Would you like to sign Brent councillors' and educationalists' joint letter opposing the goverment's forced academies policy?

Having appealed on Wembley Matters LINK for Brent Council to take a stand on the government's policy on forcing all schools to become academies I welcomed Cllr Jun Bo Chan's initiative in organising a letter to the Guardian on the issue and readily agreed to sign.  The letter was published last week in the newspaper with, as is the custom, only the first signatories included. I publish the full list here so that readers can see which of their councillors supported the letter.

Since tihs article was published some people have indicated that they would have liked the opportunity to sign it. Please feel free to add your name/organisation as a comment.

We recognise, support and celebrate the hard work of students, parents, teachers and educational professionals in all schools. We therefore object to the government’s latest education for all bill, which aims to force all state schools in England to become academies, even those that are good or outstanding. The education secretary’s decision to back down last month from the imposition of blanket academisation represented a victory for campaigners from a wide array of organisations. Nevertheless, this was merely a tactical retreat, and the government’s reaffirmation of “a system where all schools are academies” highlights plainly their continued stubbornness and zealousness. Although the headlines conveyed a ‘U-turn’ on forced academisation, the education for all bill proposes that local authorities are now coerced one at a time rather than all at once.

The government’s top-down plans, which are predicated upon no clear evidence, are a blatant disregard for local autonomy. The undermining of local government oversight of education, the demand that all new academies be subsumed into multi-academy trusts, as well as the forcing of good and outstanding schools to become academies, constitute a centralising tendency which is wholly unnecessary, unpopular and uncalled for. The only certainty is that such actions severely weaken the government’s ostensible localism, continuing a troubling trend towards centralisation in the government’s overall legislative programme.

Moreover, we are concerned that other government proposals as outlined in its earlier educational excellence everywhere white paper, such as the abolition of the national system for teachers’ pay and conditions, the scrapping of the requirement for elected parent governors, and the removal of qualified teacher status, will only impede the urgent business of improving our schools. Popular pressure compelled the government to retreat last month. We will therefore continue to work alongside parents, teachers and other educational professionals, non-teaching staff, politicians, trade unions, governing bodies and other organisations to oppose the plans as outlined in the education for all bill thus far, and work towards persuading the government to channel its energies towards properly addressing the more pressing issues affecting state education: teacher shortage and retention; chaos and confusion in the assessment system; and cuts to education funding.

Cllr Jun Bo Chan Brent, teacher
Dawn Butler MP Brent Central
Melissa Benn Author and journalist
Tulip Siddiq MP Hampstead and Kilburn
Mary Glindon MP North Tyneside
Ian Mearns MP Gateshead
Kevin Courtney Acting general secretary, NUT
Hank Roberts Secretary of Brent Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) and past national president of ATL
Lesley Gouldbourne Secretary of Brent NUT
Shyam Gorsia Secretary of Brent NASUWT
Andrew Baisley Secretary of Camden NUT
Cllr Nick Forbes Newcastle City, Leader of Newcastle city council and Leader of LGA Labour group
Cllr Margaret McLennan Brent, Deputy leader at Brent council
Cllr Mikey Pavey Brent, Lead member for stronger communities at Brent council, and Director of Labour Friends of Sure Start
Cllr Matt Bradley Brent, teacher
Colin Adams Retired teacher
Cllr Shama Tatler Brent, teacher
Cllr Pat Harrison Brent, retired teacher
John Bolt General secretary of the Socialist Educational Association
Prof Tim Brighouse Honorary Norham fellow at the Department of Education, University of Oxford
Prof Stephen Ball Distinguished service professor of sociology of education at the UCL Institute of Education
Dr Martin Dewey Senior lecturer at the department of education and professional studies, King’s College London
Prof Ben Rampton Professor of applied and sociolinguistics at the department of education and professional studies, King’s College London
Dr Alan Fortune Retired senior lecturer at the department of education and professional studies, King’s College London
Dr Nick Andon Lecturer at the department of education and professional studies, King’s College London
Dr Melanie Cooke Teaching fellow at the department of education and professional studies, King’s College London, and executive committee member of King’s College London UCU
Dr Ursula Wingate Senior lecturer at the department of education and professional studies, King’s College London
Dr Roxy Harris Visiting senior research fellow at the department of education and professional studies, King’s College London
Prof Diane Reay Professor of education at the faculty of education, University of Cambridge
Prof Keith Taber Professor of science education at the faculty of education, University of Cambridge
Dr Michael Evans Reader in education at the at the faculty of education, University of Cambridge
Dr Christine Doddington University senior lecturer at the faculty of education, University of Cambridge
Dr George Anderson Retired lecturer at the school of physics and astronomy, Queen Mary University of London
Dr Karen Forbes Teacher and researcher
Dr Henry Tam Director of Question the Powerful
Dr Michael Calderbank Co-editor of Red Pepper and Co-convener of Brent Momentum
Sam Sampson Teacher
Mike Phipps Lecturer
Caroline Hill Teacher and Chair of Young Labour
Adam Klug Teacher and National organiser of Momentum
Emma Rees Teacher and National organiser of Momentum
Faduma Hassan Teacher and National committee member of Momentum
Ben Ackland Teacher
Kenichi Udagawa Teacher
Bob Sellers School technician
Jeremy Silk Teacher and NUT representative
Eddie Crust Teacher
Robert Young Teacher
Andrew Duncan Teacher
David Lee Teacher
David Dixon Teacher
Robert Pepper Teacher
Samia El-Ali Teacher
Vivien Sproule Retired teacher
Martin Francis Retired headteacher and governor
Anne Perez Retired teacher
Sarah Sharkey Retired teacher
Karin Barrett Retired teacher
Dr Jayne Lim Geriatric registrar and executive committee member of Chinese for Labour
Dr Tom Dolphin Consultant anaesthetist
Ria Bernard Speech and language therapist, and Vice-chair of the Young Fabians
Dr Martin Edobor Junior doctor and Chair of the Young Fabians
Dr Harriet Nerva Junior doctor
Cllr Wilhelmina Mitchell Murray Lead member for children and young people
Cllr Ruth Moher Brent, Former lead member for children and young people at Brent council
Mary Arnold Former lead member for children and families at Brent council, and school governing board chair
David Lister Chair of the Brent Labour local campaign forum and retired teacher
Cllr Matt Kelcher Brent
Cllr Sam Stopp Brent, Chair of the Labour campaign to end homelessness
Cllr Tom Miller Brent, Hendon GMB political officer and founding member of Open Labour
Cllr James Denselow Brent, Former lead member for stronger communities at Brent council
Cllr Eleanor Southwood Brent, Lead member for environment at Brent council
Cllr Lesley Jones Brent Former mayor of Brent and retired teacher
Cllr Kana Naheerathan Brent, former mayor of Brent
Cllr Sandra Kabir Brent
Cllr Neil Nerva Brent
Cllr Roxanne Mashari Brent Lead member for regeneration, growth, employment and skills at Brent council
Cllr Krupesh Hirani Brent, Lead member for community wellbeing at Brent council
Cllr Harbi Farah Brent, Lead member for housing at Brent council
Cllr Mary Daly Brent
Cllr Amer Agha Brent
Cllr Keith Perrin Brent
Cllr John Duffy Brent
Cllr Jean Hossain Brent
Cllr Ernest Ezeajughi Brent
Cllr Liz Dixon Brent
Cllr George Crane Brent
Cllr Janice Long Brent
Cllr Bernard Collier Brent
Cllr George Crane Brent
Cllr Arshad Mahmood Brent
Cllr Sarah Marquis Brent
Cllr Barbara Pitruzzella Brent
Cllr Aslam Choudry Brent
Cllr Lloyd Duddridge Redbridge
Cllr Naomi Fearon Fleetwood, teacher

