Sunday, 27 January 2013

Excellent editorial on forced academies in Kilburn Times

For those of my readers beyond Brent here is the Editorial from our main local newspaper, the Kilburn and Brent Times LINK

DECISIONS MUST BE MADE AT LOCAL LEVEL

When taking a look at the recent education news you could be forgiven for thinking that Brent was fast becoming education secretary Michael Gove's dream borough.
It seems more and more schools are adopting Academy status.

Last week's front page on the (now cancelled) strike at Preston Manor in Wembley over the (still happening) conversion to the Academy model showed this.
But while we respect a decision that is made by the school alone, there are sadly those that are having this controversial ideology forced upon them.

Gladstone Park Primary School is well regarded and fared well in the recent primary league tables.

But a new and stricter Ofsted system has meant the school will be forced to convert by the Department for Education (DfE) due to 'serious weaknesses'.

What this actually amount to was a slight decline in pupils' achievement  in the middle years, despite the majority actually leaving the school in better shape academically than when they started.

From what parents and governors have conveyed to us, there is a real belief that they can continue to offer ample education and solve the issue.

Why the need to hand responsibility to a private 'sponsor'?

Surely it should be left to locally-elected governors and established and committed teachers to decide what is right for their school?

Meanwhile directors at the controversial Michaela Community School, set-up by free school supporter, Katharine Birbalsingh, have confirmed they will be parachuting into Wembley Park.

We should all watch very closely as consultation nears and hope that local education with a local say is not a thing of the past.




The contradiction at the heart of Gove's school policy

This is the full version of my letter to the Guardian which was published on Tuesday. The last paragraph was omitted:

The decision to send Ofsted into 'under-performing' local authorities is another step in the transformation of Ofsted into the political agent of Michael Gove. The main  contradiction of Tory education policy is that it preaches autonomy for schools but at the same time seizes centralised control of them via converting them into academies, answerable only to Michael Gove. 

The DfEs official directions say that Michael Gove's powers to force schools to become academies should only be used after a school has been under performing for some time and if the problems are not being tackled. The DfE is currently acting beyond that direction..

Roke Primary School in Croydon and Gladstone Park Primary in Brent, the former previously graded Outstanding and the latter Good, have recently been downgraded by Ofsted and immediately forced to become academies. Roke's Outstanding was given only 7 months before the Inadequate grade. Gladstone Park got a Good assessment in January 2011. Gladstone Park, an inner city school, has SAT results above the national average and twice the national average at Level.6.

The DfE sends in someone who can only be described as a kind of Commissar, unyielding and not interested in dialogue, just intent on imposing a private sponsor on the school. Deadlines are tight and governors, staff and parents find themselves faced with a fait accompli. In both schools parents are organising in defence of their children's education and against becoming a forced academy.

Ofsted inspectors now know that if they grade just one area of a school 'Inadequate' the DfE will move in and turn it into an academy. With the jury out on whether academies actually improve the quality of education we are faced with a hugely risky strategy that threatens to massively destabilise our schools.  The outcome is in direct  contraction to the Government's supposed support for localisation and  will move more power to the centre.

Gove's policy on academies and free schools, the curriculum, the examination system, and even the exclusion of Mary Seacole from the National Curriculum, exposes a Secretary of State who is committed to seizing control of schools, not liberating them.


Gladstone Park Primary School Governors in order to be open and transparent with parents have published their e-mail communications with Jack Griffin, the DfE's academisation officer, on the school website LINK

Friday, 25 January 2013

Vodafone deal to make Brent Council workers mobile

Vodafone's press release - does this make the Civic Centre redundant?

Brent Council has signed a deal with Vodafone for the operator to use its One Net solution for a new communications infrastructure.

The council said the operator will help them to create a mobile workforce, allowing employees across 30 different departments to work remotely and use smartphones as often as landlines. The systems will help the council reduce desk space, allow employees secure access to information remotely, reduce staff travel and cut their use of paper.

