1 in 14 secondary students have Covid: education unions unite in powerful call for additional safety measures in schools

 

From the Guardian

 

Five education unions have written to the Secretary of State for Education, Nadhim Zahawi, asking him to urgently reconsider the reintroduction of additional safety measures in schools, given the rising rates of Covid infection and absence among school students.

 

The five unions – GMB, NASUWT, NEU, UNISON and UNITE – will also be writing to all local authorities and directors of public health asking them to consider measures in their local areas.

 

The unions have pointed to measures now being readopted in several local authority areas in response to rising cases, including social distancing measures, reintroduction of bubbles, avoidance of large gatherings such as assemblies and meetings, and reintroduction of face coverings in secondary schools.

 

The unions have warned that without such measures, students’ education and the health of students, their families and school staff will all be damaged unnecessarily.

 

Avril Chambers, GMB National Officer, said: "Yet again we appear to have denial of the facts from this Government. Covid cases among school pupils are growing exponentially and it is clear further mitigation measures are needed immediately. School staff have kept our schools open throughout the pandemic: they deserve to stay safe and our children deserve not to have their education interrupted any more than it already has been. The minister needs to act now."

 

Patrick Roach, General Secretary, NASUWT said: “As cases rise, ministers need to look again at supporting schools with onsite testing into the spring term, rather than relying on home testing, which is less effective. There is an urgent need for the Government to consider reinstating the requirement for pupils to self-isolate if they are in close contact with someone who has tested positive. Proportionate safety measures and appropriate support for schools are essential in breaking the continuing chain of virus transmission.”

 

Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretary, National Education Union, said: ‘We are concerned that the Government is standing by while COVID cases surge across schools. It is evident that more needs to be done, and sooner rather than later, to prevent further massive disruption to children’s education, caused either by children contracting covid-19 or covid-related staff absence. The most effective way of keeping children in educatiois to do more now to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in schools.’

 

Jon Richards, UNISON assistant general secretary, said: “Ministers must do all they can to stop continued disruption to classroom learning as infections rise. To offer pupils and staff greater protection, face masks must return right away, along with school bubbles and other sensible precautions that were ditched. Air filters are also key to limiting the virus spread and ensuring pupils have a more stable academic year.”

 

Jim Kennedy, Unite national officer for education, said: “Education secretary Nadhim Zahawi has a great opportunity to reset the safety agenda for schools, following the departure of Gavin Williamson. With winter fast approaching and with Covid still rampant the whole range of measures to keep school children safe needs to be deployed – the rising level of infections in schools demand it.”

 

The full text of the letter is as follows:

 

The Rt Hon Nadhim Zahawi MP

Secretary of State for Education

Department for Education

20 Great Smith Street

London

SW1P 3BT 8 October 2021

 

Dear Secretary of State

 

We are writing as unions representing school leaders, teachers and support staff to urge you to give all education settings the guidance and resources they need to keep pupils safely learning for the rest of this term. We began this term hoping for better times and a more normal feel across the education system but, as the weeks have gone by it has become clear that the DfE guidance published on 23 August requires urgent updating.

 

Thresholds in the DfE contingency framework for even seeking advice following cases are set too high; meaning that cases can already be spreading across a school before additional measures are considered.

 

Government data shows that confirmed Covid-19 cases amongst school-aged children surged to 102,000 on 30 September, a 67 per cent rise since 16 September. Over 204,000 pupils were absent from school on 30 September for covid-related reasons. Staff absence is also impacting on education with some children suffering disruption as a result of staff absence, and staff and leaders under enormous strain as a result.

 

It is unclear when the impact of the vaccination programme for 12- to 15-year-olds will begin to be felt and so in the meantime more needs to be done to prevent the spread.

 

Many other countries in Europe that have kept in place proportionate mitigation measures in schools, such as face coverings and quarantine of close contacts whilst rolling out a vaccination programme, and have not experienced the back-to-school surge in cases that we have seen in England.

 

In addition, a growing number of councils are now using the freedoms they have under the Department for Education guidance to bring in additional mitigations in schools. This reflects their responsibilities for public health, and also under health and safety legislation.

 

Staffordshire County Council for example is encouraging all schools to introduce a range of measures including to stop whole-school assemblies and bring back classroom bubbles and face coverings; all close contacts to get a PCR test; and reintroduction of staggered start, finish and lunch times because it is "time to be proactive" about rising cases.

