NEU calls for all primary schools in England to move learning online & informs members of their legal right to refuse to work in unsafe conditions

 From the National Education Union

The National Education Union is calling upon Government to move learning online in all primary schools including primary special schools in England for at least 2 weeks and issuing advice to all members informing them of their legal rights not to have to work in an unsafe environment.   

Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretary of the National Education Union, said: 

"The National Education Union knows that the science suggests that to get infection rates down schools should not be open in the first two weeks of January.   

'The reports from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine from the 23rd of December, the Sage papers dated 22nd of December but released on 31st of December or the report from Imperial College on the 31st of December - all have the same message - that it will not be possible with the new variant to get R below one without at least a period of school closure.   

'Cases were rising rapidly amongst school age children at the end of last term and they were the highest rates of any demographics. These children live as part of families and in communities and they can spread the infection into their families and into the wider community.   

'There is scientific concern that the new variant might be more prevalent amongst younger people than the previous variants.   

'We are calling on Gavin Williamson to actually do what he professes he does – to follow the science and announce, now, that primary schools in England should move learning online - apart from key worker and vulnerable children for at least the first two weeks of January.   

'It is not good enough to always be behind the curve, playing catch up with new strains of COVID, seeing hospital admissions rise and cases numbers spiral out of control.   

'Whilst we are calling on the Government to take the right steps as a responsible Union we cannot simply agree that the Government’s wrong steps should be implemented.   

'That is why we are doing our job as a union by informing our members that they have a legal right to refuse to work in unsafe conditions which are a danger to their health and to the health of their school communities and more generally. 

We are informing our members of their legal right to protection to be guided by the science. In order for viral levels in children and in the community to decrease to below R1 primary schools should not open in the first weeks of January. We will be informing our members that they have the right to work in safe conditions which do not endanger their health. This means that they can be available to work from home and to work with key worker and vulnerable children but not available to take full classes from Monday, the 4th of January.   

'We realise that this late notice is a huge inconvenience for parents and for head teachers. The fault, however, is of the Government’s own making and is a result of their inability to understand data, their indecisiveness and their reckless approach to their central duty – to safeguard public health. 

'Education is really, really important but you’re not going to get that education if this virus gets out of control in the community as schools will have to close then for a longer period of time.   

'We do want schools to be open safely as soon as possible. We want to work with Government to achieve that central aim".  

Michaela Free School 'putting pupils lives at risk' claim teacher unions

Hank Roberts, Union representative on  on Brent Schools Health and Safety Committee has riased serious questions about safety at the Michaela Academy Free School in Wembley Park which opened in September 2014 but is still undertaking building works on the building while it is occupied by the Year 7 children.  This is his letter to Muhammed Butt, leader of Brent Council containing the draft report:

Dear Muhammed.

Please find enclosed a revised (2^nd draft) copy of our document concerning Michaela Community (Free) school. This is just to clarify particular action points that we are calling for you and the Authority to take up arising from the potentially dangerous situation we uncovered and, we believe, aspects of which are still extant.

1)   For the Authority to write to the Secretary of State for Education and Michaela Community school seeking their response to the specific actions I believe should be undertaken in the section of the document on Page 7 headed “Urgent actions that need to be undertaken”.

2)   That the request in the last paragraph on Page 8 from “We call on the local authority” down to “other Brent LA schools” and further to raise with the Secretary of State both the exact present legal position of the LA in regard to potential hazards facing the health and safety of Brent pupils in free schools (and academies) and the unsatisfactory nature of the present anomalous position.

Yours sincerely,

Hank Roberts

Union Representative on Brent Schools H&S Committee

PS: I am also sending this draft document to the Fire Brigade, H&S Executive, ATL, NASUWT and NUT Teacher Unions, Brent school H&S Reps and the media requesting their observations, comments and actions as appropriate.

Below you can find the full draft document which Mr Roberts has circulated:

 

Michaela opens despite safety fears over site

Michaela Free School opened to 120 Year 7 pupils this morning despite fears about the safety of Arena House which is now a building site with just as narrow roofed timber lined corridor for entrance and exit.  Concerns have been raised with both Brent Council Health and Safety and the London Fire Brigade.

It was really sad this morning to see eager young faces, excited about starting secondary school, drop when they saw the state of the building.

Worried parents were assured that it was just the outside that looked like that - it was 'lovely' inside. However, parents were disconcerted to be refused entry to the building to see for themselves. They were promised a chance to view it at the Open Evening on Wednesday.

This is a glimpse of what appears to be an assembly/canteen/classroom seen through the windows.

Outside parent and grandparent views were mixed. Some accepted the promise that the school would soon be ready at face value, while others said the state of the building was 'disgusting'.  One grandparent, who welcomed the 'strict discipline', contrasted the building with the 'beautiful' building at Oakington Manor Primary that her grand-daugher had just left.

Parents at the school entrance today (white door)

There had been grumbles about the strict school rules at a pre-meeting with parents. They were told, 'If you don't like our rules, find another school!'

Several of the parents said they had not chosen Michaela but it was the only school available when their six choices were refused.

