Sufficient places in other schools for Year 7s if Brent free schools fail to open

In response to concerns I expressed about the fate of Year 7 pupils in  September 2014 if the free schools they have been offered do not  find premises or open in time, Sara Williams, Strategic Director of Children and Families states:

There are sufficient places in Brent secondary schools to offer places to all Brent children offered places at Free Schools in the event that the Free Schools do not open. 

The admissions team always works throughout the summer to place pupils for September and this year will be no different. The council will do everything it can to support families if the need arises.

Gladstone Free School in Cricklewood and  Gateway Free School in Wembley Central have still not found premises. Katharine Birbalsingh has assured parents of children going to Michaela Academy that planning permission has been granted for building works at Arena House in Wembley Park. She assures them that although there may seem to be little evidence of any work going on (I can see none) there is a lot going on behind the scenes.

Greens issue radical education challenge to 3 main parties

Regular readers will realise I have been away for a few days. I have been in Liverpool for the Green Party Conference where we debated Education policy on Saturday:

The Green Party has sharply differentiated its education policy from that of the three main political parties in revisions adopted at the weekend.

Moving the revisions I said:

The neoliberal project is based on the premise of unlimited growth and unrestrained exploitation of the earth’s resources and sees society purely in terms of the market, competition, private acquisition and consumerism. This leads to the marketisation of education through the privatisation of schools, erosion of democratic accountability and the narrowing of the curriculum policed by testing and Ofsted.

Our rejection of this model enables us to put forward an education policy that is child-centred and provides everyone with the knowledge and skills to live a fulfilled life, restores local democratic accountability, teachers’ professional autonomy and children’s right to a childhood.

The revised policy that was overwhelmingly approved with only two or three votes against commits the Green Party to:

·        Abolish the current SATs and the Year 1 Literacy Screening Test and rigid age-related benchmarking

·        Recognise the great variance in children’s development in the early years and the need to offer developmentally appropriate provision including the important role of play in early learning

·        Strengthen the role of local authorities in terms of funding and the enhancement of their democratic accountability

·        Oppose free schools and academies and integrate them into the local authority school system

·        Restore the right of local authorities to build new schools where they are needed

·        Adopt an admissions policy that recognises every child and young person’s entitlement to access a fair, comprehensive and equal education system, regardless of their background

·        Embrace a diverse range of educational approaches within that system

·        Replace Ofsted with an independent National Council of Educational Excellence which would have regional officers tasked to work closely with LAs. The National Council would be closely affiliated with the National Federation for Educational Research (NFER)

·        Ensure every child in the state funded educational system is taught by a qualified teacher

·        Reject performance related pay

Existing policy on the Curriculum which replaces the National Curriculum with a series of ‘Learning Entitlements remains unaltered.

Commenting after the policy changes were adopted I said:

We know that many despair of the current policies of Michael Gove and Tristram Hunt’s pale imitation and the great and reckless damage they are doing to the education system, teachers’ morale and children’s well being. We have clearly set out an alternative vision that replaces competition with cooperation, coercion with partnership, and fragmentation with cohesion.

RECLAIM OUR SCHOOLS! Hammersmith.Tonight.

Tonight's Education Question Time at St Paul's Church in Hammersmith could be the start of a significant fightback against neoliberal policies in education. It is a chance to bring together teacher unions, parent groups, community organisations and governors in a concerted campaign to defend progressive child-centred and democratically accountable schools with broad educational aims from privatisation and narrow aims centred on international commercial competition.

Nothing could illustrate the current battle more than the fate of Sulivan Primary School, a walk away from tonight's venue. Hammersmith and Fulham Council has voted to close the successful Sulivan Primary School (ostensibly a merger with a nearby primary academy) and handing over its unique site to a boys' free school.

Staff, parents and pupils have all campaigned for their school and their views have been ignored.

Here are some of the questions tweeted for tonight. Add your own: #edqtime @nec2014

The Green Party's Education Policy offers a real alternative

Tristram Hunt's proposals on licensing teachers ignited a furious Twitter firestorm last night with teachers declaring that this was the last straw: there was no one on their side and no party they could vote for. A surge of support for Labour amongst teachers recently recorded in polls looks like evaporating quickly.

