Ark Academy plan 6th Form building on Repton remnant

Bird's eye view of the area 

Rectangle marks the new building and red the trees to be removed (black dash is a tree protection boundary)

Ark Academy, Wembley, is applying for planning permission to build a Sixth Building on a site at the corner of Bridge Road and Forty Lane, that was retained when the original planning permission was given for the new school.

The site is thought to retain a rare portion of some of Repton's original landscape planting for the Page family at Wembley Park in the 1790s.  LINK

As well as the heritage argument campaigners also argued that this was a potential habitat for bats, hedgehogs and other animals as well as a patch of green in an area rapidly being concretised.

The Planning Application argues that most of the trees to be removed are due to their condition, rather than to make way for the building and that removal has been kept to the minimum. Some moving and replanting  of trees is proposed as well as new planting.

The application contains all sorts of ideas about the educational use of the protected area of trees and shrubs that will be left. However,  as someone who lives nearby and walks past almost daily, I have never seen it being used by pupils since the school opened in 2008 and the woodland looks quite neglected, with tin cans that have been tossed over the fence tangled in the undergrowth.

Habitat preservation and enhancement would be welcome but that should have been done anyway,

Preston Manor School is also seeking new build in order to expand its Sixth Form. The two schools are in competition with Preston Manor following the Ark by building a primary school on site and thus becoming an all-through school. It also converted to academy status. Ark plans to open its Sixth Form in September 2015 and is currently recruiting students.

The full plans can be seen HERE  The application will be decided no earlier than February 10th. Planning Officer  victoria.mcdonagh@brent.gov.uk

Sixth formers fight for classmate's right to stay in UK

Reblogged from BuzzFeed (Alan White) LINK

 

Yashika Bageerathi (right) fled Mauritius in 2011, seeking asylum with her mother in the UK. She's currently in Yarl's Wood immigration removal centre.

Via change.org

This week she was detained by the Home Office and is set to be deported on Tuesday. Bageerathi’s mother has said they left Mauritius because of death threats from a family member and violence from local gangs. She claims that if deported, Bergeerathi will have to go back to a place where she still fears for her life.

Her classmates have started an online campaign to stop the UK Home Office from deporting her months before she completes her education.

ambs @amberdowness

Is this the face of a criminal? #FightForYashika #saveYashika @SaveYashika 

Twitter: @nehharoyce

Abigail Faith @abigailcichosz

#saveYashika

And this afternoon, the protesters have gone to the Home Office in Whitehall.

Save Yashika @SaveYashika

#FightForYashika Hundreds of supporters!!! Showing the love for Yashika!!

 

Koos Couvພ @KoosCouvee

Enfield students are @Home Office protesting deportation of Oasis Hadley student Yashika Bageerathi @NrthLondonNews

 

Proud Immigrant @ourstweets

Proudest moment. Seeing our students lead the chants outside the home office. Justice for Yashika #FightForYashika

Her local MP has expressed his support.

David Burrowes @davidburrowesmp

@OAH6thform am doing all I can to #FightForYashika and support her. Have made contact with Home Office to try and urgently stop deportation

She is enrolled at Oasis Academy Hadley in Enfield and the school’s deputy head is helping to run the campaign.

In a press statement, Zoe Thompson says:

Since enrolling at Oasis Academy Hadley, Yashika has made an outstanding contribution to the life of the academy. Not only is she an incredibly talented mathematician, she has spent considerable time helping to train, teach and coach younger students in the subject, transforming their learning experience. On top of all of this she has poured herself into voluntary activities, helping the Academy to win a national award in recent months.

To deport Yashika at any stage would cost the UK a valuable member of society. To do so just weeks before she is about to complete her education would be an uncompassionate and illogical act of absurdity. We are fighting to give her the right to stay until June to finish her A levels, and ideally to allow her to remain with her family indefinitely.

The Home Office has said it will not comment on individual asylum cases.