Lyon Park Primary strikers on second day of the strike: 'We are the backbone of the school' - VIDEO

 

 

There was no need for me to ask anyone how to get to Lyon Park Primary School this morning when I took the shortcut over the railway bridge from London Road. Loud cheering and chanting echoed through the quiet suburban streets off Ealing Road and served as my guide. 

The strikers were in great spirits on the second day of their walkout and their sense of togetherness was strong and getting stronger as they talked about their struggle against wage cuts and worsening of conditions, including transfers to term-time only contracts.

As I have pointed out on Wembley Matters now for several years the worsening school funding crisis and subsequent redundancies affect support staff in schools the most, but have a knock-on effect on teachers' conditions and the quality of education offered by schools.

Lyon Park Primary is not alone in Brent in suffering from a deficit budget but it is he first to implement such drastic cuts after failing to be granted a licensed deficit by the local authority. What is happening at Lyon Park will be a test case closely watched by the governing bodies and senior management of other schools.

The support staff I spoke to this morning were diverse and mainly women whose pay has never been generous but have a fierce commitment to the children they work with.  Many have been at the school for more than 30 years and working with the second or third generation of children. They are proud of their role and the way it has evolved into a professional (though often unrecognised as such) job over the past few decades.

The support staff described themselves as the backbone of the school, well known to the local community and often the first port of call for both parents and children experiencing difficulties.

They emphasised that they played a valuable part in moving the school out of the Ofsted 'Requiring Improvement' category and now feel betrayed.

Three days of strikes are planned for next week and further escalation thereafter. 

It appears that the management has been taken aback by the strength of the strike action and the support and solidarity strikers have received. I understand that the unions are due to meet with the headteacher for talks on Monday morning.

Stay tuned to Wembley Matters for further updates.

 

BREAKING: Lyon Park Primary strike suspended pending talks

 Lyon Park Primary strike action has been suspended because the cCuncil stepped in and agreed to fund all the voluntary redundancies applied for and has agreed to facilitate talks, starting tomorrow, to resolve all the other issues. 

 

The NEU will go ahead with the dates of strike action next week if these talks do not resolve the outstanding matters.

TEACHERS ON PICKET LINES AT TWENTY BRENT SCHOOLS AS STRIKES HIT SCHOOLS ACROSS ENGLAND - BRENT TEACHERS SAY ENOUGH! ON REDUNDANCIES

 From Brent National Education Union

 

NEU members across Brent are striking this week in the fight for a fully funded pay rise in education. This follows multiple “restructures” in Brent primary schools which have led to redundancies.

 

Teachers across Brent will be on picket lines this Wednesday and Friday as part of a national strike campaign across England. Cuts to funding in schools and non-funded pay awards have led to redundancies in several Brent schools this term.

 

Teachers and supporters will be on picket lines at 20 Brent schools this week and many more will attend a demonstration in Westminster this Wednesday.

 

Jenny Cooper of Brent NEU and the NEU national executive said:

 

This government does not care about the dire state of our schools- our staffing shortages, our increased class sizes and our lack of money for basic resources. They do not care that those who were key workers in the pandemic are now being made redundant and our SEND kids are being left without adequate support. Well we say “Enough!”- we will not accept this for education- we believe another world is possible.

 

Update on Strathcona closure process

A Task Group has been set up with officers of the local authority and Roe Green-Strathcona senior management and the Chair of Governors to manage the phased closure of the Strathcona school site.

Although the unions are not part of the Task Group they will be receiving regular reports on its activity from Brent's Operational Director for Children and Families. I understand that the unions' suggestions on avoiding compulsory redundancies are being considered by the authority.

The NEU ballot for strike action is still live.

Protest to save Roe Green infants-Strathcona jobs 4pm tonight Brent Civic Centre

Cllr Butt addresses staff and parents at an earlier demonstration against closure

Following the Brent Labour Cabinet's decision to go ahead with the closure of the Strathcona site of Roe Green Infants School the battle has now shifted to saving the jobs of school workers. The two sites are run as one school so everyone is affected by potential redundancy although Gail Tolley, Strategic Director, has said that she does not expect compulsory redundancies.