There is a party that rejects the centralising and privatising educational agenda of the three neo-liberal parties and that is the Green Party.  Labour started the process of academisation and it is their granting of unprecedented powers to the Secretary of State that Michael Gove is now utilising. Tristam Hunt's proposal should really not come as a surprise.

The Green Party's Spring Conference will be considering a series of amendments aimed at strengthening education policy  which will result in a real alternative which will be attractive to teachers and parents.

Starting from first principles we would state:

The Green Party believes that education should provide everyone with the knowledge and full range of skills they require to participate fully in society and lead a fulfilled life. The Green Party rejects market driven models of education that see its role only in terms of international economic competitiveness and preparation for work

We want to develop an education system that will nurture a desire to learn throughout life. We will do this through a child-centred approach to learning which builds on the skills and interests of each individual child.We will therefore end the current testing regimes and rigid age related benchmarking.

Education should be at the heart of communities and for communities, and should promote equality, inclusivity, social and emotional well-being and responsibility and be democratically accountable to them.

 The Green Party believes that the early years is a unique educational stage in its own right and not just a preparation for school. We recognises the great variance in children's development in the early years and the importance of a developmentally appropriate  provision which includes the important role of play in early learning

These principles lead on to

Education is a right and an entitlement and should be free at the point of delivery to people of all ages.Education is social rather than market provision and we oppose any attempt to privatise state-funded schools or to enable them to become profit-making.  

Free schools and academies, although publicly funded, currently lack local democratic accountability and oversight. We will reintegrate them into the local authority school system.

 In order to do this we have to strengthen local authorities and reduce the powers of the Secretary of State:

The Green Party recognises the key role of Local Authorities in the planning and provision of new school places, establishment of fair admissions policies, ensuring of equality of access for Looked After Children and those with disabilities and special needs, and the provision of School Support Services. We will therefore strengthen local authorities through adequate funding and seek to enhance their local democratic accountability. We will review and reduce the powers of the Secretary of State.

In schools we will tackle the dominance of testing which leads to teaching to the test rather than real education:

There is currently too much emphasis on national tests and fulfilling marking schemes, which can oppress teaching and learning and create a great deal of unnecessary pressure on children as young as 5. Teaching and learning are too often dominated by meeting targets and ticking boxes both for teachers and for pupils. The Green Party will abolish external SATs nad the Year 1 Phonics Test.

We tackle the increasingly politicised role of Ofsted by proposing a new body:

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

Accountability will be important:

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

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

 The Green Party will encourage schools and colleges to set up Parent Forums or Parent Councils to enhance the school’s accountability and improve communication and collaboration over issues such as curriculum, provision, homework, attendance and behaviour management

Inequality is entrenched in our school system, often through admissions systems and we will tackle this issue: 

Currently there exists a range of inequality within our education system. This can often stem from unfair admissions processes, particularly in private schools, grammar schools, faith schools, free schools and academies. These processes often serve to work against already the most disadvantaged young people in our society (such as those from poorer backgrounds or ethnic minorities). In order to provide an equal opportunity for all young people then admissions must be as balanced and fair as possible.

Selection by aptitude, ability, or social class runs counter productive to creating a high quality education system for all students. Excellent all-ability schools with balanced intakes are the best way of ensuring that every child receives a first-rate education

 The local authority will determine admissions arrangements for all local state funded schools. Ideally young people will be placed at their local schools. However currently, due to the social and economic characteristics of different areas, placing children in their local schools can be a source of segregation and inequality. Therefore local authorities should aim to provide schools (particularly secondary) in their local area with a balanced, comprehensive intake as far as practically possible.

 The Green Party recognizes that the current mix of local authority, private, faith, grammar, academy and free schools reinforces social and ethnic divisions in society. A truly comprehensive intake and mixed ability teaching, coupled with equitable funding based on need, will extend equality of opportunity. We will therefore create a system that facilitates and encourages greater integration.