 

London Councils calls for academy conversion cash to be used to level up school funding

London Councils' Executive member for children, skills and employment Cllr Peter John OBE has responded to the recent government announcement on academisation. He said:

Revoking the decision to force all schools to become academies is great news for London’s schools. They can now focus on improving their already enviable results at Key Stage 2 and GCSE, working in partnership with boroughs, parents and central government to offer London’s children the best quality education possible.

Money set aside to help schools convert – said to be around £500 million – should now be used to level up funding across the country, ensuring no child is disadvantaged by the introduction of a new national funding formula.

There is an alternative: Parents Defending Education campaign – launch statement

As Nicky Morgan is booed by headteachers and they consider industrial action against her plans to force all schools to covert to academy status, parents set up their own organisation with an  alternative to the government's education White Paper.

 

Parents Defending Education campaign – launch statement  The recent publication of the education White Paper has lifted the lid on government plans for education. The plans concealed from us before the election are now menacingly clear. We have had enough!  We want our children to enjoy and love learning. So we want to rescue our schools from the grip of a series of policies which have affected every aspect of education, from testing to funding, from nurseries to post-16. We also want an end to privatisation and austerity in schools.  Our schools don’t belong to the government. And our schools don’t belong to the trusts, charities and academy chains. They belong to our children, to the community, to the parents, to the teachers and support staff and to future generations. We recognise government has an important role but it cannot impose its vision on our children without our consent. Therefore we are launching a ‘Parents Defending Education’ campaign today in order to reassert the rights of parents and engage in the debate about what sort of education we want for our children. None of the plans outlined in the White Paper were put to the electorate at the last election. The government has no mandate. Accordingly we intend to campaign to defeat the White Paper and other key aspects of the government’s education policy. Parents need to stand up for education, stand up for themselves and stand up for our children. Initially we have five main points: No forced academies – no privatisation No more ‘high stakes’ testing – take the pressure off our children No more cuts – don’t impose austerity on our children Ensure a good school place for every child – with a properly qualified teacher Defend parents’ democratic rights in schools and at local government level We know there are other very important and connected issues, such as the impact on children with Special Educational Needs and from economically & socially disadvantaged families. We will work with parents to develop a response to these areas of concern. We intend to create a delegate based steering committee which will help us unite and focus our campaigning work together to maximise its impact across the country. We also intend to broaden the basis of our campaign as quickly and widely as possible.  We want to work with all groups and organisations who share similar objectives. We will also discuss plans for a national campaign conference for parents and the possibility of a national demonstration. We are delighted to announce that children’s author, Professor of Children’s Literature and parent Michael Rosen has agreed to be our first patron. We urge parents in every school, in every village, in every town and in every city to meet, discuss, and get organised in the next 4 weeks. We will provide resources to support this as quickly as possible via our Facebook page. For further information about this statement and to register for the steering committee on 21st May please email: parentsdefendeducation@gmail.com   Facebook: Parents Defending Education. If you can help, please contact us.