Brent Council said the deal will increase productivity but reduce its operating costs. The infrastructure is being provided as the council moves from 14 separate buildings into one civic centre.

Vodafone will provide the council with a bundle of texts, minutes and data in one bill. Staff will be able to be reached on any device through one phone number and will have access to one central voicemail. Councillor Ruth Moher, deputy leader for London Borough of Brent Council and lead member for finance and corporate resources, said: ‘This was a very complex project so we knew there was a need to keep things as simple as possible, which is one of the reasons why we chose Vodafone.

‘Vodafone had the most coherent presentation of a unified system and we felt they would be the best choice to implement and host the system, allowing our employees to focus on their core functions rather than dealing with IT issues.

‘The future is all about mobile working. Our employees are currently using as many mobile applications as possible and we want to see how far we can push the concept of working through apps.’

Ian Cunningham,  head of public sector at Vodafone, said: ‘Brent Council’s facility is state of the art and we’re delighted to be involved in such a cutting edge project. The council is setting a fantastic example for government organisations, showing how they can find better ways of working by making improvements in four key areas – people, processes, technology and property.’

Wednesday, 23 January 2013

Coming Soon- Academies and Lies!


Butt challenges Teather to 'pick up the phone' and make a difference to Brent residents


 The early start to the campaign to win marginal Brent Central following Sarah Teather's sacking from the Government and her pledge to devote herself to her constituents,  was confirmed today when Brent Council leader Muhammed Butt wrote her an open letter accusing her of not standing up for Brent residents.

Writing on the Labour List website LINK today her said:

Dear Sarah,

As Leader of Brent Council, I was somewhat surprised to read in our local paper this week that you have been “working with the Council” on the issue of welfare reform, and are leading our efforts to mitigate the impact on our residents.

I was surprised because I don’t remember your help in preparing residents for the cuts in Council Tax Benefit and Housing Benefit that are going to devastate our community. Surprised because I don’t remember your help while everyone at the Council was refocusing their efforts on getting as many residents as possible into work and increasing local wages to minimise the impact.

Nor do I recall you standing up for residents by supporting our stance on the Living Wage, or helping reduce residents’ bills through our bulk energy buying scheme. I don’t recollect your offer of assistance in tackling slum housing and rogue landlords or in persuading landlords to accept lower rents rather than throw residents out on the street.

I can’t remember you lobbying Eric Pickles not to strip over £100 million from our funding or to give us the money our residents deserve for underestimating our population by over 60,000. Nor do I remember your help in supporting Brent’s food bank as they broke their own record for the number of vouchers given out in a single day over Christmas.

That’s because unlike the other MPs in Brent, you haven’t helped us or our residents with any of these issues – so far. 

If you really want to help our residents, instead of writing press releases claiming undue credit, why don’t you pick up the phone and ask what you can do to actually make a difference?

Our residents need someone to persuade this Government that they simply can’t take any more pain, they need someone to stand up for them in Parliament on a regular basis and they need help bringing together all partners in Brent to work together to protect them.

I look forward to your call; there is a lot of work to do.

Yours sincerely,

Cllr Muhammed Butt
Leader of Brent Council

Green's '3 yeses' on Europe: referendum, reform, remaining


 Green Party leader Natalie Bennett said today that the Green Party stood for "Three Yeses - yes to a referendum, yes to major EU reform and yes to staying in a reformed Europe".

Natalie urged people to consider the first "Yes" in a different context to David Cameron's promise of a referendum - only if the Conservatives win a majority in the 2015 election - which has more to do with political game-playing and trying to hold together a deeply divided party that is failing in government.

The Green leader said: "The Green Party believes in democracy and self-determination. On important issues like this, voters should be given the opportunity to express a clear view."

On a reformed EU, the Green Party believes that decisions should be made at the lowest possible appropriate level, closest to the lives of the people it affects. It supports democratic decision-making - not the imposition of dictats from above, such as the austerity that has been forced on the people of many states in south Europe.

