's New Labour strategy.  Hunt, along with Lord Adonis, is essentially a Blairite and we cannot expect him to offer a fundamental critique of what the system, instigated by them,  has become.

So what is this 'madness' Hunt has found:

Delaying the start of formal education until the age of six

There are many countries in the world where children start later than in England and Wales and achieve just as well, if not better, with less anxiety. The Green Party takes account of such evidence and understands the importance of play and exploration in early childhood rather than the testing and ranking at ever earlier ages supported by the neo-liberal parties.

Ending SAT tests in Primary Schools

SATS are essentially a way of grading teachers and schools putting them and their students under intense pressure. This has had the effect of narrowing the curriculum, deskilling teachers who are under pressure to 'teach to the test' and removes much of the joy from teaching and learning. Greens have a much broader view of what constitutes education.

Hunt suggests that children's progress would no longer be monitored, but of course SATs are not the only way to monitor and evaluate progress and tell us little about the individual child compared with other systems.

Abolition of Ofsted will end accountability

The  Green Party would replace Ofsted with a collaborative system ending much of the stress, illness and rushed judgements associated with Ofsted:

The Green Party will instate a system of local accountability using continuous, collaborative assessment of schools. We would replace OFSTED with an independent National Council of Educational Excellence which would have regional officers tasked to work closely with Local Authorities. The National Council would be closely affiliated with the National Federation for Educational Research (NFER).

Where pupils’ attainment and progress is reported as part of a school’s holistic report to parents and the wider community it will include assessments, including value-added, moderated by the National Council of Education Excellence and the Local Authority’s School Improvement Service as well as the school’s own self evaluation.

Education cannot compensate for society
 
In a variation of Michael Gove's 'enemies of promise' labelling of his opponents, Hunt suggests that Natalie Bennett speaks the language of 'low aspiration and defeatism' because she recognises that schools cannot compensate for all the ills of an unequal society.

This is what Natalie actually said:

I am gravely concerned about low exam results and high dropout rates from children from disadvantaged backgrounds. But I understand that even wonderful schools can’t fully compensate for severe poverty and stress at home - which is why making the minimum wage a living wage, affordable and warm homes, and ensuring decent benefits are available to all who needs them, are education issues as well as social justice issues

More than 40 years in teaching and school governance has certainly taught me the importance of material conditions, and I would add a daily hot meal and a place to study to the list. These make an impact on levels of energy, motivation and self-worth. We have to work on both improving education and improving living conditions and increasing equality.

The focus on individual progression in education with its blame for failure on pupils, parents, teachers and schools, serves to let politicians off the hook over increased inequality, child poverty and inadequate housing.

What Hunt didn't say

Hunt failed to attack the Green Party's policy to end academies and free schools, integrate existing ones back into the Local Authority system, strengthen LAs through better funding and increased democratic accountability,  restore LA's ability to build new schools where they are needed and end Performance Related Pay for teachers.

Perhaps they were too popular for him to advertise?

Green Party Education policy is HERE

Another reason why a politicised Ofsted is not fit for purpose: the Green's alternative

The Guardian has revealed that so-called 'super head' Rachel de Souza of the Inspiration Trust, who has Michael Gove as a groupy, received advance notice of Ofsted inspections LINK

This is just one more example of the politicisation of Ofsted and its harnessing to serve the aims of the Global Education Reform Movement (GERM) for the privatisation of education.

The Green Party recognised this as its Spring Conference this year and approved a policy to replace Ofsted with a body based on school improvement through collaboration.

Here are extracts from the policy:
 

--> ED056 The Green Party will instate a system of local accountability using continuous, collaborative assessment of schools. We would replace OFSTED with an independent National Council of Educational Excellence which would have regional officers tasked to work closely with Local Authorities. The National Council would be closely affiliated with the National Federation for Educational Research (NFER).

ED057 Where pupils’ attainment and progress is reported as part of a school’s holistic report to parents and the wider community it will include assessments, including value-added, moderated by the National Council of Education Excellence and the Local Authority’s School Improvement Service as well as the school’s own self evaluation.