Nicky Morgan to be grilled on White Paper this afternoon

From the Petitions Team, House of Commons

     
Dear Martin Francis,

You recently signed the petition "Hold a public inquiry and a referendum over turning all schools into academies":
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/124747

You may be interested to know that on Wednesday 27 April at 2.30pm, the House of Commons Education Committee will question Rt Hon Nicky Morgan MP, Secretary of State for Education, on the policies announced in the Department for Education’s White Paper: Educational Excellence Everywhere. This includes Government plans for all schools to become academies.

Talking about the session, the Chair of the Education Committee, Neil Carmichael MP, said:

As a Committee, we are determined to take a close eye to the Government’s latest proposals for education policies and this session provides an early opportunity for us to press the Secretary of State on her plans for all schools become academies by 2022. We will also want to pick up on a number of other significant challenges to the success of our education system today, including issues relating to teacher supply, school leadership, and school funding.

You can watch the session on live and on demand afterwards on Parliament TV: http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/8a66c874-4332-491b-a297-f56d71f4951a

You can find out more about the session on the Education Committee’s website: http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/education-committee/news-parliament-2015/secretary-of-state-evidence-15-16/

Dawn Butler MP calls on Brent to lead fight to bring schools back under local authority control

I was one of 10 Chairs of Governing Bodies in Brent to send a letter to Brent Council leader Muhammed Butt and Lead Member for Children and Families Ruth Moher (copied to our three MPs) opposing the government's new policy of forcing local authority primary schools to become academies.

As well as oppositon from Labour, Greens and Lib Dems, lead members for education in the Tory Shires, the local Government Association and the Conservative Bow Group have also made public statements of opposition.

Dawn Butler, Labour MP for Brent Central has sent me copies of letters she has written to Muhammed Butt amd Carolyn Downs, Brent's Chief Executive Officer calling for the Council to lead a fight to bring schools back under local authoriy control. (I would prefer 'oversight' rather than control as governing bodies are responsible for the strategic leadership of schools).

Brent Council failed to support parents and teachers challenging the forced academisation of Gradstone Park Primary School and Copland High School. In the latter case Muhammed Butt supported the forced academisation claiming that the Council did not have the resources to support the school. He now sits on the governing body of the school which was renamed Ark Elvin when Ark took it over.

Click image to enlarge

Hundreds of teachers tell Government it has bitten off more than it can chew on academies

100k petition against forced academisation wins consideration for parliamentary debate

From Anti Academies Alliance

The public have spoken – they want an inquiry into academies!

The Anti-Academies Alliance is delighted that our petition for a public inquiry and referendum into academies has raced to hit 100,000 signatures in under four days.

The speed with which the public have reacted shows that they understand just how damaging and dangerous the government’s latest education white paper is.

The ironically titled ‘Education Excellence Everywhere’ will force all schools to become academies, cut the need for consultation, get rid of parent governors on school governing bodies, and remove the need for qualified teachers in school. This is the complete dismantling of state education. It is a scorched earth proposal.

We fully expect the government to hold the inquiry that the public have demanded. If they do not we will work with parents, students, unions and academics to build our own. If academies are the educational panacea that the government claim they can have nothing to fear from a full and forensic examination of the evidence.

How heads can resist forced academies

It was clear listening yesterday to the parents from Snaresbrook Primary School, who successfully fought against forced academisation, that they were greatly aided by the fact that the senior leadership team, governing body, and local authority all opposed to forced academisation and supported their campaign. In this video Rob Kelsall of the National Association of Head Teachers addresses what head teachers and governing bodies can do. So far in Brent there have been at least two forced primary academies and unfortunately the local authority has not been forthright in its opposition or in its support for parent campaigners.

Forced academies: Victory and victims

Parents at Snaresbrook Primary in the London Borough of Redbridge were celebrating tonight after the Department for Education decided not to intervene in their school.  After being judged 'Inadequate' and put in Special Measures the school faced being forced to become an academy, a fate that has befallen Salusbury Primary School in Brent and is being challenged by parent campaigners at Gladstone Park Primary.

Unlike Salusbury and Gladstone Park, Snaresbrook and its parents had been strongly backed by Redbridge Council.

A DfE spokesperson said:

Our policy remains unchanged - we cannot stand by when a school is judged inadequate and believe that becoming an academy with the support of a strong sponsor is the best way to ensure rapid and sustained improvement.

Snaresbrook Primary School does not have a history of underperformance and has made significant progress after being judged to require special measures by Ofsted in June. We therefore do not plan to intervene to convert Snaresbrook to an academy.