 

Additional mitigations have been recommended in areas including Cambridgeshire, City of Wolverhampton Council, Cumbria County Council and in some London boroughs. For example, in Cumbria, siblings of children diagnosed with Covid should be kept at home until their test comes back negative.

 

These are all important measures that we believe need to be implemented across all schools. Combined with a relentless focus on ventilation, with use of HEPA filters where ventilation cannot be improved in any other way (a focus which will reap benefits far beyond the end of the pandemic) these measures could make a real difference in England.

 

Without a change of direction, we risk damaging the education of thousands of children at some point before Christmas. The health of some children, but particularly that of vulnerable staff, parents or grandparents, could be compromised.

 

This is an urgent problem, and we look forward to your swift response. We would also welcome the opportunity for an urgent meeting with you to discuss these matters further.

 Jenny Cooper, Co-Secretary of Brent National Education Union told Wembley Matters:

 We asked Brent Council officers to bring in additional measures in schools that reach the DfE threshold. But they appear to be toeing the government line of minimum disruption to schools so no return to bubbles etc. However we know from our members that in the long term such an approach causes more disruption.

NEU, NASUWT and Rebecca Long-Bailey tell PM 'no re-opening' until tests met

Battle lines are being drawn tonight following Johnson's confusing announcement which totally ignored the views of education unions over the re-opening of schools. The NEU has warned members to expect an email survey tonight. Here in Brent we need to hear from the Lead Member for schools, Cllr Amir Agha, whether he supports an early return to school even if the 5 sensible tests are not met.

This is what the NEU said a short while ago:

Commenting on the Prime Minister’s announcement on changes to lockdown, Dr Mary Bousted, Joint General Secretary of the National Education Union, said:

“We think that the announcement by the Government that schoolsmay reopen from June 1 with reception and years 1 and 6 is nothing short of reckless.

“Coronavirus continues to ravage communities in the UK and the rate of Covid-19 infection is still far too great for the wider opening of our schools.

“A study published last week by the University of East Anglia suggested that school closures are the single most effective way of suppressing the spread of the virus.

“If schools are to re-open, we need the Government to meet the five tests we have set to keep children, their families and our staff safe.

“There must be much lower numbers of Covid-19 cases, with extensive arrangements for testing and contact tracing to keep it that way. This test has manifestly not been met.

“We must have a national plan for social distancing, hygiene, appropriate PPE and regular testing to ensure our schools and colleges don’t become hot spots for Covid-19. This test has manifestly not been met.

“And there must be plans drawn up to protect vulnerable staff, or those who live with vulnerable people, to stop more educators or members of their families dying of this dreadful disease.

“We are supported in this by nearly 400,000 staff and parents who have signed our petition to reopen schools only when it is safe. And Parentkind, one of the largest parents’ groups in the UK, back our tests

“We have written three letters to the Government for the science around school reopening, to share the modelling it is using and discuss the concerns raised by our five tests. We have received no reply.

“If schools are re-opened to blatant breaches of health and safety, we will strongly support our members who take steps to protect their pupils, their colleagues and their families. The worst outcome of any wider re-opening of schools is a second spike of Covid-19 infection.

“Our members care deeply about the children they teach – and no-one is more aware of the struggles faced by vulnerable pupils, or those from vulnerable families, than their teachers. If schools cannot safely re-open, we need other ways of supporting those children. For instance, the better weather gives us a chance for some education to take place outdoors, where children are least likely to pick up infection.

The NEU will survey its members immediately after the Prime Minister has spoken to gauge their reaction to this announcement.

“We urge the Government to follow the example of the Welsh and Scottish governments who have made the decision not to re-open schools at this time.

“Now is the time for Government to listen and do the right thing.”

The NASUWT issued this statement:

 Responding to tonight’s statement from the Prime Minister, Dr Patrick Roach, General Secretary of the NASUWT – The Teachers’ Union, said:

“The Prime Minister’s statement that it would be “madness” to risk a second spike in transmission of the Coronavirus highlights the need for extreme caution.

“Regrettably, the Prime Minister’s announcement is likely to provoke confusion and does not address the genuine concerns that have been raised by teachers.

“The Prime Minister’s announcement lacks the clarity of statements issued by Ministers in Scotland and Wales who have reaffirmed the key ‘stay at home’ message.

“The Government’s announcement that schools in England might reopen to more children from 1 June risks thousands of schools rushing to make decisions about how best to safeguard the health and safety of children and staff in the absence of any clear national guidance.