To ensure that jobs are not loss NEU members will be demonstrating outside Brent Civic Centre at 4pm today.

Gail Tolley told a meeting of Chairs and Vice Chairs of governors last week that at least two neighbouring boroughs were closing primary schools due to falling pupil numbers and several primary schools in Brent that had expanded with new build were now going to reduce their numbers by one form of entry.

School Funding Crisis: Caroline Lucas details the impact on provision

It is good to see that the schools budget crisis which could see the loss of hudreds of teaching and teaching assistant jobs, narrowing of the curriculum and larger class sizes is becoming a prominent election issue.

Ahead of the Education Question Time event I publish here the submission made by Caroline Lucas MP tin March o the consultation on the new school funding formula. Although the context is Brighton many of the issues also apply to Brent:

 

-->

Submission from Caroline Lucas MP, Brighton Pavilion 

Introduction

Ahead of this submission, I have contacted the Head Teachers serving the children and young people in Brighton Pavilion constituency to ask for their views.  The message back in response from Head Teachers is clear and consistent:

• School funding is in crisis
• Current budgets are unsustainable
• School budgets are being pushed beyond breaking point
•  

One Head with ten plus years’ experience told me the impending crisis is “unprecedented”. 

This is also the message in a letter, dated 13 March, signed by 44 Brighton and Hove Head Teachers and sent to all 3 Brighton and Hove MPs.  The letter is included as Appendix One to this submission.  Appendix Two includes a letter and statement from the Brighton City Partnership for Education, which is sent jointly with 13 other counties.  The Education Partnerships sets out in stark terms the dismay felt by school leaders over the Government’s decision to continue to divert significant monies to Free School provision and Grammar School expansion when this does not always guarantee value for money.  They refer to Department for Education (DfE) “decisions that seem to entirely ignore the wishes and needs of dedicated and committed school leaders”.  I urge Ministers to listen to the very genuine and persuasive concerns of education professionals.

Strike at Ark Elvin Academy, Wembley, tomorrow

PICKET LINE - Thursday 16 March at Ark Elvin Academy, Cecil Avenue,Wembley, HA9 7DU.
7am onwards.

NUT, ATL and NAS/UWT members at Ark Elvin Academy will stage their  first day of strike action tomorrow against ten proposed redundancies -part of the fightback against government education cuts.

All those who are sympathetic to the strike are welcome to join the picket line.

Ark Elvin was formerly Copland High School and was forced to become an academy despite opposition from staff, parents and students.

Another blow to Brent and Kilburn Times

I wrote previously LINK about the decision of Archant, owners of the Brent and Kilburn Times, to make redundacies through doing away with News Editor posts on its papers, instead merging web and paper roles and centralising news gathering.

I now understand that the three sports writers on the newspaper are to be made redundant and a new post created which will essentially mean one person doing the job of three.  As the sports page, reporting on local fixtures, are probably one of the more popular features of the paper, this seems rather short-sighted.

It saddens me as someone who values the contribution of local newspapers to democratic accountability and building a sense of local community to see their gradual demise.

With few staff they are likely to rely on lightly edited press releases and shared copy rather than original stories.

At present local newspapers are helped to keep afloat by local government advertising in the form of statutory notices (see above). This ensures a steady income independent of the ups and downs of the local economy. However there have been reports that the government is thinking of removing the requirement for such advertising, allowing councils to put the information on-line only.  Given councils' budget constraints they are likely to go along with the proposal and withdraw such local newspaper advertising, dealing another, possibly fatal, blow to the local press.

NUJ: Archant redundancies will mean more work and more stress for already overburdened staff

The National Union of Journalists  has just issued this statement on the Archant redundancies:

Archant has announced changes to its content operation which could result in the loss of up to 57 jobs and the creation of 40 new roles. Design and production of the company’s newspapers will be separated from the content creation function with a centralised production unit in Norwich responsible for all print titles.

