Fungi galore in Fryent Country Park today

The warm humid autumn weather created a surge of fungi growth overnight. These are samples found in Fryent Country Park today.

WARNING: Do not eat raw or cooked fungi unless you are absolutely certain that it is edible and have experience in such matters.

Another reason why a politicised Ofsted is not fit for purpose: the Green's alternative

The Guardian has revealed that so-called 'super head' Rachel de Souza of the Inspiration Trust, who has Michael Gove as a groupy, received advance notice of Ofsted inspections LINK

This is just one more example of the politicisation of Ofsted and its harnessing to serve the aims of the Global Education Reform Movement (GERM) for the privatisation of education.

The Green Party recognised this as its Spring Conference this year and approved a policy to replace Ofsted with a body based on school improvement through collaboration.

Here are extracts from the policy:
 

--> ED056 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 Local Authorities. The National Council would be closely affiliated with the National Federation for Educational Research (NFER).

ED057 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.

ED076 Secondary and college students will have a right to attend meetings of the Governing Body 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.

ED077 In accordance with Green Party philosophy the running of the school will be devolved as much as possible to the school within the above guidelines.

ED078 The Local Authority and National Council of Educational Excellence will be involved in monitoring the structures to ensure there is consistency of standards and level of involvement and to help to share best practice.

Butt finds democracy a bit bothersome

I guess Brent's contribution to Democracy Week of an Question Time session with the panel consisting solely of Brent Labour Council's Cabinet members (the token Tory dropped out) is par for the course.

But the democratic deficit actually reaches into the Labour Group itself.

Cllr Keith Perrin, Cabinet member for the Environment resigned some weeks ago. One of his first jobs as lead was to defend the £40 Garden Tax against criticism from fellow Labour councillors. Some suggest this was a contributing factor in his resignation.

Rather than being replaced his role has been taken on by Council Leader Muhammed Butt - or has it?

Word has it that Butt does not want another election to choose Perrin's successor as the last election was too acrimonious with many councillors jostling for a Cabinet post.

Muhammed Butt is already on record as finding annual leadership elections irksome and now it appears even elections that don't involve him personally are too bothersome.

He has out-sourced the donkey work  for now to a former member of the Executive, who knows rather more about regeneration than waste.

Meanwhile, lurking in the wings is Cllr John Duffy (Kilburn)  who as former adviser on waste to Ken Livingstone when he was London Mayor, really is an expert on the subject.

However, he is not one of the Young Turks (or should it be Young Tiggers?) who form Butt's buttress against challenge.  He is too independent and experienced to fit in with the group.

Meanwhile people are contacting me who have only just found out about the Garden Tax. This one won't go away.

To cap it all there are now rumours that an excuse will be found to not go ahead with the Council meeting due on November 17th.

Greens on the TUC March - Britain Needs A Pay Rise

The Green Party is experiencing a surge in membership following the Referendum in Scotland and UKIP's by-election result.

No More Austerity:Britain needs a Pay Rise-Join the TUC March Tomorrow

Many Brent residents and trade unionists will be joining the TUC March tomorrow. Green Party actvists will be there.

More details about the march and testimonies fro mvarious workers are available HERE

Brent's closure of Stonebridge Adventure Playground would renege on HAT regeneration agreement

The Trustees of Brent Play Association (of which I am one) have sent the following letter to Brent councillors as the fight to save the Stonebridge Adventure Playground continues:

Following our previous correspondence regarding the Stonebridge Adventure Playground I am responding to the consultation document in which the Adventure Playground is replaced by a small ‘kick about’ play area situated adjacent to the Hillside / Harrow Road.

I cannot believe that everyone concerned with this proposal has completely lost touch with the current situation regarding the day-to-day lives of our children outside of school hours.

Whatever school representatives may say, even primary schools now employ classroom assistants who are directed to supervise play times, with particular regard to curtail fighting and bullying. This is an area of concern that has increased in recent years. Can you imagine parents, or Ofsted’s response to a school, which allowed the children out at playtime with no adult supervision whatsoever? Recently we have heard many serious concerns from parents about the large unsupervised play area in Lawrence Road, which included a deputation of parents asking us how to go about closing it down. Why?

·      it is dark after school for more than 3 months of the year,

·      rain, with no indoor facilities

·      the area is often used as a meeting / hanging out place for older teenagers

·      there have been shootings and other gun-related issues in and around this playground

·      used syringes can be found there

·      dogs are exercised there

·      no supervision leads to anti-social behavior  including bullying, swearing, smoking, drinking alcohol, and  vandalism .

·      no access to toilets or drinking water

Due to all of the above parents tell their children that if they are allowed to play out they must avoid this playground. The days of parents letting their children go out to play unsupervised are over. 

Where unsupervised playgrounds of this kind are used it is always with a parent being present. We therefore believe that the new children’s play space within the proposal to expand Stonebridge school will be a danger to children and young people.

When the redevelopment of Stonebridge began the Housing Action Trust (HAT), Brent Council officers, and selected residents agreed that due to the huge amount of 4-19 year olds in this ward there would need to be two separate facilities offering supervised indoor and outdoor opportunities. The Pavilion was built for older teenagers and upwards, and it was agreed by all that the Adventure Playground was already providing the appropriate facility for the younger age group, so a new premises was not needed. The proposed closure of the Adventure Playground is reneging on this agreement, and leaves the children with nothing.