The recent attacks on teachers conditions of service are clearly a major concern and risk an exodus from the profession:

Teachers are the key resource within the education system. They need first class initial preparation, continuing professional development and appropriate salaries.

Every child should be taught by a teacher with Qualified Teacher Status and Principals and Headteachers of state funded schools should have QTS.

 A Green government will work with the teaching unions to reverse the process by which teachers have gradually been deskilled and their professional autonomy eroded and will review pension arrangements and retirement age with them.

 The Green Party opposes the introduction of performance related pay in education.

The amended policy having stated why we are opposed to academies goes on:

  The Free Schools programme is similarly democratically unaccountable with even more power handed to the Free School providers to decide the curriculum, admissions policy and whether to employ unqualified teachers or headteachers/principals with no formal teaching experience or qualifications

 For these reasons the Green Party is opposed to creating more Academies and Free Schools and will support community, school and parent campaigns that share this aim.

The Green Party will integrate Academies and Free Schools back into the local authority school system. In the short term, where Academies are in operation, we would instigate a maximum 25% voting rights for sponsor appointees to ensure proper democratic and community representation on Academy boards.

Unlike other parties Conference is the Green Party's supreme decision making body and there is extensive pre-conference discussion of motions and a workshop at Conference before a motion is debated. Motions are prioritised by a ballot of members so I urge Green Party members to vote for this motion as first preference. It is a long motion and needs proper debate and a high place on the agenda will ensure there is sufficient time to debate it.

The prioritisation ballot closes at 23.59 on January 15th. Follow this LINK to the ballot.

The current Green Party Education Policy can be found HERE

Battling Brent in 2013

Brent was a battlefield in 2013 as campaigners challenged both the Coalition's attack on the welfare state and the Labour Council's 'dented shield' approach to cuts.  Some of these campaigns made national headlines, many were unsuccessful, some won minor concessions and there were a few victories.

 The Home Office campaign to send a van round around areas of high diversity, including Brent, urging immigrant to 'Go Home' aroused immediate opposition which was spear-headed by Brent ace tweeter @PukkahPunjabi using the #racistvan tag. A mixture of mobilisations when vans were spotted, photoshopped parodies, official complaints to tha ASA and EHRC, and protests by politicians including Muhammed Butt led eventually to the vans being dropped.

Following revelations by the BBC that two Willesden letting agencies were colluding with landlords who did not want Black tenants there was another speedy mobilisation by campaigners which was supported by some Labour councillors and some of the Labour candidates for the Brent Central parliamentary nomination. Council leader Muhammed Butt said he would speak to Brent Trading Standards officers about the issue but I have not yet heard of any outcome.

Brent Council was the target for a a demonstration outside Willesden Magistrates Court when the Council summonsed 3,300 people for non-payment of Council Tax. These were low-income people, already hit by benefit cuts, often having to pay the tax for the first time after the Council introduced its Council Tax Support scheme. Council leader Muhammed Butt argued that the summonses were the only way to get to talk to the people affected. The Council later revealed in an under-publicised 'consultation' that it wanted to continue the scheme with just a few tweaks.

The Counihan-Sanchez Family Campaign which began when Brent Council made a local family homeless, broadened out into a campaign on local housing taking up issues regarding the bedroom tax, benefit cuts and evictions. Brent Housing Action was formed to link activists, tenants and housing organisations in a united campaign which also covered Brent's growing private rented sector. The Kilburn Unemployed Workers' group developed  its work of defending and supporting unemployed workers through regular meetings to share experiences and ideas.

Gladstone Park Primary parents formed an action group to oppose the school's forced academisation following a poor Ofsted report. They demanded a democratic say in the school's future and urged the Council to support them in arguing that the school, supported by the local authority had the capacity to improve. Unequivocal support was not forthcoming and eventually governors having argued for the right to choose their own sponsor chose CfBT. The parents' campaign put forward the idea of a federation with an 'outstanding' school in Camden as an alternative but the Council turned this down only for the idea to emerge again last month with the head of that school being appointed as Executive head before CfBT took over in April 2014. Unfortunately that fell through when Camden decided that because of changing circumstances  at her school they no longer supported her appointment to Gladstone Park. The school is left in limbo for the Spring term.