However, being judged inadequate by Ofsted is extremely serious and we will continue to monitor the school’s progress in coming out of special measures.

Gladstone Park Primary too did not have a history of under performance and previously had a 'Good' Ofsted rating. Its results are still above the national average at Key Stage 1 and Key stage 2.  However despite passionate requests from parents Brent Council did not get behind their campaign or make strong representations to the DfE. Governors are currently consulting on an academy sponsor.

Meanwhile Roke Primary School (now Harris Primary Academy) parents are facing the consequences of the Croydon school being taken over by the Harris Academy chain in September.

Inside Croydon LINK reports than 1 to 1 SEN support has been removed in a move that some parents interpret as an attempt to reduce the number of SEN pupils in the school.  Children and parents were in tears after the news.

In a further move showing disregard for parents and pupils, the management  closed the Bourne Children’s Centre, which ran toddler and parents’ groups.  The building into a storeroom, causing a marked decrease in provision of service for families with children at the school.

Parents also accuse the academy managers of manipulating pupils attainment data in order to create the impression that the new academy is out-performing expectations. Parents report that pupils previously said to be exceeding levels in face to face meetings with teachers are now categorised as below expectations, enabling the school to claim vast improvement at the end of the year.

Inside Croydon reports:

Harris has provided each child with targets for the next half term, yet many parents said these had already been achieved in the last academic year when the school was still Roke Primary. The headteacher sent a letter telling parents that “previous levels you have been given may vary slightly to the levels recorded on this report”.

A spokeswoman for the Roke parents’ group told Inside Croydon:

We predict that results will now show remarkable improvement during the first year of the Harris academy and be used as a false benchmark of their success in turning our school around, as well as legitimising contentious forced academy policy.

Academy status and the new management have had to apologise for mistakes in homework which appeared to be cut and pasted from American websites and for unzipping 5 year old girls' dresses to check that what they wore beneath met the new school uniform requirements.

The Snaresbrook victory, along with the news from Lewisham, should reinforce campaigners' determination to fight for our public services. Let's hope Brent Labour will get behind them.

Time for concerted preemptive advice on primary forced academies

An initiative I fully support from the Education Reform website: LINK

It is time to create a concerted stand against the bulldozing DfE conversion of Primary schools to Academies.

Each school so far has had to fight its own cause with only minor support from other schools or unions.

The situation calls for forewarning advice to be sent to each school before they have a chance of a weak Ofsted inspection outcome, with DfE brokers swiftly moving in to undemocratically convert the school to an Academy.

This measure is needed - overdue in fact - for the very simple reason that democracy is being subverted or simply ignored, with the DfE selecting 'preferred' sponsors opaquely, and blatantly failing to listen to parental needs or concerns. The occasional parental consultation that they tolerate is operated mechanically, and the results effectively ignored.

I might be deemed 'an enemy of promise' by trying to stop these forced conversions, but the DfE are indeed bulldozing the educational landscape, with the title deeds of the doomed schools and their land give away for free to private businesses who often have no original background in education. There is rumour that they will be given the right to make a profit on the back of this free offering in the future.

But the real enemy is the DfE as they are the 'enemies of reason' - they literally care not one jot about the public opinion, nor the hard facts that Academies do not guarantee success. The DfE know what they want - to serve private enterprise. Why else pass the title deeds to charity-status sponsors that never need to own them in the first place?

Many Primary schools are quivering at the impending arrival of Ofsted inspectors - a stressful enough event in normal circumstance. With the threat of massive upheaval against their wishes via the long forced conversion process, the spirit of a school can be killed.

Are there any volunteers who are happy to accumulate the advice that should be sent to the primary schools? I am happy to help coordinate this effort.

Michael Pavey reneges on anti-academy promises

Cllr Michael Pavey, only months into his new job as Brent's lead member for children and families, tonight reneged on his promises of opposition to academies made when he was standing for the position.

Making a statement at the full Brent Council meeting he  said that Gladstone Park Primary  was not a failing school, has suffered a blip, and results were improving. It was a shame that it was being forced to become an academy and instead it should have been supported in its improvement strategy. He welcomed the Parents Action Group campaign and commented that this was' community action at its very best' BUT he respected the governing body's approach to the CfBT.  He said. 'If we have to have an academy these are the sort of people we should support'. He went on to say  that this was the time to 'bury the hatchet.' (referring I think to both Copland and Gladstone Park).

On Copland he said that he was pleased to announce that the DfE had approved the council's application to impose an Interim Executive Board headed by Grahame Price of St Paul's Way School LINK and said that there had been a 'terrible situation' at Copland with two thirds of the lessons inadequate and it had been failing the most vulnerable pupils. After the IEB the next step in the 'radical surgery' that the school required was academy conversion.

No sign of any fightback on forced academy status and what amounts to the privatisation of our schools and their removal from local democratic accountability.

Brent Council face united challenge on imposition of IEB at Copland School

The governing body of Copland High School has joined with unions in challenging Brent Council's intention to  impose an  Interim Executive Board at the school following Ofsted's judgement that the school is failing.