Clearly the school has a major job to win some parents round on several counts, including the state of the building, safety and discipline.  There may well be a split in the first few weeks between those who positively chose the school because of its 'strict, private school ethos' and those who were forced to take it because nothing else was available.

Challenging times ahead.

Michaela Free School asbestos fears demand answers from Birbalsingh and Gove

The scene at Arena House earlier today

Brent Teachers' Panel has written to Katharine Birbalsingh, headteacher designate of Michaela Academy Free School and Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Education, seeking information on the asbestos removal programme at Arena House, the ex-College of North West London's Wembley Park building, which was built at a time when asbestos was widely used.

Their concern has been heightened by the fact that Michaela's website says that the contractor Willmott Dixon is working to tight timelines:

Willmott Dixon is our appointed contractor and a lot of work has been going on behind the scenes such as site surveys, detailing of designs and securing planning permission. With all of this now in place, the team is currently preparing to start work on site in just a few weeks’ time.Our contractors have a great deal of experience in preparing free schools to open (often on shorter timelines than ours) [My emphasis] and the Education Funding Agency is involved every step of the way to ensure that everything required will be in place for us to welcome our first intake in September.

Over the next few months in the lead-up to the opening of the school, Willmott Dixon will be stripping out the existing building,  [My emphasis] creating new spaces that meet our specific requirements and installing new IT systems and furniture in preparation for our new school. The work on site will then be the end product of months of planning and we will keep you updated as Arena House undergoes its exciting transformation.

The Teachers' Panel's concern was heightened when they discovered that Willmott Dixon was one of three firms, along with Marks and Spencer, fined for unsafe removal of asbestos during refurbishment works at the M&S store in Reading: LINK

The principal contractor at the Bournemouth store, Wilmott Dixon, failed to plan, manage and monitor removal of asbestos-containing materials.

It did not prevent the possibility of asbestos being disturbed by its workers in areas that had not been surveyed extensively.

 The court heard that the client, Marks and Spencer plc, did not allocate sufficient time and space for the removal of asbestos-containing materials at the Reading store.

There was a considerable amount of debris evident  in the stripped Arena House classrooms today

 The Brent Teachers' Panel letter reads:

Dear Ms Birbalsingh and Mr Michael Gove,

I am writing on behalf of Brent Teachers’ Panel, representing teacher unions in all types of Brent schools (community, grant maintained, independent, academy and free schools) to request information regarding the management and/or removal of asbestos at the site which is being refurbished for use as Michaela Academy Free School.

Our reason for requesting this information relates to my rights as appointed safety rep and elected health and safety adviser for the NUT representing some 1700 member teachers in Brent, some of whom may work at this school. As you will know, under the Safety Reps and Safety Committee Regulations 1977, an appointed safety rep has the right to see documentation and reports associated with works in a building which may affect the safety of his or her members. In addition to this, and as Brent teachers, we are also genuinely concerned for the safety of children and others in our community.

Please could you therefore provide me with the following:

·        A copy or sight of the asbestos refurbishment/demolition (Type 3) survey carried out for Arena House with associated material and priority risk assessments

·        A local asbestos management plan for the school which will be used when it opens in Arena House in September

·        An explanation as to the choice/selection/tendering process of the contractor Willmott Dixon, bearing in mind that they were found guilty in court of contravening sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 between 5 February 2007 and 28 February 2007, and bearing in mind also that when they took this to appeal on the grounds of small risk to health, the appeal was lost in May 2012.

I would like to assure you of our best intentions and that we only have our members’ and pupils’ safety and wellbeing in mind with this request. The Brent Teachers’ Panel has had to deal with the death of a school pupil and enforcement notices for poor asbestos management in the past, in Brent schools, so we always have safety foremost in our minds.

I look forward to hearing from you on this matter.

Jenny Cooper,

Brent NUT Health & Safety Adviser,

Health & Safety Adviser to Brent Teachers’ Panel

Elected London Representative on the National NUT Health & Safety Working Group

Brent Appointed School Health & Safety Representative

Although free schools are independent of the council, Brent Council does have overall responsibility for the health and well-being of Brent pupils and so should intervene to make sure that this will be a safe environment for pupils and staff.

South Kilburn residents exposed to demolition risk

I had a look around South Kilburn Estate earlier this week with a resident. The estate is being regenerated which means demolition of tower blocks and their replacement by  low rise high density blocks and a consequent loss of some of the estate's green spaces.

What concerned me most was what  appeared to be little thought on the part of the developers of the health risk posed to developers by the demolition of the Wells Court tower block.

The well used Coventry Close link between Kilburn High Road and the estate was covered in a thick layer of dust from the demolition.  There was no safety netting up to stop debris landing on the roadway or hitting pedestrians, On the other, posher,  Cambridge Avenue, side of  Wells Court, there was a 6 foot hoarding up and a much higher mesh netting fence on the north side of the Avenue.

With Health and Safety under attack from the Daily Mail and its Tory allies this is a clear example of the importance of health and safety and the need for local authorities to enforce the rules. This development, funded by Brent Council, is clearly their responsibility and they need to take swift action to ensure residents' safety.

At the very least safety  fencing and regular washing down of dust covered surfaces should be measures required of the contractors by the Council.