Copland High School was similarly faced with forced academisation following a poor Ofsted.
The school, already suffering financial problems because of the bonus scandal and a very poor building, had an Interim Executive Board imposed on it by Brent Council and a new management that swiftly made staff redundant and life uncomfortable for those remaining. A pupil petition in support of  the school staff brought no response from the Council and lead member for Children and Families, Michael Pavey, declared there was 'no alternative to academisation'.

At a public meeting Pavey later said that the academy sponsor would not necessarily be Ark, despite the fact that pupils had been sent a letter announcing the appointment of Delia Smith of Ark as Executive head teacher.  Copland unions have come out on strike several times against academisation and for a democratic ballot of all involved and will continue the battle in 2014.

The fragmentation of education in the borough continued with the approval by Michael Gove of three secondary free school to open in September 2014. The most controversial is the Michaela Community School, the brain child of Katharine Birbalsingh, who wowed the Tory Conference years ago with her account of teaching in a comprehensive school. In a minor victory Michaela was forced to take down a huge banner on their proposed building for which they had not had planning permission. More importantly an FoI request established that they school had received only 50 first preferences for 120 Year 7 places. The other two schools, Gladstone and,Gateway, whilst recruiting Year 7s for 2014 have still not got premises.

Brent Fightback, sponsored by Brent Trade Union Council, has been active in many of these campaigns and was central to the campaign to save Central Middlesex A&E from closure under the Shaping a Healthier Future proposals. Unfortunately Brent Council failed to rise to the occasion and did not offer the same degree of support as Ealing Council did for their local campaign on Ealing Hospital. Although they joined in the march to Save Central Middlesex they did not advertise their opposition, circulate leaflets or hold public meetings as Ealing had done. They only belatedly came out in opposition and support the campaign that Fightback and Save Our NHS were fighting. The closure of A&E was approved by the Secretary of State and there are currently consultations on the future of the site, including its use as a 'hub' for a variety of activities.

There was also a huge national campaign in defence of the NHS and its privatisation in which Brent campaigners played a part. Privatisation involves out-sourcing service such as Blood Transfusion as well as smaller ones in particular NHS districts. In Brent you can often find yourself referred to a private service by your GP and the battle to ensure that local commission groups procure from within the NHS is a continuing battle.

The Bin Veolia in Brent Campaign challenged Brent Council on ethical procurement. They argued that council tax money should not go to Veolia, a company that profits from its operations in  support of  illegal settlements in Occupied Palestine. Labour councillors refused to make a political decision but instead hid behind legal arguments from officers. Despite support for the campaign from thousands of local residents, the Trade Union Council, Brent Central Labour GC, Hampstead & Kilburn Labour GC and potential Labour parliamentary candidates as wellas the Lib Dem Council opposition, Brent Council approved the awarding of the contract to Veolia.

During the campaign Executive members at times spoke about the possibility of the Council adopting an ethical procurement policy but little has been heard of it since. The Council has continued to out-source services and has refused to answer, on grounds of cost, my Freedom of Information request asking how many of its out-sourced suppliers and services pay the London Living Wage.

Brent Green Party consistently opposed the building of a new £100m Civic Centre as a grandiose and wasteful vanity project. It is now open and has encountered problems with IT and its telephone system. In a fairly typical PR failure the Council spent more than £90,000 on an opening ceremony claiming this was a tiny drop of expenditure amidst the millions of pounds cut from their budget by the Coalition.

Brent Council has a policy of selling off its land to developers to help finance new facilities which they then claim are 'at no cost to residents'. They approved the redevelopment of Willesden Green Library which involved a land transfer to Galliford Try in exchange for a new Cultural Centre to replace the Willesden Green Library Centre.  The Cultural Centre  will have a smaller foorprint than the Library Centre and will not include space for the Willesden Bookshop.

