Ark Schools, Tory donors, tax evasion and HSBC Scandal

Guest blog by Nondom

Lord Fink

Wembley parents will have noticed that two of the most important men in the Ark organisation which runs two of their local schools, Ark Academy and Ark Elvin, have been named in the HSBC bank/Tory party donors ‘tax evasion’ scandal.

Arpad Busson, past contributor to Tory party funds, is a Founding Chairman of Ark Schools.

Stanley (Lord) Fink is a member of Ark’s ‘Global Board of Trustees’ (and recently the Tory party Treasurer). Lord Fink is the billionaire hedge-fund manager who claimed he was referred to (with Cameron) as ‘dodgy’ in Parliament on Wednesday. He is Chair of Governors of Ark Burlington Danes Academy.

·       Wembley Ark school’s website claims: ‘You will see our motto ‘Civitas’ everywhere around the school. We are first and foremost citizens and this is what binds us together’.  

·       £70 billion is lost to the UK each year in the sort of tax evasion revealed in the HSBC scandal. If collected this would cut the annual deficit by half and make frontline cuts to schools, hospitals and local services unnecessary 

·       Brent’s Budget Report states that, as a result of cuts in government funding, ‘Savings of at least £53.9m will need to be agreed, most of which will fall due in 2015/16.’

When contacted, HSBC was unable to provide any advice on cuts evasion

15.00 Water Supply Problems Kingsbury and Wembley-Update

Affinity Water have posted this information on their website


Carlton Avenue/Preston Road HA9, Belverdere Way HA3, Church Lane NW9 8 - We have successfully repaired the burst water mains and anticipate full restoration of your water supply within the next 30 minutes.

Salmon Street NW9 - repairs are on going to fix the burst water main, we will provide an update as soon as one becomes available.

Should you experience any discoloured or aerated water, which is not uncommon following a mains interruption, we recommend that you leave a mains fed tap running for approximately 5-10 minutes. Discolouration of the water is caused by small particles of iron which are within the mains and disturbed during interruptions. Cloudy water is caused by air that becomes trapped in the mains, neither of these are harmful to your health.

Where it has been necessary to excavate the area we will continue to work with the local Highways Authority to return the road surface area to normal  and ensure that the road or footway is safe for all vehicle and pedestrian traffic. This may mean that we have to maintain the site and any necessary traffic management until this is the case.

We apologise for the inconvenience caused by this incident and thank you for your patience today.
This message will be updated after 17:30.

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During this time we ask you not to use any electrical appliances, that require a water supply, like washing machines or dishwashers, and to conserve water from storage tanks during the time your water supply is interrupted.

We apologise for the inconvenience caused and thank you for your patience.


Follow this link to their website for updates AFFINITY

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Willesden C of E Primary School consulting on academisation

St Andrew and St Francis Church of England Primary School in Willesden is consulting on converting to academy status.

The long established schoool was put into 'special measures' after an Ofsted report at this time last year found that Achievement of Pupils, the Quality of Teaching and Leadership and Management were all Grade 4 Inadequate.

An Interim Executive Board replaced the previous governing body and an interim headteacher was appointed.

The latest Ofsted monitoring report published last week concludes that the school is making 'reasonable progress towards the removal of special measures' LINK:

The interim headteacher has added much needed capacity to the senior leadership team. Senior and middle leadership has been restructured to better match leaders’ skills and expertise to areas of the school. Staff and parents appreciate the greater clarity of communication which this has brought about. Staff morale has improved and staff express renewed confidence in leaders’ capacity to offer the support and development they need. Teachers and middle leaders feel increasingly empowered to develop new approaches in their work.

Despite this progress the IEB is consulting with parents on becoming part of an academy trust:

The Interim Executive Board believes that the best way to make sure that St Andrew and St Francis C of E Primary School continues to improve is for the school to become an academy, sponsored by the London Diocesan Board of Schools (LDBS) Academies Trust on 1 April 2015. The school would remain as a Church of England school, and the current staff and pupils would transfer to the academy.