Save the playground for him and other children growing up in Stonebridge & the surrounding area

We have been the custodians of this very special place for over 40 years.

It is the only one of its kind, dedicated exclusively to children and young people, in Brent, involving them directly in the decision-making, and day-to-day management of the Centre. It is therefore highly valued by its users past and present, and has contributed to their development in all areas of life.

Stonebridge Adventure Playground should therefore be, as promised, kept and improved for future generations of children and young people.

On behalf of the BPA Trustees

Doug Lee

Does Michaela's 'private school ethos' mean they can ignore safety concerns as enquiries blocked?

The only street entry/exit from Michaela Free school 

Photo: Nick Wright (via Facebook)

Reflecting concerns about teacher and children safety at the new Michaela Free School in Wembley Park, Jenny Cooper of the Brent Teachers' Association  has attempted a dialogue with the management.  It appears that not only have her concerns been ignored but Michaela has now blocked any communication from her

This is the sequence of events as recorded by email:

September 30th by email.
Dear Ms Birbalsingh,

I am writing to you in my capacity as Brent NUT Health & Safety Adviser and London representative on the National NUT Health & Safety Working Group as a result of concerns that have been expressed to me regarding fire safety procedures in your school.

NUT members have expressed concern that there appears to be only one entrance and exit from the building, through the wooden hoardings on the building site and that there appears to be no area for fire assembly purposes. This is a concern to the NUT for two reasons: potential danger for NUT members who may be working at the school and potential danger for the pupils.

To reassure us over these concerns, could you please send me a copy of your fire risk assessment? I am requesting this document under the provisions of the "Safety Representatives and Safety Committees regulations 1977", specifically regulation 7 which allows for inspection of documents and provision of information necessary to enable me to carry out my function. As an appointed Brent NUT Safety rep, part of my function is to promote health and safety in Brent schools on behalf of members that may be employed in those schools.

Hopefully I will be reassured by the fire risk assessment that everything is in place and that members' concerns have been unfounded. However, if I do not get sight of this document or a reply to this request, I will be forced to take this concern elsewhere.

Thank you for your help,

Jenny Cooper,

Brent NUT Health & Safety Adviser 

London rep on national NUT HSWG

NUT Safety rep on Brent Schools' Health & Safety Committee

No response was received so follow up email on October 16th:

Dear Ms Birbalsingh,

Do you have a response to my earlier email, below?

I will be actioning this matter in another way if I do not hear from you within the week.

Jenny Cooper

Response from Michaela

officeadmin@mcsbrent.co.uk

Your message can't be delivered because delivery to this address is restricted to authenticated Sender.
For more information about this issue see DSN code 5.7.12 in Exchange Online.

This is the same Michaela email address as Jenny had used before in communicating with the school and has not been rejected before. It appears that she has been blocked from raising these legitimate concerns.

Brent NUT told me:

We have been leafleting the parents about the H&S issues at Michaela. We leafleted the parents meetings for the new intake. When we were handing out letters to children at the end of the day to take home to all parents, some staff came out and asked why we hadn't written to ask about the situation with regards to fire safety and other issues. We replied that the H&S Advisor Jenny Cooper had written but there had been no response. That is why we were handing out letters as we were so concerned. This took the wind out of sails somewhat. We alerted Ruth Moher, Lead member for Education that we had not had any response and she is checking what is happening. A Brent Council H&S Officer is supposed to making a visit to the school and may already have done. Interesting that now Jenny has been blocked.

 

Caroline Lucas ensures powerful teacher voices are heard in Parliament

It is unusual these days to have speeches in Parliament fully reported. Today I am making an exception because I feel the issues raised by Caroline Lucas in her adjournment debate on education on Tuesday were so important. Please do read on after the text break.


This evening I want to pay tribute to the incredible work being done in schools in Brighton and Hove. Last year the city’s young people got their best ever GSCE results. This year the key stage 2 results were in the top quarter in the country and 54% of A-level students got A* to B grades, an improvement in results for the third year running. Brighton and Hove was also named top local authority in the country for tackling homophobia in schools. That really is a track record to be proud of, so I want to applaud the many teachers and other staff who make such achievements possible.

However, those achievements have been reached in spite of Government policy, not because of it. Research from the National Union of Teachers reveals the extent to which Ministers have been taking teachers for granted. The NUT found that 87% of teachers said that they know one or more teachers who have left the profession because of work load; that 90% of teachers have themselves considered leaving the profession because of work load; and that 96% said their work load has had negative consequences for their family or personal life.

Tonight I want to do two things: first, to share some of what I have been told by local teachers about the daily reality behind those statistics, and to ask the Department of Education and the Secretary of State to start listening to teachers and to review their current policies; and secondly, to make the case for statutory PSHE—personal, social, health and economic education—teaching in all state-funded schools. I have a private Member’s Bill before the House designed to achieve exactly that. I very much welcome the Minister’s views on that proposal.