Natalie added: "'Yes to the EU' does not mean we are content with the union continuing to operate as it has in the past. There is a huge democratic deficit in its functioning, a serious bias towards the interests of neoliberalism and 'the market', and central institutions have been overbuilt. But to achieve those reforms we need to work with fellow EU members, not try to dictate high handedly to them, as David Cameron has done."

On 'yes to staying in a reformed Europe', the Green Party believes Great Britain should not abandon the European Union, but instead work from inside to make it into a fair and democratic union rather than just a vehicle for international trade.

The European Union is well placed to enact policies on crucial issues such as human and workers' rights, climate change and international crime. It is through EU regulation that our renewable energy targets have been set and hundreds of thousands of jobs have been created.

European action on air pollution, meanwhile, is forcing the British government to take the issue seriously, and the EU is leading the way on a financial transactions tax while Britain, in the grip of the City, resists.

Natalie concluded: "We need to continue to work with our European partners to build strong, locally democratic communities that decide their own way within the framework of minimum standards on workers' and consumer rights, the environment, and on human rights - and which work together to build a more peaceful and sustainable world."

Tuesday, 22 January 2013

Schools urged to book for Brent Climate Change Conference



Free Invitation to “Brent Students Conference on Climate Change”  20 March 2013

Brent Council, in conjunction with the College of North West London, and Brent Campaign against Climate Change are organising a conference open to all students in Years 11–13 and Further Education. The conference will be held at the Dudden Hill Campus of the College of North West London, Dudden Hill Lane, NW10 2XD.

I hope you have already received the Climate Change invitation letter, sent by post on 13 December.
The aim of the conference is to increase awareness of climate change and discuss ways to lessen and  adapt to its effects. To encourage the engagement and participation of the young people, the conference will hold a number of environmental activities.

The event will also provide information and advice on relevant courses in Further and in Higher Education and careers in related industries. 

The conference will run from 10.00 am – 3.45 pm and be divided into three sessions:

Morning Session: The Issues of Climate Change
Short introductory talks and Q/A with a panel of speakers.

Lunch Session: Courses and Careers
A tour of the college’s Industry Week displays and an opportunity to talk to employers and admissions tutors. 

Afternoon Session: Tackling Climate Change
 
Supervised workshops exploring how students can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate climate change in their schools & colleges, or through participation in community and campaign groups.
                                                        
Free lunch and refreshments will be provided.

I would be grateful if you could bring the details of this letter to the attention of your staff/students and encourage them to attend the conference. Teachers wishing to bring a group should express an interest by e-mailing environment@brent.gov.uk by Friday 8 February 2013, with an indication of likely numbers.

We would be happy to answer any further queries you may have, please call 020 8937 5564. Alternatively a team member accompanied by a Councillor can visit your school to discuss the conference. We will be contacting you in due course to see if you would like to arrange for a visit, either to meet with staff or talk to groups of students.

Yours sincerely,
Davide Pascarella
Environmental Projects & Policy Officer

Monday, 21 January 2013

Brent Council confirms Birbalsingh Free School in Wembley Park

Arena House opposite Wembley Park Station
Cllr Mary Arnold, lead member for Children and Families announced that she had heard today that Katharine Birbalsingh is acquiring the ex-CNWL site at Wembley Park for her Michaela Community Free Secondary School.

Arnold said that the Council had not been consulted by the DfE. Although the school will have to apply for planning position the Council has no powers over it.  However she said that the Council was concerned about teaching and learning, equalities and conditions of employment in the school. They would have talks with the providers in order to try and apply the Council's free school criteria.

Cllr Michael Pavey (Labour Barnhill) said that he shared Cllr Arnold's concern.  As Chair of Governors at Wembley Primary he said that his school did not educate its pupils in order to hand them over to unqualified teachers at a Free School. Free Schools had an average of 9% of children on free school meals whereas Wembley Primary had about a third. Schools should be run to nurture and educate children, not for private profit.

