Wembley Connects consultation event this Wednesday

Brent has revamped the Area Consultative Forums which are now known as Brent Connects. The first Wembley event will be on Wednesday at Patidar House, London Road, off Wembley High Road. I now understand that only the Kilburn Connects forum has an 'Any Questions' type panel of officers and councillors. However you can still book a Soapbox (speaking for 3/5 minutes on any subject) by arriving early or doing it on line (see below)

Wednesday's Agenda:

Main presentations:

• Update on the rebranding of Area Consultative Forum
• Waste site stench in parts of Neasden and Wembley - stopping future occurrence
• Civic Centre Consultation (Arts and Culture Programme) - have your say
• Brent's response to Government's Welfare Reform

Here are the details for booking a Soapbox:

How can I have my say?Please fill in the online Soapbox Application Form or email us at consultation@brent.gov.uk
You can also print the form and post to us at the address below:

Consultation Team
Room 25, Brent Town Hall, Forty Lane, Wembley, Middlesex HA9 9HX

You can also hand your completed form to a Council Officer at the beginning of the meeting. You will be invited to speak by the forum chair during the course of the meeting.

What are the rules?In order that everyone gets the same opportunity and that no offence is caused to any member of the forum audience, certain ground rules will apply and we would ask everyone who participates to respect these rules.

They are:

• Soapbox topics or issues discussed must be relevant to the area and its communities
• Equal Opportunities guidelines will be applied and no inappropriate topics or comments will be allowed
• A maximum of three minutes will be allowed for each slot, and the chair will monitor timekeeping
• If appropriate, the council will provide a response either on the night, or in writing at a later date

Coalition plans warehousing for children

Wates' 'repeatable school' template

We may soon be seeing these schools throughout the country if the Coalition gets its way and orders cut-price identical  new schools across the country with smaller classrooms, corridors and halls.

This looks like warehousing or factory farming for children and in the way ideologically reflects the conveyor belt nature of the examination system with its quotas and targets.

Capital Ciry Academy (Norman Foster)

Cleverly the Coalition in its justification takes a populist swipe at some of the grandiose school projects built under Labour, lampoons atriums, denigrates architects and opines that it is good teaching that makes good schools - not buildings.

The Victorians valued education and children more, just look at some of the education castles such as Kensal Rise Primary or St Joseph's in Harlesden, bold statements of the centrality of education to the community, and built to last from hard as iron industrial brick. They are still with us, if the haven't been converted into luxury flats such as those on Dudden Hill, whilethe post-war schools are crumbling.  It was ironic that the recent Brent Education Debate was held at Copland High School with the building's poor physical state there for all to see.

 How long will these 'Ikea' schools last?

Less space in schools, small halls, smaller playgrounds because of school expansion and sold-off playing fields - space is now a political issue.  Smaller school halls will mean that the whole school can no longer meet as a community affecting the social cohesion of the school.  The school won't all be able to meet together following major events such as the death of a pupil or to celebrate the school's achievements.   There won't be space for all the parents to attend a concert or other school performance. Opportunities to let out the space for community events will be reduced because of the hall's low capacity.

I was recently approached by someone who wanted to speak to the pupils at a local school about the scout movement, wanting to recruit more children to the local pack. She asked to come and talk at an assembly. I had to let her know that because of the large number of children and small school hall, she would have to speak to 6 separate assemblies!

Schools with large numbers of pupils but small halls, alongside the requirement for a daily act of worship, mean that mornings are tied up with assemblies (a timetabling nightmare) and the hall is not available for PE, music, drama etc. Some are even more restricted because they are also used as dining rooms.

Perhaps most importantly, good school building may not create good teaching, but they do convey to the children how much society values them.  What message is the Coalition sending to the next generation?