“It is baffling that following the Government’s decision to close all schools on public health grounds that the Government now expects individual schools to work out for themselves whether or not it will be safe to reopen on 1 June and potentially put at risk the health of children, staff and the public.

“With no date yet set for when the Government’s guidance will be forthcoming, school leaders in England are being placed in an extremely difficult position of being asked to draw up plans affecting lives of children and their teachers.

“Today’s announcements will do little to assuage teachers’ concerns about the premature reopening of schools.

“The Government must, with the utmost urgency, address teachers’ concerns or expect to lose the goodwill of the profession.

“Unless and until the Government can demonstrate that schools will be safe for staff and children, all schools should continue to limit their opening only to vulnerable children and to children of key workers.

“The NASUWT will continue to press the Government on the need for clear guidance and stringent and enforceable health and safety risk assessment measures to be in place in every school prior to relaxing the current restrictions.

“The UK Government’s message to be responsible and to ‘stay alert’ will ring hollow with teachers who are still being denied access to appropriate PPE and who have been given no clear guidance about how social distancing can be practiced in school settings.

“Notwithstanding the Government’s five tests, the bottom line is that no teacher or child should be expected to go into schools until it can be demonstrated that it is safe for them to do so.”

Copland School Six must pay back 'swindled' money to Brent Council

 

Hank Roberts, the union representative whose courageous whistle blowing eventually led to today's outcome

 A former head teacher, who arranged to pay himself a whopping £400,000 in one year, and former colleagues face paying back thousands of pounds they received unlawfully as part of a school bonuses scandal.

Alan Davies, the former Head teacher of Copland Community School in Wembley, alongside former Deputy Head, Dr Richard Evans, former HR Manager Michele McKenzie and former School Bursar Columbus Udokoro were found to have benefitted from the “vast sums” they received in illicit bonuses over several years before Mr Davies was suspended in May 2009.

Davies, who had previously been knighted for services to education, took home more than £400,000 in one year, three times the going rate for the job, and was convicted of false accounting in 2013. He was stripped of his knighthood in 2014 following his conviction. The High Court today (17 August) found that his justifications for the excessive payments were “patently untrue” and “false”.

The purported bonuses to Davies and the others were sanctioned by former Chair of Governors Dr Indravadan Patel and former Vice Chair of Governors, Martin Day, both of whom were criticised by the Judge for “dishonest breach of fiduciary duty”, “wholesale failures” and “reckless indifference”.

Mr Davies, Dr Patel and Mr Day were today found by the High Court to have breached their fiduciary duties to the Council, leading to losses of more than £1million. Dr Evans, Mr Udokoro and Ms McKenzie were found to have been in knowing receipt of payments arising from those breaches of duties. 

The exact sums that each of the six must now pay back will be decided at a further Court Hearing in October.

Cllr Margaret McLennan, Deputy Leader of Brent Council, said:

We are delighted with the verdict as it means the money, which had been swindled, will be returned and can now be used for the benefit of local people.

Davies and his chums were arrogantly paying themselves ridiculously high and unjustified bonuses, including Davies pocketing a whopping £400,000 in one year – which is around three times the going rate for the job.

It has taken years of stamina and determination to win this victory but justice has finally been done.

The verdict comes five years after a criminal conviction was secured against Mr Davies at Southwark Crown Court, who pleaded guilty to false accounting at the school. Copland Community School closed on 31 August 2014. A new school, the Ark Elvin Academy, opened on the same site on 1 September 2014.

Hank Roberts, the original whistle-blower on the case and a member of the National Education Union  Joint Executive Council said:

Brent Council was totally justified and I praise its commendable action in bringing a High Court case against Alan Davies et al. Davies had already been given a 12-month sentence, suspended for two years for pleading guilty to six charges of false accounting. He was subsequently stripped of his knighthood. However, none of the large sums misappropriated were ever paid back. Davies received over £400,000 in a single year alone.

Justice Zacaroli’s judgement found against a conspiracy charge; but found that all six defendants had received and or authorised receipt of large sums from the school funds that were totally unjustified. Those in receipt will now have to pay back their ill-gotten gains.

I, and the other school Reps, Shane Johnschwager, NASUWT and John Kubenk, NUT were suspended by Davies and faced dismissal charges after I blew the whistle. Later Davies was suspended and we were reinstated. I, the Unions and the Council have been totally vindicated.

It was tough at the time, but I would encourage all who discover anything similar to whistleblow.

This is occurring far too often especially in academies that have totally inadequate system of financial oversight and control.

To lessen this corruption, all academies should be brought back under local authority control.