To applause, he urged the Council to take a strong and principled stand on this issue.

The school will be subject to planning permission but this is unlikely to be a problem given the very lose regulation around Free Schools and the buildings previous use as a further education college.  Play space will be limited but I suspect a deal may be done with the Ark Academy which is just across the road and has extensive playing fields.

Will Brent Council continue to leave the public out in the cold?

It will be interesting to see what happens at tonight's Full Council Meeting regarding the admittance of the public.

The November 2012 Council Meeting passed the following Procedural Motion:
Councillor Butt moved a procedural motion stating that it was with considerable regret and sadness that following advice received from the Director of Legal and Procurement, in order to enable the proper democratic meeting of the Full Council  to take place, he had felt it necessary to exclude a number of members of the public who had previously caused such disruption to Council meetings and meetings of the Executive to the extent those meetings had not been able to continue without moving to another room and thereby restricting the rights of the public to observe the proceedings. Councillor Butt added that he would continue to require officers to work to find a better solution than excluding members of the public from the Town Hall.
RESOLVED:
that the exclusion from this Full Council meeting of members of the public who have caused disruption to the previous Full Council meeting and/or to the previous  meeting of the Executive and/or the Budget and Finance Overview and Scrutiny Committee be endorsed.
 It seems that the democratic right to make a protest is in conflict with the Council's need to meet undisturbed to pass policies with which members of the public profoundly disagree. Recent there have been demonstrations, including occupations at Liverpool, Sheffield and Birmingham councils as they approve more cuts. Other Councils seem to manage dissent better and as I pointed out in a recent blog Barnet Council provided an over-flow room with a TV link to the council chamber when the public gallery was full during a very heated confidence debate.. I wonder if the Civic Centre has been designed so as to maximise public access to meetings?

The present policy does pose a s number of questions:
  • What does the Council constitution say about the right of the public to attend meetings or the Council's right to exclude them?
  • How does the Council define disruption?
  • How have they identified those they wish to exclude?
  • Have they provided their private security guards with photographs of the excluded?
  • If so have those who have had their photographs taken been informed?
  • Does the Council have a database of the persons concerned?
  • Is the Council or their hired security guards entitled to ask for proof of identity/proof of address from members of the public wishing to attend a Council meeting as they did at one such meeting last year?
A wider consideration is the need to consider why the public feel excluded from, and frustrated with, the 'democratic process'.  This has not only been been anti-cuts protesters that the Council probably see as the 'usual suspects' but solid middle of the road citizens concerned about the closure of libraries, sports centres, day centres and regeneration projects. The disaffection stems from consultations that turn out to be done deals, Executive meetings that rubber stamp decisions already made in pre-meetings, an Opposition that seems ill-prepared and flying by the seat of its pants, and full Council meetings with no real power but reduced to an arena for political jesting and grandstanding. As with the House of Commons it sometimes appears to be a cosy club despite political differences. 'Us against them' becomes councillors against their active citizens.


A plethora of Brent budget discussions the week after next - but will they make any difference?

The dates for the Brent Budget 'Discussions' (note NOT 'Consultations') have now been sent out in an invitation letter  (see below). The Labour Group is discussing the budget on the evening of Monday February 4th and the Finance and Budget Overview and Scrutiny Committee will be discussing it at 7.30pm on Tuesday February 5th.  It is not clear where that leaves the February 7th meeting in terms of influencing the budget but presumably more details should be available by then following the earlier meetings
Budget Discussion – Invitation to a Public Meeting

Cllr Muhammed Butt, Leader of Brent Council would like to invite you to one of two public meetings about Brent Council’s budget proposals for the forthcoming year.

Both meetings will take place in Brent Town Hall.