The luxury flats built by the developer went on sale in Singapore with a unique selling point: assuring would be purchasers that they would not include keyworker housing or affordable housing on the same site - i.e.no poor people on site.

The Keep Willesden Green campaign were defeated in their  valiant attempt to keep the public space in front of the library but did retain the historic Victorian library.

An independent campaign for the 2014 local elections has emerged from the struggl, and the resulting community solidarity, in the form of Make Willesden Green which is standing Alex Colas as a candidate.

Library campaigns have been particularly resilient and good at building social solidarity in their areas through a variety of activities including pop up libraries, reading festivals, pub quizzes, 'Light of Learning' runs between the closed libraries as well as taking on the Council, All Souls College, developers and the Secretary of State.

An issue that needs resolving early in 2014 is the alleged fraudulent submissions to the planning department supporting developer Andrew Gillick's plans for Kensal Rise Library. Brent Council has passed the details to the police but no action has yet resulted.

Another development issue to be resolved in 2014 is the future of Willesden Green's Queensbury pub. The Brent Conservative Party sold the building off to a developer who plans a 10 storey block of flats. After a concerted campaign the Council granted the pub Asset of Community Value status, not least because of its use by toddler groups. The developer has revised plans to offer a smaller pub/wine bar/community space but opposition continues on the basis of the inadequacy of the offer and the inappropriateness of the new building in the local context.

One of my great regrets of 2013 is our failure, despite an energetic cross-party and cross-borough campaign to stop an enormous development on the Barnet side of the Welsh Harp. Luxury tower blocks (again!) will loom over the reservoir, bird sanctuary, nature reserve and SSSI.  Campaigners addressed the Barnet Plannning Committee to no avail, protested about hat appeared to be a very biased presentation by the planning officer and took the issue to Boris Johnson's planners at the GLA. The development will go ahead in 2014.

The campaign against the Harlesden Incinerator had similarities in so far as it was again just across the border from Brent, this time in Ealing, but affecting Brent residents. It also involved some cross-party support and local residents.

The campaign was successful in getting the decision deferred for further investigation about the dangers posed by emissions.

At the turn of the year it appeared that the proposal is unlikely to go ahead because the site is needed for the HS2 project, which in the broad sweep of things may not represent a victory for the environment but may relieve the local residents.

My favourite positive story of the year has to be the opening of the new Chalkhill Park in Wembley. A lot of pressure had to be exerted to bring the project to fruition but it is transforming the estate through providing a public and social space for all ages.

The picture shows the official opening with the Chalkhill Primary School Carnival but in reality children had opened the park themselves weeks previously, unable to resist the swings and climbing equipment.

Next year is going to be hard but it does give us an opportunity in the local and Euro elections to use the ballot box to register our views on what has been going on. Of course I hope that many will choose to vote Green but I also hope that all readers will continue to campaign energetically for environmental and social justice - locally, nationally and internationally.

Give Brent Council the power and finance to build new schools for those without a school place

The Kilburn Times LINK this weekend headlined the news that more than 600 Brent primary school children are without a school place. I recently obtained figures from Brent Council under a Freedom of Information request that sheds a little more light on the situation.

There are in fact vacancies in some Brent primary schools but these may not be geographically convenient for parents of children out of school, especially when they involve children in a family attending several different primary schools.

This is the snapshot of  vacancies and children out of school on November 8th. Brent Managed and School Managed refers to the administration of admission applications. You can see that there is a slight surplus of school places in Years 3, 5 and 6.

The schools with several Reception vacancies at the time of the snapshot were Ark Franklin Primary Academy (the academy converted former Kensal Rise Primary), Brentfield Primary, Fryent Primary (recently expanded) and St Mary's RC Primary. The position changes rapidly so it is likely that these places will have been filled by now.

The fact that many children attend schools which are not their first choice or the most convenient means that many are on waiting lists for one or more other schools. With the current movement of families due to benefit reforms this produces 'churn' - high mobility as children change schools.

Despite a common National Curriculum across local authority schools this still produces disruption for children as they get used to a new school,  new teacher and new classmates, and is disruption for teachers as they cater for an ever changing class population.