Challenge issued to NASUWT as NUT and ATL set to ballot on education union merger

Hank Roberts, a long-time exponent of the need for one education union and Organising Secretary of  UNIFY has issued the following statement ahead the special conferences of the ATL and NUT to be held on Saturday. The conferences will decide whether to ballot members on proposals to merge the two unions.

Special conferences of the ATL and NUT will be held in London on November 5th. It will be an historic day for the education unions. Prediction is fraught with dangers but may I be so bold as to predict that both unions will have an overwhelming majority for going forward to a ballot of their respective memberships. Further I have no doubt that the respective memberships will return a yes vote in their ballots. Opinion polls over the years have repeatedly shown a majority in favour of uniting the unions. And why wouldn’t they? Our experience shows we have suffered because of our division in the face of ruthless government attacks on education. 

The question is why has it taken this long to break the logjam? I and others in 1996 set up a cross union body campaigning for professional unity. We called it Professional Unity 2000 in the somewhat optimistic belief that it was such a self-evidently good idea we would be able to achieve it by the year 2000.

In the event it has taken us 20 years and we detailed some of the history and events surrounding this in our 20th anniversary issue of our magazine UNIFY which was handed out at this year’s annual education union conferences.

Our immediate task is to win the ballots by the biggest majority possible and, immediately the ink is dry on our agreement, for the new union to take our great cause to the rest of our colleagues in the other education unions. The new union, the National Education Union, will have 500,000 members and be the fourth largest union in the TUC. But a union of all of us working in education would be over 1 million. A mighty force to be reckoned with. It would not be a magic solution to all our problems, but it would make a major difference to getting the Government to take our voice seriously. 

The other education unions need to reflect on the results of this and why it happened, in particular the NASUWT. My challenge to Chris Keates, NASUWT General Secretary is; you say the majority of your NASUWT members don’t believe in and don’t want a single united education union. In that case prove it. Commission an independent opinion poll of your members.

If they back your stance you can legitimately continue with NASUWT as a separate union with you as its head. If they don’t, start informal talks towards building unity further. The education barbarians are not just at the gates, they are in the stockades. We need to unite to have any chance of saving state education, and to build a future education system worthy of our children.

Strike threat at Sudbury Primary School

Staff at Sudbury Primary School in Brent passed a vote of no confidence in the headteacher and governance of the school by 43 votes to 3 last night. The headteacher is currently suspended, which is deemed a 'neutral act', while allegations are investigated.

Staff from NASUWT, ATL, GMB and NUT approved the following resolution after a lengthy discussion about events at the school:

This meeting expresses no confidence in the headteacher and governance of Sudbury Primary and calls for the immediate removal of the headteacher from her post.

If this demand is not agreed we call on our unions to ballot us for sustained strike action.

Union sources said that they were concerned that an attempt is being made to undermine the independent investigation report that led to the suspension of the headteacher and the sequence of events that should flow from the report.

Sudbury Primary is the only Brent primary school to voluntarily convert to academy status. It became an Academy in September 2012. Academy status means that the local education authority has limited intervention powers.

Staff unions are currently challenging moves by Oakington Manor and Furness Primary schools to convert to academy status.

Another Brent battle against forced academisation of a primary school

The impact of Coalition policies on education continues to be a major issue and I hope it will become more prominent as the General Election approaches. Fragmentation, incoherence and a lack of democratic accountability are major concerns.

The opportunistic  forced academisation of schools that get poor Ofsted reports continues depsite a lack of evidence that such a move actually helps schools improve.

In Brent this is now happening at St Andrew and St Francis Primary School.  The Teachers Panel of Brent, comprising the three main teacher unions, has issued this statement:

Teachers Panel Response to the consultation on whether St Andrew and St Francis Primary school should become an academy 

The teacher unions are against any school becoming an academy. We say it is part of the Government's plan to privatise state education just like they want to privatise the NHS. There is no evidence that turning a school into an academy improves the education of the children. The Education Parliamentary Select Committee has just published the findings of their year-long enquiry. Its Chairman, Conservative MP Graham Stuart, said, "Current evidence does not prove that academies raise standards overall or for disadvantaged children". He added that there are, “huge disparities within the academy sector and compared to other mainstream schools". This is a damning report on academies. There are also lots of issues over the financial management of academies and free schools as they are not overseen by the Local Authority. 