Archant publishes 50 weekly newspapers the south of England and four East Anglian dailies: the Eastern Daily Press, Ipswich Star, East Anglian Daily Times and the Norwich Evening News.

Andy Smith, NUJ national executive member, said:

We are extremely concerned by the news of the proposed job losses at Archant.

The union has yet to meet Archant management formally to discuss the proposals, but the there is little in the reported statements from Jeff Henry, chief executive, or Matt Kelly, chief content officer, to indicate how moving to an ‘audience first’ approach can justify the loss of at least 17 jobs.

Putting 57 staff at risk of redundancy, particularly at this time of year, will be incredibly stressful for them all, and our first responsibility is to support our members through this process. Though the consultation is at a very early stage, it is difficult to see how these proposals can have any other effect than to impose more work and more stress on an already overburdened staff still coming to terms with the effects of the photographer redundancies made earlier this year.

Quoted in the Press Gazette, Matt Kelly said: “Editing the newspaper will be done with a very light touch from title editors – I do not want editors spending hours deciding between the page 9 and page 15 leads, or coping with the perennial last minute need for dozens of fillers to complete news pages.”

He said the new “content rooms” will be “less hierarchical” under the proposed changes.

Brent Council workers gagged from speaking to councillors over employment discrimination issues

I am, as regular readers will know, a militant opponent of the Tory Party, but I was pleased that the Brondesbury Conservative group raised the issue of an independent investigation into the Brent Council Human Resources department at Full Council last week.

I would of course have much preferred it to be raised by principled members of the Labour group.

It is a call that has also been made by Brent Green Party, Brent Trade Union Council, and Brent Anti Racism Campaign.

I know through messages and phone calls to Wembley Matters that many Brent Council staff do not have confidence in Michael Pavey's internal investigation and that they do not feel they have an avenue for complaints that does not put them at risk of retribution.

Cllr John Warren at Full Council offered staff the opportunity to raise issues with him. He has since received a letter from Brent Council's Legal Department advising him that staff doing so would be in breach of the Brent Officers' Code of Conduct and could put them at risk of disciplinary action:

I am writing, as Deputy Monitoring Officer, following the Full Council meeting on Monday 8th December when you invited employees to contact you confidentially if they wanted to discuss any dissatisfaction they felt or discrimination which they had experienced in the course of their employment.

I am very concerned that encouraging staff to follow this course of action crosses the boundary between the respective roles of Members and Officers in relation to matters concerning the employment of staff.  As you may be aware the Protocol for Members and Officer Relations formed part of the agenda at Standards Committee on Tuesday evening.  The Protocol reminds both Members and Officers of the Brent Council Officers' Code of Conduct which contains clear restrictions on employees raising matters relating to employment with Members.   By encouraging staff to contact you in the way suggested you are encouraging staff to breach the Brent Council Officers' Code of Conduct and could place employees at risk of disciplinary action.

I would request that you do not repeat the invitation to employees and, if you are approached by any employees, they are instead advised to raise any issues through the proper communication channels and reminded of the provisions of the Brent Council Officers' Code of Conduct.

This is essentially a gag on any members of staff contacting any councillor to discuss their concerns. It would not be an issue if staff had confidence in the Council's internal procedures but this is clearly not the case.

It is even more important at a time when Cara Davani, who had a key role in the Council's actions that resulted in an Employment Tribunal finding of racial discrimination, victimisation and constructive dismissal, is managing the process of the restructuring of the Council's senior management and will be handling redundancies arising from the forthcoming budget cuts. An appeal hearing dismissed Brent Coucil's grounds for appeal against the judgment.

An independent investigation is the only way to ensure that staff are heard and justice achieved.

