Showing posts with label pupils. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pupils. Show all posts

Saturday 17 June 2017

Teacher unions' joint statement on supporting children after Grenfell

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Grenfell: Joint statement by ATL, AEP, NAHT and NUT about need for housing for the children who survived and for support for their schools & classmates.

  "In the aftermath of the terrible fire at Grenfell Tower,  teachers, school leaders and psychologists offer their deepest sympathy to the thousands of people whose lives have been affected by it. We give our sincere respect, once more, to our valiant emergency services. 

We call on the government and on the local authority to support the magnificent work of local schools and  take immediate measures to provide for the security, shelter and well-being of North Kensington’s children.

All families who have been affected by the fire should be housed as quickly as possible in high-quality accommodation in the immediate area, if that is what they wish.

School is one area of children’s lives which can provide them with care and stability.  It is essential that children continue to attend their own school, with teachers and other staff who know them and can support them, and their families.  We know that those who work in education are rising to this challenge. They will need the full support of those around them. 

All schools which have on their roll children from Grenfell Tower, and the area around it, must be provided with counsellors and other necessary resources.  

The government and the local authority must ensure that provision is in place throughout the summer months, and in the years ahead.

The residents of Grenfell Tower feel that they have been failed by a system that should have protected them. We now have a chance to show them a different face of government - one that takes responsibility for their care and support when they are most vulnerable. 

Mary Bousted, Association of Teachers & Lecturers
Kate Fallon, Association of Educational Psychotherapists
Russell Hobby, National Association of Head Teachers
Kevin Courtney, National Union of Teachers

Thursday 16 March 2017

Fair funding for all schools - meeting March 29th Cricklewood

Parents and pupils are joining with teachers and governors to protest about the forthcoming cuts to school budgets which are being implemented through changes in the National Funding Formula for schools. Government sources have denied reports from Tory back bench MPs that they are about to postpone the changes so all the more reason to maintain the pressure.


www.fairfundingforallschools.org

Pupils, parents and staff  from Kenmont Primary held a protest against the cuts earlier this week. Despite the school  being in the borough of Hammersmith and Fulham many of Kenmont's pupils come from the Brent side of the Harrow Road.



Tuesday 6 September 2016

Lack of BME teachers in English schools revealed but Brent presents a better picture

From Bureau of Investigative Journalism

Analysis by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism has revealed a chronic lack of Black and Ethnic Minority (BME) teachers in English schools.

The Bureau found that:

Just 7.6% of teachers in state schools in England are people of colour compared with almost 25% of pupils.

97% of English state school headteachers are white.
Teachers are only fractionally more ethnically diverse than MPs in England.


South Tyneside, Newcastle upon Tyne and Middlesbrough need more than a tenfold increase in the number of BME teachers for staff to reflect their pupil populations. (See attached spreadsheet for full league table).


Responding to the findings, Chris Keates, general secretary of teachers union NASUWT said: “It is clearly unacceptable and it is also disgraceful. Education is such a powerful determiner of life chances. All children and people working within education should be treated with dignity and with access to equality. That clearly is not happening.”

The lack of BME teachers making it to leadership positions is seen as a major deterrent to would-be recruits. “There is a lack of fair and transparent recruitment procedures for interviews and a lack of awareness training for schools on equality issues,” Keates said.

Professor Alistair Ross from London Metropolitan University agreed: “You can’t put your finger on a single appointment and say “that’s a racist decision” but if you look at the disparity of outcomes nationally then there is the presumption that racism, perhaps unwittingly, is taking place.”

Attitudes to teaching from within the BME community are also regarded as a factor. Figures obtained by the Bureau show that only 13% of postgraduate trainee teachers in the 2014/2015 academic year were BME, compared with 35% of people studying medicine, dentistry and law at higher education institutions.

“Amongst the Asian community teaching is thought not to be regarded highly,” Ross said. “Law and medicine are considered much more reputable professions to go into from your family’s perspective. But I would expect that pressure to weaken as generations move on.”

“Part of the solution is to actively encourage young people from BME backgrounds to consider teaching as a valuable profession and at the same time, to talent spot and nurture BME teachers to consider taking up leadership positions,” said Leora Cruddas, director of policy at the Association of School and College Leaders.