Research indicates that such mobility has an initial impact on standards of achievement of the children who change schools.

The exceptional nature of the place shortage in Reception means that in total there are almost 2,500 on waiting lists in Brent. On the day of the snapshot five schools had more than 100 on the Reception waiting list: Anson 118, Ark 264, Islamia 104, Malorees Infants 102 and Wembley Primary 100.

I have asked for further information on how many of these are pupils on several waiting lists.

Things become much more settled at Year 1 with Barham the longest waiting list at 30, with a more equal distribution across schools, totalling 546. By Year 6 the total is 360.

The schools

I requested figures on the number of children out of school by planning area in order to get a picture of the geographical distribution. Brent Council said these figures were not available and instead provided distribution maps which are not exact. The blue figures on the map below indicate groups of children needing a Reception school place.

The demand for Reception places reinforces the need for planned construction of new primary schools by local councils rather than reliance on the vagaries of free school providers popping up in areas of need. The Council presently has a statutory duty to provide education for these children without having the powers to do so apart from expanding schools which are already often on crowded sites.

The Government needs to give local authorities back the power to plan and build new schools as well as the finance to do so. Instead they are wasting money of unwanted free school vanity projects.

Full documentation on my Freedom of Information Request can be found HERE

Controversial school expansion plans bring accusations of skewed consultation

Princess Frederica Primary School, Kensal Rise

I have been reporting here for some time some of the controversies around school expansion: loss of play space, loss of additional rooms such as libraries and ICT suites for classroom conversion, and concerns that primary schools can become too big and lose the intimacy and family centredness valued by many parents.

Present government policy restricts local authorities' ability to build new schools where they are most needed so they instead expand existing schools to cope with increased demand.  The government argues that Free Schools can provide additional places but this is dependent on a provider setting up in an area of shortage and many actually set up where there are already enough places. In addition Free School are not democratically accountable through the local authority system and do not have to employ qualified staff.  They are also much more expensive to set up than a local authority school and thus deprive LAs of finance.

Barry Gardiner MP and Cllr Michael Pavey have both supported the campaign for local authorities to be given powers to plan and build new schools. Meanwhile the problem remains,

The proposed expansion of Princess Frederica Primary School has been particular controversial with parents raising concerns in a letter to the governing body as long ago as July.

Now a local parent and residents has written to MPs and councillors about his concerns over the way the consultation has been carried out and made a formal complaint to Brent Council:

Michael Pavey claims his position on academies has been consistent,

Cllr Michael Pavey has responded to my posting earlier today which accused him of diluting his earlier opposition to academies and free schools.

Here is what he has to say (unedited):

My position on academies has been consistent.

I distrust academies as a dangerous step towards the marketisation of education. But I have always been clear that Copland is a necessary exception. The recent Ofsted report highlighted extremely serious failures at Copland. Extremely troublingly it found that the most disadvantaged pupils were suffering the most. This is unacceptable and profound change is necessary. I wish this could be achieved through local authority leadership, but years of budget cuts have left us under-resourced for a school improvement challenge of this magnitude. An academy conversion was the only feasible alternative to give Copland the fresh start it desperately needs.

Furthermore, I am delighted to be proposing a partnership with Ark Wembley, an enormously popular local school.

The situation at Gladstone is considerably more complicated. I met the campaigners as one of my first acts after becoming Lead Member – and I applaud their work. However it is right and proper that the lead on this is provided by the school Governing Body. Far from cutting them adrift, the Council has provided close support and I fully respect the decisions they taken.

I’ve not changed my views on academies but the world is not as black and white as some would like to assume.

My responsibility is to the families of Brent and their children. I’m always happy to meet any residents to discuss my positions on academies or any other issues. Virtually every time I meet them they are disinterested in discussions about structures and just want to talk about raising standards. Local families want their children to get a top quality education so they can make something of their lives. That is the driving force behind every decision we have taken.”