Student protest over technician and teacher cuts at College of North West London

As students were registering for courses on Saturday at the College of North West London in Dudden Hill, Willesden there was a demonstration outside by mature student Zo Flamma-Hill of Women in Construction.  She was opposing cuts in technicians, teachers and librarians at the college and the failure of the college to inform students about the cuts. She was also concerned that the Students; Union had taken no action and that the redundancies had taken place in an atmospere of bullying.

She called for investment in education and an end to discrimination in terms of age and gender. Zo pointed out that women represent only 11% of the construction workforce. Most of these jobs are office based and only 2% work in the manual sector. CNWL has been attractiong women into manual trades, graduate construction professions and engineering.

She claimed that courses were being reduced to less technical ones geared to the provision of cheap labour with some apprentices paid only £2 an hour

Copland strike against redundancies well supported today

Copland Communuity school was closed today except for examinations in a joint union  strike over redundancies. Mick Lyons, Past NASUWT President, Stefan Simms, NUT Executive and Hank Roberts, ATL Immediate Past President congratulated the staff for their continuing to stand firm against ARK and for their colleagues and the pupils.

ARK intransigence provokes Copland strike over compulsory redundancies

The teaching unions (NUT, NAUWT, ATL at Copland Community School have sent the following notice. Copland is due to be forced to be academised and taken over by Ark later this year.

The three teacher unions at Copland Community School in Wembley will be taking strike action again this Wednesday over threatened compulsory redundancies. Two teachers face losing their jobs. The current Headteacher, Richard Marshall and the Unions have been meeting on a weekly basis with the joint aim of preventing this occurring. These negotiations have significantly reduced the original number of proposed compulsory redundancies as well as agreed very useful proposals on how to prevent the loss of the remaining two jobs. These include covering a maternity leave and extending the deadline for compulsory redundancies until December. It is well documented that there is a turn over of staff when a school converts to an academy.

But ARK, who are seeking to take over the school in September, have refused to

agree to any of these proposals.

ARK, known for their anti union stance, are prepared to see the school closed rather than negotiate, are prepared to see the pupils education disrupted. The teachers will be on the picket line again on Wednesday from 7.30 am showing their collective anger at this stance.

Tom Stone, NASUWT Secretary said, “I find the intransigence of the ARK management in not agreeing any of these eminently sensible proposals, unbelievable. We have had weekly meeting with the aim of preventing any redundancies. ARK is prepared to disrupt the children's education when such a small step would solve this situation.

Hank Roberts, ATL said, “If ARK do take over the running of the school in the autumn this does not bode well for the staff or pupils. The children's education has already suffered too much without sacking their teachers.”

Lesley Gouldbourne, NUT said, “We have been working so hard to prevent any strike action. Yet even when we and the school come up with an effective proposal, ARK refuses to agree. It is outrageous that this is allowed to happen when they are not even running the school.”

The teachers are planning to strike again on May 21st if there is not agreement to prevent these compulsory redundancies.

Brent needs healthy local newspapers to hold Council to account

I have written about the importance of the local press for democracy before on this site. Here in Brent we have the Brent and Kilburn Times, owned by the Archant group and the Wembley and Willesden Observer, owned by Trinity Mirror. In some parts of the north of the borough the Harrow Times also circulates.

The number of reporters on the Brent ands Kilburn Times has reduced from the paper's heyday and readers will have noticed that the number of pages has also been reduced. It is sold in newsagents but also distributed free at some supermarkets, estate agents and elsewhere. It does not always contain a letters page which is often a good indicator of a newspaper's engagement with readers.

The Wembley and Willesden Observer is rather different as it is a local edition of the Harrow Observer series and despite having a great local reporter in Hannah Bewley is usually dominated by news about Harrow. A reader has to double check on stories beginning 'The Council...' to see which Council is involved - more often than not it is Harrow.

The paper's  door-to-door distribution in Brent is very patchy and its price of 90p where sold is unpopular with readers when they discover it contains very few Brent stories.

Trinity Mirror has gone through a difficult period and earlier this month told West Londoin staff that the Fulham and Hammersmith Chronicle, Westminster Chronicle and Kensington and Chelsea Chronicle were to close.