A DfE spokesperson said: “We trust school leaders to recruit the right teachers for their classrooms but we are clear that good teams should reflect the diversity of their communities. The percentage of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) teachers is at its highest level on record, and the percentage of BME trainees on postgraduate training course continues to rise.

“We are investing millions of pounds to attract the best and the brightest into the profession, regardless of their background, and we’re also expanding Teach First to get more top graduates into teaching in some of the most challenging parts of the country.

“By supporting schools to recruit and retain the high quality teachers they need, we will ensure every child has an equal opportunity to reach their full potential.”


Added comment from Wembley Matters editor, Martin Francis.

The figures for London and for Brent are rather better perhaps indicating how different London is becoming from the rest of the country. This is particulalrly interesting in view of the widely acknowledged success of London schools.


Ratio of BME students to BME  teachers
Borough
% of BME students
% of BME teachers
2.1
Brent
76
37
2.3
Harrow
72
31
2.4
Hackney
66
28
2.4
Ealing
69
29
2.6
Lambeth
69
27

2.8
Barnet
48
17
2.8
Southwark
70
25
3.2
Hammersmith & Fulham
57
18
3.2
Islington
57
18
3.5
Camden
60
17




Monday 15 September 2014

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.

Sunday 30 March 2014

Natalie Bennett: Teachers are standing up for their pupils' futures as well as their own

Amidst the coverage of the NUT strike earlier this week readers may have missed the statement by Natalie Bennett, leader of the Green Party. Here it is:
Teachers are understandably angry about a whole host of issues that are currently devastating our education system, and they are standing up for their pupils’ future as well as their own.

They’re defending the professional standing of teachers against Michael Gove’s push to have unqualified staff teaching in academies and free schools.

Performance-related pay threatens cooperation and team-work among teaching staff, reflecting the same approach being taken between schools, which are being urged to compete against each other for pupils and results, despite the fact that there’s strong evidence that cooperation between schools produces better results. That’s been demonstrated in Brighton and Hove, where the Green-run council has significantly improved GCSE results with a cooperative approach.

Tuesday 11 March 2014

Natalie Bennett: Narrow schooling for a failed economic model betrays pupils

This article by Natalie Bennett, leader of the Green Party, was first published yesterday by the Huffington Post, LINK  under the title:

Education Reform - Why It's Time to Abolish Dictatorial, Oppressive Ofsted

When I talk to people in the schools system, there's a huge and growing concern that we are on entirely the wrong path in terms of institutional structures, teaching practice and direction. These were all issues addressed when we updated the Green Party education policy at our Spring Conference in Liverpool.
The policy calls for the abolition of Ofsted, which has become unduly dictatorial, oppressive and rigid in its views, while also being subject to political meddling.

It calls for its replacement with continuous collaborative assessment and for national council educational excellence working closely with local authorities. To further encourage local accountability and reaction to local needs, the policy calls for education authorities to encourage schools to set up parent councils or forums, providing a mechanism for direct local input, and also for representatives of older students to be able to attend governing body meetings and have input into their decisions.

This all reflects the fact that a general revolt against Ofsted is growing, with schools around the country (and their communities) saying that its processes are not fair or reasonable, its criteria arbitrary, and its inspections incredibly stressful and destructive.

From Hogarth Primary in London, to a range of Stoke-on-Trent schools; from Oldfield School in Bath to Sandy Lane Primary in Reading, and many more, there's grave dissatisfaction at Ofsted's behaviour and a failure of transparency and apparent fairness in its decisions.

Schools that serve disadvantaged communities, and community schools that the government wants to convert to free status, often despite the wishes of parents, seem particularly vulnerable to negative Ofsted inspections, despite the views of parents and their communities.

That's in part a function of the increasing pressure on all schools to produce test results at the expense of any broader quality of education, and to follow narrowly prescriptive recipes for teaching, of which perhaps the worst example is the phonics test.

The ideological attachment of our current education secretary to this single method, based on an extraordinarily narrow evidence base, is possibly the worst single example of 'goveism' - the attempts to decide the nature and content of what our children are taught according to the whims, prejudices and preferences of a single man.