St Andrew and St Francis school is being forced to become an academy when there is no evidence that it will benefit the children's education. The school is already making very good progress with its action plan when it is not an academy, both the IEB and Brent Council sources have told us. The staff were given a promise that if they worked hard and improved the situation at the school then the school would not become an academy. For a Christian school to go directly against such a promise to the staff and unions find shocking. 

At the official meeting with staff and unions it became clear that the London Diocesan Board of Schools (LDBS) Academies Trust who is the proposed sponsor would continue to offer all the support they do now if the school was not an academy. Nothing basically would change if they became the sponsor except they would have financial control. So there is no benefit to the school becoming an academy. Though the staff and unions asked what the benefits were no answers could be given. It became clear that it is purely to follow what the DfE is dictating rather than for the good of the school. Even one of the members of the Interim Executive Board (IEB)  made it clear that her school had looked at whether they should become an academy and decided that they would not gain by doing so – it wasn't right for them. It is only the Government and DfE saying it is right for the school. 

Also at this meeting the IEB were informed of the increasing number of Headteachers and Governing bodies who are not allowing the DfE to dictate to their school and have managed to prevent their school becoming an academy even when they have been put in special measures. Turning a school into an academy should be decided democratically by a vote of parents as it was when schools went grant maintained not through force. The staff and unions believe that a new head should be appointed and then given a time-scale to show continued improvement before the question of whether to become an academy or not is considered. 

It became quite clear that the parents are also strongly against the school becoming an academy when Hank Roberts attended the parents meeting. The unions and staff had been banned from this meeting but the parents had asked him to come in. We would again ask why, but it is now clear that it is because there are no proper answers to the arguments being made against an academy. 

The IEB say they support parental choice so they should take account of the views of the parents at that meeting. Staff are totally against this move. Parents and staff should have a secret independently overseen ballot to properly seek their views, after they have heard arguments for and against. The unions have offered to pay for this. In this way the IEB would have the clear views of the staff and parents. If the IEB believe in democracy then they would act on this result.

A public meeting about the forced academisation will be held at St Andrew's Church, Willesden High Road on March 4th at 6.30pm
 

Michaela parent interviews cancelled as school remains a building site

Guest post by Violet Potter

This morning a small group of Teacher Union Officers representing the ATL, NASUWT and NUT arrived at Arena House the 'new' venue for the Michaela Free school to welcome the teachers and explain why it was so important to be in a union especially in a free school.

But it still looked like a building site. 

We checked to see if there were any entrances we had missed. But no, there was only one way in and that definitely looked like only builders should enter wearing the required hard hat. On the Michaela website it had announced that staff would be in from today and parents would be invited in over the next two weeks for interviews. 

On checking the website again today it now says the parent interviews have been cancelled. Oh dear. Does that mean those much vaunted behaviour contracts won't be signed before children are allowed in the school? Will children arrive with the wrong socks and different coloured shoe laces and be sent home before they get a chance to set foot in the door? 

Well, as you can see from the photo there may not be a door ready for them to come in. Wondering what was happening, I checked with the foreman. No-one was expected on site and no-one had requested permission to do so. He was confident that everything would be ready on time for the children in two weeks time (but actually it's only 8 days away) well at least a few rooms on the first and second floor. But ready in what sense? No playground area for sure, not that there will be much of that anyway even when it is finished.  

Alan Davies loses knighthood as Copland strike for 8th time

 

Making the point about privatisation and appropriation of public money

 Sir Alan Davies, former headteacher of Copland Community School, was stripped of his knighthood today in a belated response to his involvement in a financial scandal. Also today Copland teachers held their 8th strike over redendancies and academisation.

From the Brent branch of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers:

The disgraced former headteacher of Copland Community school in Wembley has been stripped of his knighthood. Alan Davies had been found guilty of false accounting at Southwark Crown Court in October last year. He pleaded guilty, although at the very last minute, to six counts of false accounting, and was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment suspended for two years.

Before the trial proper commenced a deal was proposed by the defence. Keir Starmer, former Head of the Crown Prosecution Service was involved and a deal was struck.Sir Alan agreed to plead guilty to 6 of the eight charges – the six least serious, false accounting – in return for the two most serious - conspiracy to defraud and money laundering - being dropped. Davies was not cleared of the charges of conspiracy and

money laundering as the case regarding these allegations was not heard as part of theplea bargain deal so the charges were dropped.

Hank Roberts, the whistleblower who exposed the bonus payments and other irregularities through a detailed dossier, had led calls for Davies to be stripped of his knighthood following his conviction and had written to the Prime Ministers office asking the Forfeitures Committee to take action. A spokesman for the Cabinet’s Office confirmed that Davies has had his knighthood annulled.