ED076 Secondary and college students will have a right to attend meetings of the Governing Body and members of the elected School Council will have voting rights. Governing Bodies in primary schools will have the duty to regularly consult with the elected pupil School Council.

ED077 In accordance with Green Party philosophy the running of the school will be devolved as much as possible to the school within the above guidelines.

ED078 The Local Authority and National Council of Educational Excellence will be involved in monitoring the structures to ensure there is consistency of standards and level of involvement and to help to share best practice.

R.I.P COPLAND COMMUNITY SCHOOL 1952- 2014

Professionals and Mercenaries
 

Guest blog by ‘All in this together’.

Richard Marshall, the interim Copland Head hired by the Gove/ Pavey/IEB coalition to do their dirty work for them, this week  gave a new meaning to the much-abused word ‘professional’ when, in his last-day-of-term address to staff (and his first official recognition that any member of staff had left the school all year) he used it to describe the manner in which staff at Copland had responded to the one hundred and thirty three redundancies he had diligently imposed on the school since last July. By ‘professional’, Mr Marshall presumably meant that his sackings had been achieved without loss of life and, ultimately, with a kind of cowed resignation from the staff. In George Osborne’s  would-be-macho world of balding male willy-wagglers, where’ tough’ decisions have to be made with a fearless lack of concern for the comfort or security of any individuals (except themselves), this version of ‘professionalism’  can be framed as some kind of brave and realistic acceptance of the unavoidable new realities. 
                                                   

The inconvenient truth, however, is that Copland staff did not behave at all in the manner which management clones mean when they employ the weasel word ‘professional’  to mean ‘that of which I approve’.  In reality, Copland teachers  used their collegiate solidarity to resist at every stage what Richard Marshall and his sidekick  Nick John had been hired to do. When the pair arrived last July and demanded of Copland Heads of Department that they nominate people they wanted sacked, apart from the odd shameful exception they refused to do so. When the Heads of Department were then threatened that they themselves would go unless they provided names, they still refused. That resistance, an expression of the self-confident autonomous decision-making which is the mark of real professionalism, set the tone which continued throughout the year. Teachers at all levels (except senior management, inevitably) have been united in their action against the surrendering of the school to Ark Inc and its removal from local democratic accountability.   In the end, the fight was lost, as any fight by a few hundred teachers, parents and pupils  against Cameron plus Gove plus their friends on Brent Council plus a hand-picked and craven IEB plus a couple of hired ‘tough’ guys was always going to be lost. 

However, there are defeats and there are defeats.  Ark and the spivs who own it have grabbed Copland. They will give it a new name and claim the credit for the new  building (which, in fact, was planned to go ahead whoever ran the school).  But Gove has gone from the DfE and, as a result of his perceived ‘toxicity’ in the eyes of the electorate (in large part a result of the loud and active resistance of teachers like those at Copland) his hopes of leading the Tory party, and God help us, the country, have gone too.  

Copland staff can feel  proud of the fight they put up in defence of the jobs of their colleagues (including dinner ladies, classroom assistants, mentors, support staff, sports coaches, caretakers, cleaners as well as classroom teachers).  Their professionalism was manifested in action not in apathetic quiescence and  this kind of professional engagement and concern  is a crucially important part of the checks and balances in any democratic society’s resistance to a bullying centralised state. 

So ‘professional’ is certainly what the great majority of Copland staff have been, particularly in face of the despondency and disillusionment which they inevitably felt as they watched their various ‘Leaders’ abandon them. But to use the word ‘professional’ in the way Mr Marshall used it on Wednesday was an insult.  However, there is another variant of ‘professional’’s  many shades of meaning  and it relates to an any activity performed primarily for financial gain. At this point the word almost takes on the meaning of ‘mercenary’, where any moral qualms on the part of the people hired to carry out the activity can be silenced by, to misquote a great British politician of the past, ‘stuffing their mouths with ten pound notes’. There were  people in the hall at Copland on Wednesday who maybe were worthy of such an appellation; but it was certainly not those teachers and ex-teachers who were having to listen to that ill-judged  speech.