It's telling that when I talk to sixth formers and university students around the country, one comment that invariably gets enthusiastic support is my call for pupils to no longer be treated like the material in a sausage machine, shoved through a series of gauges to force them into a uniform shape and size, with 'failure' penalised by them being thrown aside into the 'waste' bin. That's why we're calling for an end to the current testing regime and rigid age-related benchmarking.

Our new policy also highlights the way in which free schools, like academies, lack local democratic accountability and oversight, and calls for them to be incorporated back into the state system, with oversight from local authorities.

That reflects growing signs of collapse in the free and academies school systems, with disasters ranging from the E-Act education charity, which is to have nearly a third of its 34 schools taken off it, to the frankly incredible disaster of the Al-Madinah school in Derby.

There are huge numbers of empty places in free schools, and the lack of planning for future pupil numbers is having disruptive impacts around the country. The government certainly won't admit it, but this is an utterly failed policy. It was always clear that the free school programme was an attempt to open the way for private companies to make profits from teaching our students - threatening the same kind of destruction and chaos that companies like G4S, A4E and Atos have brought to so many other public services. But there's increasing hope now that the whole system will fall apart before getting to that point - which is great for the long-term future of our school system, but dreadful for the many thousands of pupils and parents caught up in this Govian mess.

There is an even broader problem with the nature of our education system that needs to be tackled. We're increasingly being told that its purpose is narrowly instrumental - to prepare pupils for jobs - despite the fact that many of the states we're now trying to copy - from Singapore to China - have released the limitations and problems of that approach and are frantically seeking to improve their students' creativity and general skills development.

Training pupils for jobs that often don't exist now, or may well not exist in the future, is an obvious, enormous waste. We're in a fast-moving world, and young people need to develop their ability and desire to learn throughout their life, to have flexible skills, whether intellectual or hands-on, to deal with what is going to be a rapidly changing economy and society. To prepare pupils for the narrow conditions of our failed economic model is a massive error that betrays our young people.

For more details on Green Party education policy and reforms follow https://twitter.com/GreenEdPolicy

Monday 16 December 2013

COPLAND STAFF & PARENTS DENIED SECRET BALLOT ON ARK (EVEN IF THEY FOOT THE BILL THEMSELVES!)

Guest blog by 'Fair Play'

Misjudged attempts by Copland Community School’s  Interim Executive Board (IEBto outmanoeuvre the school’s  staff have failed embarrassingly. The Brent Council-imposed governing body have refused staff and parents’ proposals that there should be a secret ballot conducted by the trusted and prestigious Electoral Reform Society on whether the school should be taken over by Ark Academies. Anticipating pleas that such a ballot would cost too much, the staff unions were prepared to foot the bill themselves.  The teachers’ proposal that strike action would be suspended if the ballot went ahead was put to the IEB with a very reasonable deadline of giving a response by last Thursday, 5.00pm. They failed to meet this deadline but promised to have decided by Friday pm. They ignored this too.

Aware that their tactical stalling would leave little time for teachers to meet to decide their response, the IEB appeared to hope that the strike action on Tuesday (announced  weeks ago by the staff and backed by their national union organisations) would be called off. As an attempt at an additional sweetener, they were said to be considering yet another version of their own ‘consultation’ vote instead of the Electoral Reform Society secret ballot  However, when Copland staff met on Monday there was anger at the tactics of the IEB and a near-unanimous vote to continue with Tuesday’ strike. Staff felt that the IEB’s contemptuous disdain for their attempts at  reasonable discussion and negotiation reinforced their view that the whole academisation ‘consultation’ was a sham and that, despite Michael Pavey’s claims to the contrary, the takeover by Ark is, in his own words,  a 'done deal'.

Ok, Michael. If it is a done deal, why not let the staff unions go ahead and pay for their ballot of parents and teachers at their own expense? It won’t make any difference to anything, after all.
However, if, as you claim, it isn’t yet a done deal, then what harm is there in demonstrating that at least one ‘consultation’ in Brent is prepared to canvass and listen to the views of the greatest possible number of stakeholders consulted in the most open and democratic manner possible and at no expense to the council? 
What believer in participatory democracy could possibly resist?
( But whatever you decide, please don’t tell us that the IEB is an independent body over which you have no influence at all. You’d  have us believing in Santa next). 