Cllr. Michael Pavey

Lead Member for Children & Families

Labour Councillor for Barnhill, Brent Council

www.michaelpavey.org

07941474261  @mikeypavey 

London free school parents support LA oversight

As  Michael Gove's free schools policy comes under closer scrutiny London Councils publishes a survey that  shows the majority of free school parents would welcome local authority oversight. I hope that at their Spring Conference the Green Party will adopt a policy of integration of free schools and academies into a local authority school system with improved democratic accountability.
The London Councils statement:

The first survey of London parents’ attitudes to the new educational system reveals that a majority of parents (62 per cent) with children at a free school support councils having a role in dealing with underperforming free schools. This rises to 77 per cent of parents with children in a local authority maintained school who think local authorities should have powers of influence over maintained schools.

The YouGov attitudinal survey, commissioned by London Councils, which represents London’s 33 local authorities, provides evidence of high levels of support among parents for a local government role in taking action to ensure school standards remain high and children and young peoples’ interests are championed.

The majority of parents (76 per cent) support a council role in creating school places through having the ability to influence all schools in their area to find more school places or expand, and 95 per cent think the greatest pressure on places is in London.

The survey also found that:

• London is seen as the best performing region in terms of GCSE performance by London parents (77 per cent), followed by the south east (65 per cent) and the south west (42 per cent)
• 91 per cent of parents with a child at a free school think local authorities have an important role in ensuring high educational standards
• 78 per cent thought the council-run process of applying for a school place was ‘easy’ and 93 per cent got their child into one of their top three choices of schools – (with 72 per cent receiving their first place)
• After the new school system was explained, 53 per cent of parents said that the education system is under more central government control than they had thought previously, with 29 per cent thinking the system was under more local control – 19 per cent did not know.

London’s school situation in particular is of national significance. London requires 118,000 places by 2017 –  and London’s schools have been transformed from one of the UK’s worst performing regions to the highest, following the launch of London Challenge, a partnership of councils, schools and government, in 2003.

Cllr Peter John, London Councils’ Executive Member for Children and Young People, said:

“Parents have been clear in this survey how essential good council involvement is in their children’s education.  It’s especially striking that free school parents are so strong in their support for councils’ work.

“Parents are plainly worried about the school places crisis and want a clear role for councils to work in partnership with all schools so that every child has a place and to ensure school standards continue to rise.

“The government should work with councils to ensure that schools are accountable locally to the communities they serve.”

Gardiner: Councils must be allowed to build new schools

I wrote to Barry Gardiner, Labour MP for Brent North, recently, asking him to support the campaign for local authorities to be restored the right to build new schools to deal with the school places shortage.

This is his response:

Thank you for contacting me recently regarding school places and the related campaign by the NUT.

I share your concern and that of many parents, teachers and headteachers about the growing crisis in school places. Indeed, the number of primary schools with more than 800 places (so-called 'titan; schools) has trebled since 2010 and the number of infants in classes of 30 or more has doubled in the past year.

Recent figures from the National Audit Office (NAO) has also found that 256,000 new school places need to be provided by 2014/15 to meet increased demand and the Local Government Association (LGA) has also warned that 1,000 of the 2,277 local school planning districts will be  over capacity by 2015/16. Here in Brent there are currently 3.2% more children than school places which could rise to a 10.3% shortfall in 2016/17.

Providing a proper, high quality place for every child is one of the foremost duties for any Government and it is clear that responsibility for this growing crisis in school places rests squarely with the current Government.

Firstly, the Government has prioritised its Free School programme, which has often delivered new places in areas where there is not shortages. I firmly believe that in the current economic climate funding for new school places should be prioritised for areas where there is a genuine need and it cannot be right that millions of pounds have been spent opening free schools with a surplus of places.

The Government have also failed to provide a fair deal for capital spending in education, with the cut to education capital being greater than that of all other Government departments.

The Government have also refused to give Local Authorities the power to set up schools to respond to shortages. I believe that allowing local authorities this power could be a practical solution to ease the pressure on places and I know that many parents and organisations, including the NUT, are calling for urgent action to address this. I also believe it is important to look at how local communities could be given a bigger say when new schools are being created and how a local accountability framework for schools could be strengthened.