We believe that becoming an LDBS academy is the best way forward for our pupils and staff, and will ensure that the St Andrew and St Francis quickly becomes a good school again whilst retaining its strong Christian ethos.  The LDBS Academies Trust is a charity which already runs six primary schools in north London. Of the six LDBS academies which have been inspected by Ofsted, all have been judged good.  Some of the Christian values which the Trust thinks are important and should underpin the work of all of its schools are: Reverence, Thankfulness, Humility, Endurance, Service, Trust, Peace, Forgiveness, Friendship, Justice, Hope, Creation, Koinonia (Partnership).

Although St Andrew and St Francis would be a standalone school, it would benefit from strong links with other academies in the LDBS network. For instance:

·       Staff would be able to share resources and ideas with staff in other LDBS Academies Trust schools.

·       The school will benefit from links with Grow Education Partners which offer an extensive range of educational support services to Trust academies.

To find out how the LDBS Academies Trust schools work, visit: ldbsact.org

The members of the IEB have researched what the LDBS Academies Trust can do for our pupils and staff.  This included visiting an LDBS academy which had been in similar circumstances to St Andrew and St Francis.  The school has rapidly improved as part of a federation with two other Trust academies. We were able to see the improvements first hand and talk to staff including the headteacher.  We have also met with LDBS Academies Trust staff to find out about the support that is provided by the Trust to its schools. This research, along with our consideration of the Trust’s track record, has led us to make our proposal.

The proposal is that if it goes ahead the school would become an academy on April 1st 2015. The LDBS Academies Trust would enter into a funding agreement with the Secretary of State. The deadline for responses is Monday February 23rd.

Paul Lorber to contest Brent North for Liberal Democrats

Lorber cutting celebration cake at Barham Community Library

Paul Lorber, former leader of Brent Liberal Democrats, who was defeated in the May 2014 local elections, is to stand as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Brent North in the General Election.

Lorber was a councillor for 32 years and was leader of a Liberal Democrat-Conservative Coalition that ran the Council from 2006 to 2010. This required him to work with Bob Blackman, Tory group leader, who is now the MP for Harrow East.

He came to Brent in 1969 and attended a Brent secondary school. He lives in the Brent North constituency.

Lorber was an energetic campaigner against the Labour Council's library closures as a councillor and is involved in the community campaign which opposed the closure of Barham Library and set up two community libraries to provide a service to local people, especially children. The campaign continues and is fighting to set up a volunteer library in the Barham Park buildings.

The expenses scandal that engulfed both Dawn Butler and Barry Gardiner particularly incensed Lorber, who says it was wrong for them to claim expenses for second homes when their constituencies were less than 30 minutes away from Parliament. A major thrust of his campaign is a demand that they repay the expenses they claimed for their second homes before standing again.

Sarah Teather's distancing from the Liberal Democrats role in the Coalition, her sacking and decision not to stand again, and the wiping out of Liberal Democrat representation on Brent Council in May 2014 (except for one seat) as well as what many see as the Lib Dem 'betrayal' by working with the Conservatives on polices that have impacted so much on the poor, are likely to be major issues in the campaign.

Lorber has pledged that if elected he would continue to live in Brent and would open up a Brent North Constituency Office. He will  refuse to take an 11% rise demanded recently by some MPs.

His key issues are investment in training and apprenticeships for young people, investment in early years education and support for pensioners through fair pensions and access to activities and facilities.

General Election result 2010

Barry Gardiner	Labour	24514	47%	Elected
Harshadbhai Patel	Conservative	16486	32%	Not elected
James Allie	Liberal Democrats	8879	17%	Not elected

James Allie defected to Labour in July 2012 accusing his party of being hypocritical and having neither the will nor ability to make Britain fairer, greener and more equal.

Candidates so far announced are (in alphabetical order)

Scott Bartle (Green Party)
Mark Ferguson (UKIP)
Barry Gardiner (Labour)
Paul Lorber (Liberal Democrat)
Luke Parker (Conservative)