Staff,
parents and children from Strathcona school in Brent descended on Brent Civic
Centre, waving colourful homemade placards. Cllr Muhammed Butt, Leader of Brent
Council was caught on the hop as he came into work. There was a very lively
exchange. Cllr Butt will be meeting further with Unions and Staff Reps tomorrow.
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| Cllr Muhammed Butt addresses the picket line |
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| Parents put their point of view to Cllr Butt |
I offer my
complete and utter solidarity to the striking Roe Green Strathcona staff.
The proposed closure
of Strathcona and subsequent loss of jobs concurrent to the proposed opening of
further free schools and academies, represents another shameful attack on
public education and indeed community ownership in Brent.
The staff’s brave
action is a defence of public education itself, and I implore Brent Council to
defend and grow - rather than again surrender - our valuable community assets.
Strathcona
was opened by Roe Green Infant School at the request of Brent Council when the
authority was unable to place all primary age pupils in local schools. The two
schools are managed as one so staff on both sites are affected.
Other local schools
were expanded to meet rising demand but despite demand levelling off, and
reducing in some areas, Brent still plans to open an Ark primary free school in
the car park at York House, on a busy road near Wembley Stadium station. Some
of the expanded schools have been unable to fill all their additional places.
This produces a strain on school budgets already affected by the failure of
government funding to keep up with inflation, pay increases and school pension
costs.
Primary schools last
suffered from falling pupil numbers in the 1970s which led to some schools
closing, some merging and others being reduced in size. Staff were often
compulsorily deployed to other schools and some made redundant.