Monday 2 September 2013

Save Our Sulivan school is a child-centred campaign that deserves our whole-hearted support


Outside Hammersmith Town Hall

Parents, pupils, teachers and governors  lobbied the Hammersmith and Fulham Council at Hammersmith Town Hall this evening to try and save Sulivan Primary School. 'Save Our Hospitals' campaigner were there in  support.

The Council want to  move the pupils to nearby New Kings School to enable a Free School for 800 boys to take over the Sulivan site. The sting in the tail of this proposal is that New King's has decided to become an academy with private sponsorship, contrary to the values of Sulivan Primary.

The 'consultation' took place, as so many do, when people were away for the long summer holiday.

The campaign website describes Sulivan School LINK:
  • It is rated ‘GOOD WITH OUTSTANDING FEATURES’
  • It is full in nursery and reception – 299 parents have chosen Sulivan
  • It has earned some of its highest results ever in recent years with amazing achievement and progress
  • It is a small, beautiful school with lovely grounds including large play areas and an outdoor science laboratory
The demonstration began at 5.30pm at this last Cabinet before the consultation.  The Council had refused to hear a delegation on technical grounds but eventually they were given 5 minutes to present their case

It is clear from the comments that have been circulating on Twitter @SaveOurSulivan  that Sulivan is exactly the sort of small, family-centred , creative school that we in the Green Party favour and it is great to see it getting such vociferous support from parents. They deserve maximum support.

Here are some of the Twitter comments:
'Learning for life' -and Learning outside!! Lets keep it that way! 

 we have wonderful courgette flowers in the sulivan school garden ready for eating - yum yum - how many schools can report that!

'oh what a perfect place, we want to keep it our Sulivan school' name the song!!

Sulivan children bake cookies to help save their school! council can't say no to a cookie baked with such love 

 Amazing Gardens for exploring, cooking, science and conservation. Children don't want bricks - they want EARTH

 Sulivan is one of the top performing primaries in - and in high demand. Closing us makes ZERO sense.

  we cook fab meals from kitchen garden for the children and they also have their own kitchen - we even cook for the Lycee

  31 Aug
Not in my Borough, but I'll mention . want to shut Sulivan Primary School to open another lardy di da free school!

 Very sad to try and remove the opportunities Sulivan gives to poor local children of all cultures.

 Our chn learn science, data collecting, conservation. Some see this 'too good 4 our chn' - we don't

 Children in portacabins so that the property can be fixed up at our cost and given away to a private school chain

 Local children in are petitioning to save their school! Support the youth of the community - help Save Sulivan

Monday 28 January 2013

Is Gove now forcing non-failing schools to become academies?

Press release from the Save Roke Primary campaign who, like Gladstone Park Primary in Brent, are fighting forced academisation:

  
Michael Gove is now forcing well performing schools like Roke Primary in Kenley to become academies, as well as long term failing ones. This fits in with his desire to accelerate his academies programme. Roke may be one of the first but many are likely to follow.

Roke Primary, a previously ‘outstanding’ school, is not underperforming but the DfE are handing it to the Harris Federation, run by David Cameron’s personal friend and major Tory donor, Lord Harris. The decision was made just 4 months after one poor Ofsted report caused mainly by computer failure. The Guardian published claims that Gove may be flouting his own guidance on forced academies, “…his department’s official direction say this should only happen when a school has been underperforming for some time and if the problems are not being tackled”. Guidance set out in the 2010 Schools White Paper is very clear. “Where there has been long-term underperformance, little sign of improvement and serious Ofsted concern, we will convert schools into Academies,…” (Section 7.18).

 Parents believe that forced academy at Roke is going against this guidance. Roke has no consistent history of low performance. The latest SAT results are above the national average. Roke has never been below floor targets. Both Ofsted and the Local Authority agree that Roke is improving. Ofsted’s recent monitoring verdict, received by parents on Friday, was that satisfactory progress has been made. This was the best rating Roke could achieve without a longer time between inspections to show improvements had been sustained. It is clear that Roke has improved without the need for academy status or sponsorship by the Harris Federation. Despite this, forced academy is still going ahead.