Date
Time
Venue
Chair
Mon 4th Feb
2.30 to 4.30pm
Committee Rooms 1, 2 and 3.
Cllr Aslam Choudry
Thur 7th Feb
7.00 to 9.00pm
Paul Daisley Hall. 
Cllr James Denselow

Everyone is welcome to attend. These meetings will give you an opportunity to question and raise issues of concern with Cllr Butt and members of the Council’s executive.

You can also hear about the difficult choices facing local government in the current economic climate and Council’s proposals to continue to maintain high quality services for our residents.

I do hope you be able to attend one of these meetings? If you need any further information please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kindest regards

Owen Thomson
Community Engagement Team
Customer & Community Engagement
Brent Council
Tel: 020 8937 1055

NUT claims victory at Preston Manor despite academy conversion going ahead



 PM at PM 5 years ago. What do Labour say now?

Press release from Brent Teachers Association

In calling off the strike action planned for Wednesday 23rd , Preston Manor School NUT members, the overwhelming number of teaching staff, thanked their union for negotiating the best possible deal to protect their terms and conditions of probably any converter academy in England.

Facing a potential closure of the school on Wednesday, and after a further negotiating meeting with the NUT on Thursday, all five key points asked for by the staff were fully greed by the school, alongside other guarantees, at the Joint Governors Staff Committee that evening. The two staff reps Jerry Taylor and David McLoughlin, both NUT members, were delighted with the outcome of the meeting. This would not have happened without that final threat of action.

There was disappointment that the Governors did not draw back from converting to an academy as they had gone ahead and signed the funding agreement despite the 86.5% of staff being against this move.

As Jean Roberts, Brent Teachers Secretary said:
Members have been solid in their determination to oppose this conversion, first voting overwhelmingly in the staff ballot and then as NUT members voting for action when your views were just ignored – not even a governors meeting was called to discuss the result. I would hope that Matthew Lantos, Headteacher and the Governors realise they will need to rebuild the trust of staff over what had happened and to apply those Co-operative values of democracy which they signed up to.
We are pleased, however, that we were able to negotiate the best possible terms for staff. We expect to receive all these concessions in writing in the next few days, as the NUT ballot is still live, and any reversal on what has been agreed would mean members again being called to take strike action.
My comment::

As a trades unionist since 1963 and a retired member of the NUT I welcome  the BTA's success in their conditions of service negotiations.

However, as an opponent of both Labour and the Coalition's policy on academies and free schools I regret that Preston Manor governors have gone ahead with academy conversion despite their assurances last year that becoming a Cooperative Trust did not mean that they intended to go one step further and become a Co-operative Academy in the near future. The signing of a funding agreement, apparently in secret, without responding to the staff and parent ballots opposing conversion bodes ill for the future.

This now means that only Copland High School remains outside the academy/voluntary aided sector. This places Copland in quite a dangerous position in terms of maintaining its position in competition  with other Brent secondary schools. When most Brent secondary schools converted to Grant Maintained status some years ago, with similar promises of autonomy,  the two schools that remained firmly in the local authority sector, Wembley High and Willesden High, were destabilised by high pupil turnover and an unbalanced intake with large number of refugee pupils and new arrivals. Willesden High became one of Labour's first academies as Capital City and Wembley went through some bumpy years before recovery.

Now Wembley High is an academy and it is planned that it becomes an all-though school with a four form entry (840 pupils plus nursery) primary department on site.  Preston Manor followed ARK academy in becoming an all-through school and now Wembley High is taking the same route.. Wembley High's current status, and the extent of privatisation can be summed up by this statement on its website:

Wembley High Technology College (The Academy) A Company Limited by Guarantee Registered in England and Wales Registered No. 08137772 VAT Registered No. 140 4732 42

In the primary sector Sudbury has already voluntarily become an academy and forced conversion to academy status are taking place at Salusbury and Gladstone Park after poor Ofsted reports.It appears that primary schools are next in line for academisation.