Congratulations to all the staff, parents and pupils who fought so hard and persistently to prevent forced academisation. Although you didn't succeed it was a battle worth fighting and an example and inspiration to others.

Martin Francis 

Gove has gone but we must widen the battle to take on the GERM

There was delight in Brent schools yesterday when the news of Michael Gove's demotion filtered through to staffrooms and classrooms.

It soon became clear that his replacement might well be 'more of the same' but there is no doubt of the personal antipathy that Michael Gove has engendered amongst teachers and many parents.

Now the campaign must move on to challenging the Global Education Reform Movement, more or less supported by the three main parties, which is responsible for the marketisation of schooling. This is a vehicle for the privatisation of schools, giving away public assets to private companies for profit; the harnessing of education to the needs of the market; the conversion of pedagogy into an industrial process of delivery, testing and grading;  teachers' loss of professional autonomy and creativity and the robbing of children of their childhood.

The Green Party understands this and will be part of that campaign.

Birmingham affair reinforces need for accountability through LAs

Today's  report on Birmingham schools has revealed many contradictions but the one that strikes me most is that some of the most serious allegations are about an academy school which of course is allowed to ignore the national curriculum and exercise its own 'freedom from local authority control'.

Ignoring that Gove is to require all schools to promote 'British values' that could easily become, given Gove's record on history become 'Gove values' or 'Daily Mail' values. Poor kids, but not far away from some of Katharine Birbalsingh's comments about what will be promoted at her Micheala Free School.

I welcome then the calm and balanced comment from Christine Blower, General Secretary of the NUT:

From an unsigned and undated letter has grown this so-called ‘Trojan Horse’ affair. 

The highly inflammatory deployment of an anti-terrorism chief to head up the inquiry, the unprecedented and clearly political inspection of 21 schools by Ofsted, and the public squabble between Theresa May and Michael Gove has not been positive for Birmingham schools and the children they educate. 

There seems to be a redefinition of ‘extremism’ from the Secretary of State for Education, and as yet lots of speculation and not a little hyperbole.
What all this does show is that if schools sever their connection with a local authority, the levers to monitor or effect change available at local level are lost. 

What is clearly needed is local authorities with powers to monitor and support schools, clear national agreement on the importance of Personal, Social, Health and Economic education (PSHE) and the need to promote community cohesion and the aim to create schools in which individuals feel at ease with themselves and are respectful of difference. Knee jerk reactions from government on the basis of personal predilections are not what is required. 

Any issues which arise in a school should be capable of discussion and resolution at a local level and be addressed speedily and proportionately.
The charge of Islamophobia will stick to this affair unless the schools and their wider communities are seen to be engaged in the solution rather than castigated as being the problem.

Michaela Free School asbestos fears demand answers from Birbalsingh and Gove

The scene at Arena House earlier today

Brent Teachers' Panel has written to Katharine Birbalsingh, headteacher designate of Michaela Academy Free School and Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Education, seeking information on the asbestos removal programme at Arena House, the ex-College of North West London's Wembley Park building, which was built at a time when asbestos was widely used.

Their concern has been heightened by the fact that Michaela's website says that the contractor Willmott Dixon is working to tight timelines:

Willmott Dixon is our appointed contractor and a lot of work has been going on behind the scenes such as site surveys, detailing of designs and securing planning permission. With all of this now in place, the team is currently preparing to start work on site in just a few weeks’ time.Our contractors have a great deal of experience in preparing free schools to open (often on shorter timelines than ours) [My emphasis] and the Education Funding Agency is involved every step of the way to ensure that everything required will be in place for us to welcome our first intake in September.

Over the next few months in the lead-up to the opening of the school, Willmott Dixon will be stripping out the existing building,  [My emphasis] creating new spaces that meet our specific requirements and installing new IT systems and furniture in preparation for our new school. The work on site will then be the end product of months of planning and we will keep you updated as Arena House undergoes its exciting transformation.