Parents are campaigning against forced academy, and the complete lack of consultation or right of appeal. They are concerned about the speed and manner in which forced academy has occurred. They oppose Harris as sponsor. Their choice is Riddlesdown Collegiate, the local secondary academy, to which most Roke pupils progress. A long term partnership with Riddlesdown has become closer since Roke was issued a ‘notice to improve’. It is clear, from the progress made, that the partnership is working. If, forced academy must go ahead, Riddlesdown, not Harris is the governor, parent and staff choice of sponsor.

Roke parent, Angeline Hind said, “I thought sponsored academies were all about improving schools which have been underperforming for years. Roke is a good school which wavered before turning itself around very quickly. To force us into academy with a sponsor used to dealing with seriously failing schools seems like an extreme reaction”. Parent Debbie Shaw commented “Roke is a great catch for an academy chain like Harris, our results are already good and they will be able to claim the credit for improvements that have already happened”. Father Nigel Geary-Andrews said “It is alarming that the government is rushing through forced academies on schools like Roke, where there is no proven record of failure over any length of time, without any consultation with parents at all and no way of appealing. This does not seem democratic or transparent to me”

Tuesday 18 December 2012

Evening Standard report on hungry children reinforces need for free school meals for all

Following on from my posting earlier this month accusing the Coalition of knowingly increasing child poverty LINK and reporting being accosted by a hungry child in a local school. the Evening Standard has published this story: LINK:
Thousands of London children are going to school hungry because their parents are too poor to afford breakfast.

A harrowing investigation reveals today that scores of children have even passed out in class due to lack of food.

Three quarters of teachers interviewed by the London Assembly in a snapshot survey said they had personally taken action to help hungry children. Of those who said they had “taken action” to feed pupils, 60 per cent said they provided food at their own expense.

Almost 20 per cent of those interviewed who regularly gave food to hungry children did so up to four times a month.

Fiona Twycross, who is leading the study, said:
It’s heart-breaking to think that children are going to school hungry. Some kids have told us there’s no food in the cupboard at home at all. The problem might be even more widespread than we think. There are probably thousands going hungry.
You can’t see a hungry child, you just see a child who is listless or a bit ratty and lacking concentration, so unless a teacher spots it and asks the right questions we just don’t know.

Thank goodness for caring teachers who pay for food for hungry pupils out of their own pockets – although it is scandalous that they have to in this day and age.  What worries me even more is what is happening during the school holidays when this extra help isn’t available.
The Assembly member added:
We’ve heard really devastating stories about pupils passing out. It’s a dramatic illustration of the problem and hopefully not very widespread but it does happen. Even if it’s just one child going hungry and we don’t do anything about it that’s a scandal.
More than 95 per cent of teachers interviewed said there were always a few pupils in their class were starting the day on an empty stomach.

Almost 20 per cent said as many as 15 pupils went without breakfast.

Half of the respondents from primary and secondary schools across the capital said the children went without because their parents could not afford it.

And almost all of the teachers interviewed - 97 per cent - said hunger impacted negatively on their pupils’ concentration in lessons.

The Assembly’s health committee, which publishes its full report in March, spoke to 164 head teachers and other staff across 21 different boroughs - including Lewisham, Lambeth and Tower Hamlets - to establish the scale and impact of hunger.

There are just over 2,000 primary and secondary schools in London educating around 1.25 million pupils so the scale of the problem is likely to be more widespread.

The study found there was a growing demand for food banks, breakfast clubs and free school meals as the economic downturn takes effect.

Investigators have uncovered harrowing tales. One teacher came across a child standing outside a cookery class sniffing the air as cakes were baked inside.

She described the scene as “like something out of a Dickens story” as the child had not eaten breakfast or lunch because he couldn’t afford the food.
It would be good if the Evening Standard took up the Green Party policy of free school meals for all children. It would end the bureaucracy  associated with applying for free school meals and ensure that, at least during term time, all children got a decent hot meal, impacting on health, behaviour and educational achievement. Many parents find applying for free school meals difficult and there are also families who do not qualify as their immigration status means they have 'no recourse to public funds'.