Interim Executive Boards (IEBs) are appointed by the local authority and replace the usual governing body that includes elected parent and staff representatives, community and local authority governors. They are often appointed when the governing body is deemed to have failed but also when the authorities, local and central government,  encounter opposition to plans to forced a school to convert to academy status.

In letters to Dr Krutika Pau, Director of  Children and Families at Brent Council, they argue that an IEB is not necessary and may well be detrimental to the school's interests. The school has already experienced an IEB which was appointed following the loss of senior staff in the wake of the financial mismanagement scandal..

Dima Khazem, Chair of Governors,  writes:

Imposing a new IEB now will probably face opposition from staff at a time when the current GB has worked well in tandem with the JCC to put into effect a voluntary redundancy programme which will see staffing reduced drastically and will achieve significant budget deficit reduction alongside removal of ineffective staff. We are worried that this will delay the momentum of positive change and cause an upheaval which will harm the school, its pupils and the LA at a time of great change for all.

Moreover, research by Browne Jackobson has shown a generally low success rate for the 80 or so interim executive boards that have so far been introduced in maintained schools. LINK

We feel that interim executive boards are unsuccessful because of their interim and undemocratic nature and we therefore are not convinced that this is the best intervention that the LA can make in this instance, especially that it does not mirror what the OFSTED report has recommended.

Khazem concludes:

What this GB has tried to do, with increasing success recently, is to overcome barriers of distrust and build bridges of understanding and a culture of accountability across the school. Yet again, there is a limit to what this GB can do in the time frame it had and the textured, complex and widespread problems it faced. Based on the above, we are in disagreement with the LA that installing an IEB right now is the best course of action. It would be a real shame that when this GB started to understand and exercise its role and remit effectively, it is threatened with removal and gets blamed for a decade of neglect and negligence within and outside the school.

Writing to Brent Council leader Muhammed Butt, and the new lead member for children and families, Hank Roberts National President of the ATL and Brent branch secretary poses a number of questions:

Before you might act in haste to support this (Krutika Pau's proposal for an IEB)  I would ask you to respond to these questions.

1) What actual educational evidence, other than Government propaganda, do you have that turning a school into an academy improves teaching and learning?

2) Why would you seek to ignore the Ofsted Report's recommendation that there be “an external review of Governance” at Copland, which is not an imposition of an IEB?

3) How do you answer the detailed points raised in the Chair of Governors letter, written on behalf of the Governing Body, explaining what had been done and crucial background information?

4) If Brent is claiming to be acting in the best interests of pupils' education then will you be asking the Governors to call a meeting of parents and carers to actually establish their views, or do you intend to have no consultation with parents?

5) As the last IEB at Copland failed to overcome the school's problems, what leads you to believe, and what evidence do have, that it will succeed this time, especially if the staff did not want to co-operate with this imposed undemocratic body with no proper staff or parent representation?

6) Why would you and a Labour Council be acting to implement Gove's policies and do his 'dirty work' for him?

Beware: Sham consultation ahead

Guest blog by Save Roke Campaign, Parents at Roke Primary in Croydon have been campaigning against their children's school being forced to become an academy. They have been working with the Save Gladstone Park campaign. The process at Roke is further along the line and Harris Academies (run by Lord Harris the Carpetright millioniare and Tory Party donor) has been chosen by the DfE as sponsor. Harris have been carrying out a 'consultation' with parents...


The results of the Harris consultation have finally been published. It is a government commissioned document that will enable the Secretary of State to make his final decision on Roke. The consultation cost £5k of taxpayers money. Yet it contains biased reporting of statistics and omission of data that is unfavourable to Harris. It is alarming but not surprising because the consultation was not run by a neutral or independent arbitrator but by Harris themselves.

Harris have twisted their stats making it look like 62.5% parents support a Harris academy, when in fact only 19% of respondents said this, meaning that 81% did not voice support for them!

So how strong is the support for Harris at Roke? Support is miniscule. Only 15 parents from a school with 442 pupils voted for a Harris academy. If we go by one vote per child, this is a measly 3% of parents. This means 97% of parents were either against, undecided or did not bother to express an opinion by abstaining from the vote. Many parents felt it was a fait accompli and a fake consultation. They did not believe that we would be listened to, so they did not bother to fill in their consultation forms.

Harris will argue that there only 80 people returned their forms. They will state that only around 17% bothered to vote and will deduce that most parents are indifferent. We beg to differ. Of course there is always some indifference or apathy, but we think this figure actually captures two things: 1) the powerlessness parents feel at controlling the outcome and 2) the fact that no one has actually explained in an accessible way what academisation actually means. There were no verbal presentations or explanation. Some parents just don't feel informed enough to have an opinion. What is clear is that there was absolutely no ringing endorsement of Harris.

Given that there has been such a spirited campaign against the forced academy at Roke, this was the opportunity for pro Harris parents to really make their voice count in an anonymous ballot, the fact that only 3 % came out to support Harris- speaks volumes about how welcome they are at Roke.