The Teachers' Panel's concern was heightened when they discovered that Willmott Dixon was one of three firms, along with Marks and Spencer, fined for unsafe removal of asbestos during refurbishment works at the M&S store in Reading: LINK

The principal contractor at the Bournemouth store, Wilmott Dixon, failed to plan, manage and monitor removal of asbestos-containing materials.

It did not prevent the possibility of asbestos being disturbed by its workers in areas that had not been surveyed extensively.

 The court heard that the client, Marks and Spencer plc, did not allocate sufficient time and space for the removal of asbestos-containing materials at the Reading store.

There was a considerable amount of debris evident  in the stripped Arena House classrooms today

 The Brent Teachers' Panel letter reads:

Dear Ms Birbalsingh and Mr Michael Gove,

I am writing on behalf of Brent Teachers’ Panel, representing teacher unions in all types of Brent schools (community, grant maintained, independent, academy and free schools) to request information regarding the management and/or removal of asbestos at the site which is being refurbished for use as Michaela Academy Free School.

Our reason for requesting this information relates to my rights as appointed safety rep and elected health and safety adviser for the NUT representing some 1700 member teachers in Brent, some of whom may work at this school. As you will know, under the Safety Reps and Safety Committee Regulations 1977, an appointed safety rep has the right to see documentation and reports associated with works in a building which may affect the safety of his or her members. In addition to this, and as Brent teachers, we are also genuinely concerned for the safety of children and others in our community.

Please could you therefore provide me with the following:

·        A copy or sight of the asbestos refurbishment/demolition (Type 3) survey carried out for Arena House with associated material and priority risk assessments

·        A local asbestos management plan for the school which will be used when it opens in Arena House in September

·        An explanation as to the choice/selection/tendering process of the contractor Willmott Dixon, bearing in mind that they were found guilty in court of contravening sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 between 5 February 2007 and 28 February 2007, and bearing in mind also that when they took this to appeal on the grounds of small risk to health, the appeal was lost in May 2012.

I would like to assure you of our best intentions and that we only have our members’ and pupils’ safety and wellbeing in mind with this request. The Brent Teachers’ Panel has had to deal with the death of a school pupil and enforcement notices for poor asbestos management in the past, in Brent schools, so we always have safety foremost in our minds.

I look forward to hearing from you on this matter.

Jenny Cooper,

Brent NUT Health & Safety Adviser,

Health & Safety Adviser to Brent Teachers’ Panel

Elected London Representative on the National NUT Health & Safety Working Group

Brent Appointed School Health & Safety Representative

Although free schools are independent of the council, Brent Council does have overall responsibility for the health and well-being of Brent pupils and so should intervene to make sure that this will be a safe environment for pupils and staff.

Katharine Birbalsingh menaces parents as well as pupils

I have already reported on Katharine Birbalsingh's letter to parents and the infamous black and white shoe lace sermon LINK which made some of them refuse the offer of a place at Michaela Free School.

She is at it again this week in a interview with the Kilburn Times LINK. She puts forward her ideas about education which appear to rest on a model of private education which is pre-Dr Arnold LINK and certainly treats pupils as empty vessels to be filled by their superiors.

“Our ethos is very much about teaching children. We do not believe in teachers being facilitators of learning and that’s too often the case.

“We believe in desks being in rows, children looking to the front at their teachers.

“We believe the teacher is a fountain of knowledge who should impart it onto the children.”

In fact the BKT quotes her as wanting to 'install' values in pupils which makes them sound like machines and not people at all.

The school will offer daily behaviour logs on pupils which they will expect parents to check on a regular basis:

“The idea is that if the child has been listening in class, they will get a perfect score, There isn’t just homework for the children but homework for parents too. If they don’t complete their homework, they’ll be hearing from me.”

It looks as if Birbalsingh's missionary zeal and her Thatcher/Gove conviction that she knows best will be targeted at parents as much as pupils.

Watch this space.