Since starting this blog in 2009 under the Labour government I have been warning that this privatisation will remove the local democratic accountability of our schools, lead to the demise of the local authority and undermine equal provision for children with special needs and disabilities. The process is accelerating with the local authority reduced to spectators as Brent schools are snatched away from them.

More than ever we need that community campaign to reclaim our schools that I have been urging.


A video for all teachers suffering under government education policies

Don't watch this if you are offended by the F word and other obscenities. Do watch if you feel current education policy justifies such language use. The video pre-dates the Coalition and so applies to the target culture of the three main parties.


Butt's blog bites back

Brent Council leader, Muhammed Butt's, New Year blog has on the Council website LINK has received four comments.  He wrote about the Council's strategy on improving and creating employment opportunities:

Posted 16/01/2013 10:05:11 by Shel
It's great to see that the creation of new jobs and getting people into work is a top priority. I hope Brent will be able to fund projects aimed at getting locals into work through training sessions on interview techniques, job hunting, finding relevant training programmes etc... I can-not express the great importance of such programmes. 4 years ago, I attended a 2 day workshop run by Brent Council aimed at getting the long-term unemployed into work. At that point I had been busy raising 3 children. The workshops gave me the confidence to get back into employment and my career has been moving from strength to strength. I feel indebted to the programme.

Posted 16/01/2013 08:56:47 by Jean Roberts
It is good to see that you are concentrating on jobs and growth. Education is also under attack by this government with its drive to make all schools academies or free schools through bribery with our money or by force to big chains who will ultimately run the education system for profit. Brent should be doing more to stand up for our great community schools. We now face a possible free school paid for by the DfE (our taxes) without any consultation with the community, appearing somewhere in Wembley Park. The ruling by the Information Commissioner that this process should be open and transparent will hopefully mean we will find out exactly what is happening.

Posted 15/01/2013 22:34:19 by Tracey Burke
Increasing employment opportunities is a laudable aim but I have concerns that this is being promoted as some kind of panacea for the supposed ills in society. What type of employment opportunities will these be? Will there be affordable housing and ethical private landlords to house these employees? There is a wealth of research that points to perceived ills as being in depth and entwined issues, the underlying commonalities being inequality, low pay scales, lack of affordable housing and statutory services raising the gateways for access to services. We are mindlessly accepting central government cuts that will decimate our most vulnerable members of society. What you don't clarify Mr Butt is how your cabinet will support people who work for disgustingly low pay with little or no employment rights. Nor do you address your strategy for supporting Brent residents who will never be able to work? As you are only too well aware the universal credits system that will hit us shortly is a template for increasing inequality. How are you and your cabinet planing to ensure that this government doesn't impact on the residents who vote for you and for whom you have statutory duties of care?

Posted 15/01/2013 17:41:41 by Michael Calderbank
I'm very glad to hear that jobs are such a priority. In that case, I take it, the council won't be making compulsory redundancies as a result of implementing cuts to the budget? Also, I wonder how many people who work for external contractors procured by Brent Council to provide services are paid less than the London Living Wage, and why paying a living wage isn't a precondition of the tendering process? Perhaps you can let us know on your next blog?

Sunday, 20 January 2013

Free Harlesden family history course begins on February 6th

Plaque in Hazeldene Road - find out about YOUR family history
Harlesden Routes is a free family history programme LINK which will run between January to March 2013 to support local people in taking the first steps in learning and researching their family history. We are looking for committed individuals who live, work and/ or have strong family connections with Harlesden. Participants must be willing to develop a case study based on interviews and or research of an aspect of their family history which can be shared with others locally.
Harlesden is a culturally diverse area with many untold stories and experiences of local history and migration which makes the area a positive and inclusive place to live and work. Every Generation mission is to promote the oral and family heritage of the lives and history of local communities.
The Harlesden Routes Course will start on February 6th with all activities taking place on a Wednesday evening at the Unity Centre LINK. In addition there also be a trip to Brent Museum and Archives and the ‘Who Do You Think You Are’ family history exhibition at Olympia.
The session will cover different aspects of family history using local records and online archives, using photographs, social history, creative writing, interviewing techniques and the importance of DNA.
Harlesden Routes is a partnership which involves Every Generation, Catalyst Gateway, and Brent Museum and Archives. The projected is funded by Harlesden Community First and LIFT.
Place are limited so please email patrick@everygeneration.co.uk for an application form or further details.