Incredibly, Harris manage to present the results in such a way that makes it appear that 62.5% of parents support them sponsoring Roke. They achieved this by only including the responses of the 24 parents who voted 'yes' to a question asking if they supported academisation at Roke, of these just 15 went on to say they supported Harris as sponsor. These are tiny numbers. Harris completely ignored the opinions of parents who voted 'no' to an academy. Their opinions on whether Harris should sponsor the school were not included in the analysis. It means everyone who voted that they did not want to be an academy - had absolutely no voice about whether or not they wanted Harris to be the sponsor.

The school ran their own poll to gauge parent opinion which had a much larger response than the Harris poll (129 families- only one vote was allowed per family), probably due to greater faith in the way the poll was being run. As a final blow to transparency, only half of these results were included in the consultation report, despite these being submitted by both the school and the Save Roke committee. Results pertaining to whether parents wished to become an academy were included, but a question about whether parents supported Harris as sponsor should we become an academy, was completely omitted. We can only think that they were omitted because the results were clearly unfavourable to Harris. It showed that 83% of respondents were against a Harris academy and preferred Riddlesdown Collegiate as sponsor. We know which survey we trust. We are dismayed that Harris have completely written out Riddlesdown as a legitimate alternative, from the consultation.

Here is the missing information.

Q2 If the school does become an academy, who do you want as the sponsor?

Riddlesdown Collegiate 83%

Harris Federation 17%

Copland teachers: Why we are striking on Thursday

Copland Community School in Wembley has been told by the DfE that it must become an academy. Unless agreement can be reached for a way forward for the school ATL, NASUWT and NUT members at Copland will be on strike on Thursday 23^rd May 2013 after they voted overwhelmingly for action.

When Ofsted inspected the school in March they put the school in category four; inadequate. This despite the Report stating that, “The building remains in very poor condition. This ... reported ... 2006, 2009 and 2010 inspection reports … classrooms provide a completely unacceptable environment in which to teach and learn. The budget deficit … still stands at around £1 million. The reduction in student numbers ... further budget cuts. The building and the budget are adversely affecting the school’s capacity to provide an adequate education for students.”

Hank Roberts, ATL National President and local Branch Secretary said:

Copland school has suffered enough. If Gove really wanted to help us he would have given us the new school we were promised and which he took away.

We have waited over fours years for the trial of our ex headteacher and other managers who allegedly took £2.7 million from school funds. The trial is in September. Surely they can wait for the judgement? If we got the money back this could be used to help rebuild the damage done to Copland's pupils.

Tom Stone, NASUWT Brent Assistant Secretary said:

Copland school, its pupils and its staff deserve a much better deal. What has happened in the past at Copland is a disgrace and needs addressing properly by the LA and Mr Gove. A total rebuild of the school would be a good start.

 Lesley Gouldbourne Joint NUT Secretary said:

Teachers at Copland have loyally supported their students through years of uncertainty and reduced finances and in appalling learning conditions. Students in return have supported their teachers. There is a future for Copland built on mutual co-operation and support if only the LA and Government will play their part.

Jean Roberts, Joint NUT Secretary said:

The Unions have given an assurance that there will be no disruption to any exams taking place on Thursday. This strike is not against the school and is pupils but in support of them. It is against Michael Gove and the DfE who are undemocratically forcing schools to become academies. A motion of no confidence in his policies was passed by 99.3%  of delegates at the NAHT conference on Saturday. As their President said, 'We cannot tolerate ..the completely unacceptable bullying of heads and governors to turn their schools into academies'.

Brent Council still fails to support Gladstone Park parents

As you probably know I have had an exchange of letters with Cllr Mary Arnold (Brent Executive lead member for children and families) over education in Brent and my claim that the Labour Council is not standing up for a democratically accountable local school system and in particular backing the Gladstone Park Primary parents in their campaign against becoming a forced academy. (Mary Arnold saw that as me 'attacking Brent Education'.)

James Denselow has posted this defence from Mary on his blog:

What is Brent Labour doing in response to Gove’s agenda?

Answer from Cllr. Mary Arnold – Lead Member for Children and Families:

We are primarily campaigning with London Councils tackling  Gove on free schools  which are unaccountable and in the wrong places, unaccountable academies, cutbacks in the Early Intervention Grant reducing surestart for early years and unfair access to childcare.

In Brent we joined other local authorities in a national campaign to challenge the injustice of moving GCSE grade boundaries so over 100 Brent pupils were downgraded in English, undermining their career chances. Our campaign was covered by the national and local press with lots of my quotes over the period..

My letters to the local press on Gove’s u-turn on the curriculum are published

http://www.brentlabour.co.uk/gove_s_u_turn

and my article on Gove forcing schools in his academisation drive and his shocking dismissal of parents’ views at Gladstone is on the website.

http://www.brentlabour.co.uk/supporting_gladstone_primary

I sent my letter published in Brent and Kilburn Times challenging Martin Francis’ letter attacking Brent Education the previous week to all Labour activists but I think the H and K members are not always included. Lee is therefore including website references in his campaign newsletters

There is more including a H and K education ‘think piece’ I am contributing to. Happy to talk to members and send on campaign articles with more coming up.