Hank said: “This is brilliant news. At least there is some justice in the world even though getting him to court and getting to this stage has taken a very long time. Every day it seems there is another financial scandal involving our schools. Something is radically wrong and I believe it is connected with the break-up of the state education system and allowing greater controls to individual heads and governing bodies. I know that not just myself but an overwhelming majority of staff, parents and pupils will be glad this action has been taken.”

Davies, who was knighted for his services to education in 2000, was tried alongside Dr Richard Evans, 55, former deputy head, Dr Indravadan Patel, 73, ex-chair of governors, Columbus Udokoro, 62, former school bursar, Michelle McKenzie, 53, ex-HR manager and Martin Day, 58, former-vice chair of governors. As part of the plea bargain agreed the charges against them were dropped.

As reported at the time of the court case, when sentencing Davies, Judge Deborah Taylor said: “Your dishonest behaviour represents a fall from grace. You have failed in your duty as head of the school – in failing to ensure proper, transparent management, and, more importantly, you lied about it and resorted to dishonest fabrication. What sort of message did that send to the children?”

 
Meanwhile ARK headquarters in Kingsway, Holborn in central London was the target of a protest

by a group of teachers from Copland Community school in Brent protesting about ARK’s proposal to take over their school. They were taking strike action over propose compulsory redundancies that have been totally unnecessary. ARK continues to cut as many of the current staff as possible before September while hiring two new extra assistant headteachers and one deputy headteacher. This is even before any funding agreement has been signed.

Two of the protesters dressed as fat cat spivs and in a lively exchange explained why they, as hedge-fund speculators, (ARK is run by hedge-fund managers) would want to run schools. The answer from the protesters was to make even more “loadsa money” from their state schools take over. Hank Roberts, ATL Immediate Past President made the clear argument for state education and against privatisation despite being ‘harangued’ by one of the fat cats. Passers by were clearly entertained by this spectacle and interested in the message.

Earlier there had been a joint ATL, NASUWT and NUT picket at the school in Wembley which was addressed among others by the NASUWT National President Geoff Branner. He praised staff for their support, commitment and resolve. This was Copland staff’s eight strike in total, six against being forced to become an academy and  two against the proposed compulsory redundancies.

Copland strike against redundancies well supported today

Copland Communuity school was closed today except for examinations in a joint union  strike over redundancies. Mick Lyons, Past NASUWT President, Stefan Simms, NUT Executive and Hank Roberts, ATL Immediate Past President congratulated the staff for their continuing to stand firm against ARK and for their colleagues and the pupils.

ARK intransigence provokes Copland strike over compulsory redundancies

The teaching unions (NUT, NAUWT, ATL at Copland Community School have sent the following notice. Copland is due to be forced to be academised and taken over by Ark later this year.

The three teacher unions at Copland Community School in Wembley will be taking strike action again this Wednesday over threatened compulsory redundancies. Two teachers face losing their jobs. The current Headteacher, Richard Marshall and the Unions have been meeting on a weekly basis with the joint aim of preventing this occurring. These negotiations have significantly reduced the original number of proposed compulsory redundancies as well as agreed very useful proposals on how to prevent the loss of the remaining two jobs. These include covering a maternity leave and extending the deadline for compulsory redundancies until December. It is well documented that there is a turn over of staff when a school converts to an academy.

But ARK, who are seeking to take over the school in September, have refused to

agree to any of these proposals.

ARK, known for their anti union stance, are prepared to see the school closed rather than negotiate, are prepared to see the pupils education disrupted. The teachers will be on the picket line again on Wednesday from 7.30 am showing their collective anger at this stance.

Tom Stone, NASUWT Secretary said, “I find the intransigence of the ARK management in not agreeing any of these eminently sensible proposals, unbelievable. We have had weekly meeting with the aim of preventing any redundancies. ARK is prepared to disrupt the children's education when such a small step would solve this situation.

Hank Roberts, ATL said, “If ARK do take over the running of the school in the autumn this does not bode well for the staff or pupils. The children's education has already suffered too much without sacking their teachers.”

Lesley Gouldbourne, NUT said, “We have been working so hard to prevent any strike action. Yet even when we and the school come up with an effective proposal, ARK refuses to agree. It is outrageous that this is allowed to happen when they are not even running the school.”

The teachers are planning to strike again on May 21st if there is not agreement to prevent these compulsory redundancies.

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

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