Saturday, 19 January 2013

Taking the Michael reaches new heights

By some means not yet revealed,  Michael Rosen's satirical letter to Michael Gove has appeared on a semi-official website which specialises in government contracts LINK

In case it disappears I reproduce Michael's advice below:

For the start of the year, I’m sending you some helpful ideas, from how to keep student numbers down to keeping teachers in check.

I thought I would try to be positive and lay out a set of modest proposals for you to consider in 2013.

1 Universities
It’s imperative to keep down the number of students. “Graduate” is really another name for people who think they’re entitled to be paid well. We are in an era when we must all pull together to ensure that workers work more and earn less (or as employers call it, “keeping labour costs down”) and large numbers of graduates swimming around the economy are an impediment to this. What’s more, three years of independent living and discussion have the potential to turn many of these young people into dissenters and trouble-makers. There is an argument for saying that it is the job of government to enable a population to increase its cultural capital, raising the level of education of as many people as possible. You must portray this sentiment as a utopian fantasy of a long-lost past.

So, let’s put into practice a set of clear policies:
a) You and your colleagues (and Eric Pickles) need to put a lot of effort into mocking and rubbishing university courses. Don’t worry about consistency here: pick on both vocational courses and seemingly obscure academic ones: “A degree in leisure management, ha ha ha”; ‘A degree in medieval German literature, ha ha ha”.
b) Suggest at every opportunity that academics and students are spongers and skivers. Contrast their use of public money, long holidays and low hours of work with MPs’ honesty, diligence and industriousness.
c) Make a big deal out of things like the “knowledge economy”, “what Britain does best”, “centres of excellence” and “world-class universities”. Rely on journalists to put this inflated waffle (which you don’t believe in anyway) on their front pages while relegating the cuts to a one-inch column on page 11.
d) It is absolutely vital to boast about making it possible for the “disadvantaged” to go to university while making it harder for them to do so. Fees of £9,000 a year are already much too low and some students from poorer families are slipping through the net and going to university. We must discourage them from doing so. I suggest fees in the region of £20,000 a year. One scholarship a year per university would serve the purpose of looking as if you’re being “fair”.
I am so glad that your colleague David Willetts has highlighted the problems of white working-class boys going to university. Given your party’s electoral precariousness at the moment, it is vital that you and your colleagues present a narrative which suggests that Britain today is a place where white people can’t get on and black people are given incredible advantages.

2 Ebacc
There is a real danger that you’re about to be stabbed in the back by your predecessor Kenneth Baker. He has come up with a plan to abolish exams at 16, create higher schools and training places for 14- to 18-year-olds. With utmost urgency, you must dig up anything you can on Baker to suggest that he is either an out-of-touch old backwoodsman fart and/or he is in thrall to Trotskyists.
For you to be able to push through what is fast becoming an exam that will be a major impediment for most young people to develop as learners, you must:
a) ignore all evidence on adolescents and learning;
b) make misleading comparisons with the old O-levels;
c) keep talking about “rigour” without explaining what you mean by that word;
d) rubbish teachers by saying that, unlike MPs, they are lazy and misuse public money.

3 Primary school exams
The phonics screening check and the spelling, punctuation and grammar – Spag – test.
You must resist all demands to provide evidence that these tests will improve reading and writing, as there is none. Avoid public debate about this. Potential problems coming up are:
a) that many more children failed the phonics test than learn how to read using the old mixed methods;
b) many good readers failed the phonics test;
c) some children are being told they have “failed” and so can’t proceed to “real” books.