Cllr Michael Pavey, (Labour, Barnhill) Chair of Governors at Wembley Primary School is said to be challenging Arnold for her Executive post at next month's AGM. Denselow is challenging Lesley Jones for her position and a good source has said that Cllr Roxanne Mashari (Labour, Welsh Harp) in challenging Cllr James Powney. 

So we can expect some manoeuvring ahead of the votes and a debate is always healthy. However a Brent Council spokesperson in the report below on the Gladstone Park Primary campaign again seems to indicate that Brent Council is willing to do little to fight forced academisation:

A Brent Council spokesman said the authority was working with the headteacher and governors on offering 'programme of support':

The DfE's default position is that a school which fails its Ofsted inspection becomes a sponsored academy and parents are campaigning against this. We understand that governors are still making their case to the secretary of state. It is inappropriate for the council to discuss future options directly with parents' groups. We discuss options with the governing body, which in turn has the role of consulting parents. We're sorry if we didn;t respond in a timely way to explain that.

No condemnation of forced academies policy, no condemnation of DfE bullying, no support for the parents' battle and no expression of confidence in the staff and governors' capacity to improve the school without being forced to become an academy.

I think that's pretty poor.

Green perspective on fragmentation of education through academies and free schools

For the record and for the wider audience beyond Brent interested in academies and free schools here is the letter I had published in the Brent and Kilburn Times two weeks ago:

Mary Arnold (Labour, lead member for children and families) claims  that Brent schools are 'far from fragmentation' and accuses me of 'distorted views'. In June 2011 the then Brent Chief Executive, Gareth Daniel warned against fragmentation of the education service when he spoke at the Brent Governors' Conference. In a reference to academies and free schools he said that it was crucial to keep Brent's 'family of schools' together.  He stressed the vital  role of the local authority when things go wrong in individual schools

At the same conference Krutika Pau, Director of Children and Families,  urged governors to keep their eyes on the long-term and reflect on the permanent damage that would be caused by a fragmented school system.

In May 2012 Mary Arnold herself wrote to Queens Park Secondary Community School which was considering academy conversion and said:

'It is vitally important to maintain high levels of collaboration across Brent’s education community and avoid the risks of fragmentation from academy conversions.

The government’s school reform legislation, the huge reduction in capital spending just at a time when population increases demand school expansion in Brent (and London-wide) and the diversion of funding away from local authorities towards academies is changing the education landscape and putting significant pressure on local authorities.'

Now In April 2013 we only have one non-academy non-faith secondary school left in Brent: Copland High School, which may well come under pressure after its recent Ofsted report.  In the primary sector Sudbury has converted to academy status, Salusbury converted to academy status with the Park Federation after Ofsted put it into Special Measures and Kensal Rise last week announced it was being taken over by Ark Schools. Academies are answerable to Michael Gove and not the local authority.

Gladstone Park Primary is under enormous pressure from Department for Education brokers to convert to academy status after just one poor Ofsted Report and despite its above average results.

Despite this escalation of the situation since the earlier warnings Mary Arnold now seeks to downplay the danger, She prefers to see this as a 'mixed economy' of schools rather than fragmentation and appears ready for this continue with the added ingredient of free schools over which the local authority has no control. Brent Labour Party appears to have given up the fight against Michael Gove's policies and instead seeks to work with them. An early promise to write to the DfE stating that the local authority thought that Gladstone Park had the capacity to improve with local authority support has not been fulfilled. Parents have been left on their own to challenge DfE bullying.

I understand that the argument within the council is that if they were to make a stand against the DfE and challenge forced academies it would bring the wrath of the DfE and Ofsted down on the council and local schools and make matters worse. An alternative view is that if the local authority acquiesces so easily the DfE will see easy pickings in Brent  and move to force more primary schools to become academies. The council's policy gives in to bullying and leaves parents and residents who want to support their local school and the benefits of the local authority school system out on a limb.

I spoke at the recent Brent General Purposes Committee calling for strong leadership in education that would champion the role of the local authority  in school improvement, in ensuring equality of access to schools, and in making schools democratically accountable to the local community. I too am proud of what Brent schools have achieved and want to ensure that this is not undermined by Michael Gove's ill-thought out reforms. I think this is best down by challenging forced academies, free schools and the privatisation of education  while Mary Arnold thinks  a softly, softly approach of collaboration which retains an arms length role for the local authority will succeed.


Martin Francis
Brent Green Party spokesperson on children and families

Dear Mr Gove (This is War)

As teachers prepare for their Easter conferences and their fire is trained on Michael Gove and Michael Wilshaw LINK I thought I would share this wonderful video with you. It deserves many more viewings so please share.

Fellow Lib Dem MPs show Teather the way on forced academies

Although Sarah Teather MP cancelled her meeting with Gladstone Primary School parents last week two of her Lib Dem colleagues in the House of Commons, John Pugh and David Ward, made their opposition to the DfE's bullying tactics clear in the Westminster Hall debate on forced academies.

I hope she will take time to read what was said in the debate LINK and to read John Pugh's post-debate press release below:

In Westminster today, John Pugh MP led a debate about schools which are forced to become academies. Many other MPs supported John with similar concerns about ‘aggressive’ and ‘threatening’ representatives of the Department of Education. 