GCSE affair "morally repugnant" senior examiner

The legal action undertaken by Brent Council, other local authorities and many schools,  seeking a judicial review of the GCSE marking fiasco has received unexpected backing from a senior figure in AQA, the examination board.. This report from the BBC:

A senior exam board figure has resigned over the shifting of English GCSE grade boundaries which left thousands of pupils with lower grades than expected. Stephen McKenzie quit the exam board AQA on Wednesday after 16 years as a GCSE English moderator. In his resignation letter Mr McKenzie said the grade boundary shift was "the worst decision ever made by AQA". He said the AQA board’s handling of GCSE boundary changes was "morally repugnant"  He told BBC News: "I could not go on working for them - to be frank AQA English has fallen apart." 

 Mr McKenzie's resignation came as the exam boards and the exam regulator Ofqual were given more time to consider a legal challenge from teaching unions, schools and local authorities asking them to regrade English GCSE papers.  The alliance has written formally to Ofqual and the exam boards AQA and Edexcel challenging the refusal to regrade GCSE English papers in England. They are threatening to seek a judicial review after thousands of pupils scored lower-than-expected results when grade boundaries were raised midway through the year. 

In his resignation letter Mr McKenzie called the handling of the affair "morally repugnant" and "disingenuous". He said that claims that teachers had marked controlled assessments too generously were based on "paltry evidence" and called the moderation of the qualification "poor, stressed and chaotic". He added that AQA had reneged on guidance to schools about the standard needed to achieve a C grade and said that this had hit the most vulnerable part of the student population hardest.

 "We have in this whole sorry business the classic social disaster scenario; mismanagement succeeded by chaos, hurt innocents succeeded by collusion between official bodies to suppress the reality of the disaster.  The various AQA English specifications have as their spine texts - To Kill a Mockingbird, Of Mice and Men, The Crucible, An Inspector Calls - where ordinary but principled people stand up for social justice at whatever cost. If I see anyone at AQA English do this any time soon, I will reconsider my decision not to work for them. Otherwise I mourn the passing of a once fine institution."

In his letter Mr McKenzie quotes emails from a senior English assessor at AQA who states that the changes to grade boundaries between January and June did "massive damage" and "instantly hit the most vulnerable" pupils. In particular the assessor's emails focus on the raising of the grade C boundary on the lower tier English 

Mr McKenzie, vice principal of Morley Academy in Leeds, says this paper is marketed at the students who would have had to work the hardest to achieve a C or better and who needed the grade to enter apprenticeships, employment or further education. 

Earlier this month letters between another exam board, Edexcel and the regulator Ofqual, were leaked to the Times Educational Supplement. These showed that Ofqual ordered the board to make grade boundary changes against its will just two weeks before the results were published. 

The TES says the Mr McKenzie's resignation letter and the emails reveal "that assessors from AQA, the board with the biggest market share in GCSE English, were just as concerned as their Edexcel counterparts about the grading changes". AQA said it was unable to comment because of pending legal action over GCSE English.

Who would you back,  the principled Stephen McKenzie or Michael Gove?

'Drink and Think' on economic growth at the Torch, Monday

The Torch, Wembley Park

                                      BRENT CAMPAIGN AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
 
                  Join us for our next "Drink and Think" 
             Evening on Monday October 1st, 7.30 - 10.30

These are informal gatherings when we discuss issues of relevance to climate change and the environment. The "Drink" doesn't have to be alcoholic and the "Think" can be on any topic you wish to raise.

The starting topic for this session is "Where do we stand on economic growth". Everyone welcome.

               Function Room, The Torch, Wembley Park, 
          Bridge Road, Wembley (corner with Forty Lane)

Jubilee and Metropolitan Line (Wembley Park) - cross road outside station and turn left to the corner. Or buses 83, 182, 297 to Wembley Park Station or 245 to Brent Town Hall (south bound) or Wembley ASDA (north bound) and proceed to junction with Bridge Road.

Enter via front entrance and bear left past snooker tables or find Function Room entrance round the back of the pub near car park. Traditional pub food menu if you want to eat.