The Government should also ensure that there is a qualified teacher in every classroom.

I can assure you that I will continue to press the Government to address this growing crisis in school places and ensure that new schools are created in areas where they are most needed.

Would you choose a school recommended by this man?

The message from Michael Gove above appears on the website of the Kings Science Academy, captured by me today in case it disappears.

The Independent today carries a story that Michael Gove has been accused of covering up allegations of £80,000's worth of financial irregularities at the school.

Michael Gove is a great fan of Katharine Birbalsingh who is presently touting for custom for her Michaela Academy Free School which is due to open in an old College of North West London buiilding next to the railway line at Wembley Park next year.

Rumour has it that she is having difficulty in recruiting pupils.

Hunt dashes hopes for clear Labour support for democratically accountable schools

With the last non-faith secondary school in Brent about to be forced to become an academy and four free schools in the pipeline for the borough, many teachers, trade unionists and parents have been looking to Labour to propose an alternative.

They have been disappointed locally by the Labour Council's failure to support the campaign against forced academy status for the popular Gladstone Park Primary School and its sacking of the governing body at Copland High School.

Nationally there was much impatience with Stephen Twigg's failure to take on the Coalition over education with the same energy and commitment as Andy Burnham had done with health. He failed to adopt a clear position on free schools, academies and privatisation and became known on Twitter as the 'Silent Twigg'.

However any hopes that his post-reshuffle successor would be any better have been shattered by Tristram Hunt's statements on free schools over the weekend. He came out in support of free schools with a few caveats, and failed to address the issues of democratic accountability and supporting the role of local authorities..

After his appearance on the Andrew Marr show my Twitter feed was full of disillusioned comments. Here are a few of them:

alistair smith ‏@alatalite 1h

I read this and despair! Its a free for all! Hunt signals Labour policy shift on free schools

 Amy. ‏@thisisamy_ 1h

Dear Labour, if I wanted Tory style welfare policies, I'd vote Tory.

Jim Clarke ‏@Jorvic_JJC 2h

Where is the evidence based policy?Why aren't we comparing with other countries? Failure of Free Schools in Sweden and Charter schools in US

 Tom Miller ‏@TomMillerUK 2h

So given today's announcements it's a pretty bad day to be on the Labour left. Remind me how the reshuffle was a cull of Blairites?

The Govertaker ‏@Bedtonman 1h

Seen as Labour are determined to be the same as Gove on education I think it is time to leave the Labour party & join the Greens

 Michael Rosen ‏@MichaelRosenYes 2h

How many media interviewers will ask Hunt why he has rejected the democratic model of a 'free school' and adopted a Tory one?

 Michael Rosen ‏@MichaelRosenYes 2h

Tories co-opted and distorted democratic localism in schools and turned it into market localism controlled by Sec of State = totalitarianism

 Martin Maloney ‏@MartinGMaloney 3h

@TeacherROAR @TristramHuntMP I'm 52 a teacher I have only just joined the Labour Party, and now I have to tear up my card, shame on you Hunt

 sue shanks ‏@ShanksSue 3h

Looks like only #Green party believes local authorities should be in charge of schools now.#laboureducationpolicy

 Christine Townsend ‏@IfBChristine 3h

@bevclack @TeacherROAR @TristramHuntMP what experience of state education have u got? were u state educated? ever taught in a state school?

 Rachel Ellis ‏@60isnew18 3h

@IfBChristine @TeacherROAR @bevclack @TristramHuntMP Not good one of his first comments should be to support Free schools. shame on him!

Tom Copley ‏@tomcopley 4h

Very disappointed by Tristram Hunt's "parent-led academy" idea. Local authorities need a stronger role in education, not a weaker one

 Charlie Kiss ‏@charliekiss 6h

Don't expect change from Labour- they're keeping free schools and so continuing with destruction of local democracy http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/oct/13/tristram-hunt-labour-free-schools?CMP=twt_gu …

 Itsmotherswork ‏@itsmotherswork 7h

Naturally if Tristram Hunt knew anything at all about state education he would know that local authorities haven't "run" schools for years.