Under Ofsted’s new inspection framework, 123 primary schools across the country have been identified as ‘unsatisfactory’ under new Ofsted performance measures. 

Highly paid brokers are employed by the Department to manage the transition to academy status. The Department for health considers this to be the right way to tackle failing schools. Often, school governors and parents are not given a voice in the transition process.

The decision to remove the school from local authority management seems to be taken with little regard to the quality of the local authorities’ track record in education. Sefton, for example, has a strong track record in education. Further, it is the Department for Education, not the school, are also the ones to decide which academy group is best for a school to join.

Some schools have been offered money to change status. ‘£40,000 per school and an additional £25,000 for legal fees’ were offered to a cluster of Lancashire schools if they became independent from the local authorities, according to Lancashire Branch of the National Union of Headteachers. Many school governors have not felt able to give their names but have reported ‘bullying tactics’ by officials.

The Minister responded to John Pugh’s debate today by repeating the statement that the academies program had a track record of success. Previously, the Department for Education has said that is has no targets for converting schools to academies. 

John Pugh remains concerned that creating new academies has become the Government’s aim, instead of working with school governors to improve the quality of teaching for children and parents.

He said today:   

It is unacceptable that the Department for Education is employing aggressive tactics to push through unpopular changes on schools in this way. There remain many unanswered questions around the success rate and value for money of the academies program. Further, I have serious concerns about the removal of assets funded by the tax payer from local authority control. 

Two-way consultation must be undertaken by the Department for Education with governors and parents, before decisions are made. 

We don’t accept bullying in schools so why would we accept bullying from the Department for Education?

What Michael Gove's outrageous academisation programme is doing to my mother

The daughter of a teacher has asked that her Facebook posting on her mother's plight as a teacher be shared widely LINK I publish it here for you to share with others. 

I'm feeling low and a little bit helpless at the really horrible struggle my mum is currently going through. Hopefully she won't mind me posting about this - but I want to put it out there as it's something I really think people should know about.

My mum is a primary school teacher in a state school in Yorkshire, and has been for 20 years. She is a wonderful teacher: caring, committed, enthusiastic, her pupils love her, she has produced countless concerts, plays and choirs that have won national competitions, and has never received anything but very good / outstanding reports from Ofsted inspectors.

Her school is now, it would appear, in the midst of being systematically forced to become an 'academy school'. Academies have been around for a while - originally the stillborn brainchild of the Blair government, they are now being ruthlessly implemented by the self-important imbecile - sorry, 'moderniser' - Michael Gove; a representative of an even more clueless government obsessed with results tables and change for its own sake. But what is most disturbing about the whole pointless affair is not so much the staggering waste of time and resources, as the shockingly corrupt way it is being implemented.

For the first time in the entire history that my mum has worked at her school (which is 10+ years), the school was judged in an Ofsted report as having 'serious weaknesses' (having only ever been judged as good / outstanding prior to this). The headteacher was let go, and an 'executive head' was drafted in by the local authority, a woman who apparently has a reputation for supposedly 'turning around' failing schools (and by this I mean that she clearly deliberately fails them so that she can be seen to have 'turned them around' six months later).

The teachers were all subject to impromptu lesson inspections, and almost EVERY SINGLE teacher in the school, individuals my mum described as 'some of the best teachers I have ever known' were failed. My mum was failed for the first time in her career (Although on receiving this news she rather wonderfully told the inspectors "I don't give a monkey's"). The school has now been given six weeks to 'improve', before the government will come in to inspect them again. The teachers are doing 16 hour days in an attempt to do an impossible amount of work so that they don't fail this second inspection. My mum hasn't had an evening or a weekend off for weeks. She worked all through her supposed holiday last week. She is getting chest pains. One teacher collapsed from stress.

My mum had been planning to retire at the end of this year - this will be her final year as a teacher - what a way to thank her for 20 years of hard work and dedication to the state school system. She has always been an incredibly strong, cheerful, optimistic person, and whenever I speak to her now she talks of her life being a 'living hell' and 'just making it through the next five months'. I have never in my life heard her talk like this.

And all this in spite of the fact that the teachers at her school have been made perfectly aware that when the government come in to 'inspect' the school, they will be doing so with an agenda. That agenda being to turn the school into an academy - as they have done with several other schools in the area.

Essentially, all the work the teachers are putting in will most likely be for nothing, because the government have every intention to fail the school so that they can be seen to 'turn it around' and make it into an academy. It seems to me to be the most ridiculous scam - a con on a national scale which must be happening in countless more schools and which is abusing the time and resources of already desperately over-stretched, underpaid and under-appreciated teachers.

I feel very frustrated at not being able to make more people aware of what seems to me to be a total outrage. I am going to make this post public - please share, and if anyone I know is interested in the story or has any suggestions about how to increase awareness of this please get in touch. Thanks.

No more bullying - Gove must go!

Parents and children from Gladstone Park Primary and Roke Primary protested against Michael Gove's bullying tactics on forced academies outside the Department for Education yesterday evening. Spirits remained undaunted despite the wind, rain and snow.