Brent Council joins in GCSE judicial review call

Brent Council has  confirmed it will be joining other local authorities in an attempt to seek a judicial review into the altering of grade boundaries for GCSE examinations between January and June this year.

The council took the decision after conducting a thorough survey of predicted and actual GCSE pass grades among all of its secondary schools which found that as many as 100 students who sat exams in June were adversely affected by the grade boundaries being reset.

Brent's Lead Member for Children and Families, Cllr. Mary Arnold said:

"We believe that the AQA and Edexcel exam boards altered their grades between January and June of this year which resulted in a marked difference in students' predicted and actual grades. On behalf of the hundred or so students affected in Brent and the many thousands of other young people across England we are whole heartedly behind the legal challenge to Ofqual for a thorough investigation into this matter."

A formal joint letter of complaint, to which Brent is signatory, was issued to Ofqual on 20 September calling for a judicial review into the increase in grade boundaries.

Clive Heaphy spoke out on Brent school victims of IT scams

Yesterday I tweeted about Brent schools being featured on Panorama's 'Reading, Writing and Rip-offs' last night. This was based on a circular from the council to headteachers.

In fact Brent weren't mentioned as such but Brent schools have had similar experiences, although not as expensive as some reported.

Clive Heaphy  Brent Director of Finance (since suspended while allegations of gross misconduct are investigated) spoke to the Times Educational Supplement about it earlier this year and reported on this blog LINK

Furness Primary is being sued by a finance company for £301,083 plus interest calculated at £14,579 in April and still rising. But Brent Council said the equipment involved was worth just £9,150 when it was sold off by the finance company in February.

Kensal Rise Primary is being sued by the same company for £287,000. Both schools have made counterclaims for money they say they have already paid “in error” - £805,000 in the case of Kensal Rise. The same school has also received a more recent claim from a second finance company for £253,000.

Brent says schools have been tempted into such deals by offers of up to £15,000 “cash back” a quarter from equipment suppliers that make initial lease repayments appear more favourable than the real long-term cost. Clive Heaphy, the authority’s finance director, said that primary heads were not always “business savvy” and cannot always “see through” such offers.

Given the political disagreement about academies Heaphy was very clear with his warning:

 “Inevitably there is a recipe there for difficult times ahead and potentially for some mismanagement issues and possibly some fraud issues,” he told TES, adding that increased autonomy for local authority schools had already made it much harder for town halls to guard against them misusing public money.

“I still retain personal accountability for schools’ finances and yet I see less and less data and have fewer and fewer levers to be able to do anything about it,” Mr Heaphy said. “There is very little action in reality you can take.”

On academies he said: “The only watchdog over them is the Department for Education itself. We have no relationship with them, but who does?”

 

Brent LINk vote against Central Middlesex A&E Closure

After a debate between Dr Mark Spencer of NW London NHS and Graham Durham of the Brent Patients Campaign, Brent LINk members and any public attending, voted to oppose the closure of Central Middlesex A&E. There were two abstentions and no votes against.

In the course of the debate Dr Spencer repeatedly failed to answer Graham Durham's request for him to explain why he had stated in a BBC interview before the consultation began that four Accident and Emergency units would have to close in NW London.  Dr Spencer also admitted that despite the rise in the number of children in Brent schools and the importance of child health, that schools, headteachers and governing bodies had not been consulted.

There will be another chance for the public to make their views known when the 'Shaping a Healthier Future' roadshow comes to Harlesden Methodist Church on Saturday September 29th. The Q&A session will be from 11am until 12 noon.

Will Sarah Teather MP  come and hear what her constituents have to say about the proposals so that she can champion their views in the House of Commons?

Reading, Writing and Rip-offs and Brent Schools tonight

BBC Panorama tonight at 8.30pm, BBC1 apparently includes section on Brent schools exploited by IT companies: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01n2t2f