Trinity also  announced that their titles in Uxbridge, Hounslow and Ealing are to switch from door-to-door to 'pick-up' only. The Harrow Observer will remain distributed door-to-door but as I mentioned earlier this does not cover the whole borough of Brent. The newspaper's office is being moved to Watford.

Trinity are going through the process of making staff including reporters, photographers and sales staff redundant and the outcome for the WWO is awaited with some trepidation.

Clearly this is a gloomy picture, not only for the staff concerned, but for the health of local democracy and the important role local newspapers play in holding local councils to account.

Laura Davison, national organiser of the NUJ said about Trinity's closure announcement:

This announcement has come as a terrible shock to the hardworking staff of these titles.The speed of it means there is little time to look at meaningful alternatives to closure.Trinity Mirror should not simply be able to shut down these titles and lock them away after years of starving them of resources.It will leave some communities with no local paper, depriving them of a way to access information and hold local power to account. Readers and the Trinity Mirror journalists who serve them, deserve better.

Martin Shipton, chair of the Trinity Group chapel (NUJ branch), said:

These closures would leave many communities in the outer London area without a local paper, as well as Fulham, a significant and densely populated part of the capital. There is a compelling need for journalistic scrutiny of the budget of local authorities which cover the circulation of these papers. Instead of shutting them down, Trinity Mirror should be investing in quality journalism, for which the public undoubtedly retains an appetite.

I agree.

Copland teachers denied chance to see pupils through to their exams

We have got used to teachers' professional views being ignored or thought of as no consequence, as in the case of the recent Radio4 panel discussion about history teaching with Michael Gove and academic historians, but with no actual history teachers present.

One would expect their views to be taken account of when a school is going through substantial changes and students will be affected.

However a meeting of the Interim Executive Board of Copland Community High School yesterday seemed to model their behaviour on that of Michael Gove.

The teacher unions had asked that leaving dates for staff made redundant be deferred until September so that they could continue to support their students who are taking examinations. The IEB decided that as all classes could be covered so all redundancies will take place at Easter.

Clearly from an educational point of view it is preferable, and perhaps essential, that teachers who know the students and their strengths and weaknesses and have taught them the subject, should see them all the way through to their examinations.

It appears that the IEB accepted the word of the headteacher on the issues discussed rather than subjecting them to the kind of rigorous challenge that Ofsted now expects regarding the quality of teaching and learning.

Copland cull continues

The cudgels are out at Copland Community School as the new head and deputy act fast and furious before the end of the term.

I understand that 30 or so staff have already taken voluntary redundancy, some under the implied threat of capability procedures for not delivering 'Outstanding' or 'Good' lessons, if they did not accept the offer - but now a second front has opened.

Heads of Faculty have apparently been asked to submit names of two members of staff  who they wouldn't  mind losing. As in the best gangster movies when they don't produce the two names it is suggested that they go instead. This appears to have been effective in some cases as teachers have suddenly, apparently without reference to agreed procedures, been invited to Formal Capability Interviews.

The question arises as to whether not following the agreed procedures is itself a capability issue.

How this will leave the staffing situation in September 2013, and again in January 2013, is anyone's guess but resignations and redundancies will produce vacancies that will be difficult to fill in the present climate at the school unless huge incentives are offered.

But then the school has not got the money and anyway  it does not have a very good record in terms of incentives and bonuses...

Kilburn Times names Brent officers facing the axe

I reported recently on the restructuring of top jobs at Brent Council which would cut a number of senior positions. The Kilburn Times in an exclusive this week puts names to some of the those facing redundancy..

I'll let you read the full list in the paper or on-line LINK but they include Krutika Pau, Director of Children and Families; Phil Newby, Director of Strategy, Partnerships and Improvement; Chris Walker, Assistant Director for Planning Development and Toni McConville, Director of Customer and Community Engagement.

Consultations and negotiations are still in progress. It will be a difficult and uncertain time for those concerned.