Rely on ill-informed newspaper editors to keep these stories off the front pages. When it comes to the grammar test, I predict that there will be real problems, with teachers not knowing how to teach for it and hardly any children understanding what is being tested. Therefore you must keep up the campaign of rubbishing teachers, showing how, unlike MPs, they are lazy and misuse public money.
In a key speech, make the suggestion that most British children are ignorant, illiterate, stupid and badly behaved.

4 Academies programme
Stop trying to be nice. Step in now, and make every state school in England an academy. Hail this termination of public accountability as a triumph of “freedom from control”. Make sure that your own burgeoning powers of control over the nation’s teachers and young people is never mentioned. It is crucial that whenever an academy fails an inspection, you must rubbish the teachers, showing how, unlike MPs, they are lazy and misuse public money.

It is highly unlikely that you will be able to keep tabs on all the academies, so I suggest that you create a set of regional committees to manage them. These must not be called “local” in case people compare them to local authorities and the management committees must not be elected, but made up of people appointed by you.

5 Teachers
Abolish all teacher training. In a key speech, try to whip up people’s bad memories of individual teachers (who were usually just people trying to implement what governments made them do) by saying how “we all hate teachers”. Play to people’s feelings that it is always other people’s children who are “bad influences” on their own, and what is needed is a “firm hand”. This should enable you to usher in the replacement of teachers by ex-military personnel who can do the job of patrolling past the computer terminals (equipped with News Corporation syllabuses), which all children will be looking at all day in the exciting schools of the future.

6 History
You must work even harder on the history curriculum, ensuring that all our children in England are proud of our country’s history. I’m not absolutely sure what this means if Scotland becomes independent, but I’m sure you’ve figured out what “our country” means better than me. Meanwhile, can we make sure that dead white men are celebrated the most? All attempts to show either that some dead white men did bad things, or that there are some important things done by dead white women, dead black men and even dead black women, must be eradicated. We need to have our classrooms filled with pride. After all, thanks to your government, more and more children are arriving at school with empty bellies, so at least let’s fill them with pride, eh?

7 Business
All schools must be turned into limited companies. Headteachers should be employers (“school company directors”) while compulsorily non-unionised teachers and pupils are the workers. Schools should be required to make goods and sell services for money and become places that offer car-cleaning, photocopying, fruit-picking, biscuit-making and the like at highly competitive rates.

8 Your job
The moment it looks as if staying in your job is an impediment to your long-term objectives of becoming leader of the Conservative party, make it clear to David Cameron that you’ve never been very interested in education and you have outlived your usefulness.

I hope that these proposals will be of use to you throughout the year.

Friday, 18 January 2013

Preston Manor strike may be called off after conditions of service concessions by management

NUT members at Preston Manor All-through School  will be deciding next week whether to accept the advice of their leaders and call off the strike planned for Wednesday January 23rd after concessions by the school management on conditions of service but with academy conversion going ahead.

Brent Teachers Association Secretary Jean Roberts wrote to NUT members:
Because of your determination and collective strength, your tremendous unity and solidarity throughout this whole process, you have won on EVERY point you asked for to protect your terms and conditions after conversion.

Together you have won probably the best conditions in any converter academy, not just in Brent, but in the whole of England.
This will mean that a Co-operative Academy will still go ahead but the strike ballot is still live and the union reserves the right to strike if the concessions are not written into agreements by February 1st.

Jean Roberts told members:
You all have been magnificent in your determination to oppose this conversion, first voting overwhelmingly in the staff ballot and then as NUT members voting for action when your views were just ignored – not even a governors meeting was called to discuss the result. I would hope that Matthew Lantos and the Governors realise they need to regain your trust over what had happened and to apply those Co-operative values which they signed up to.


Council challenged to exclude Veolia from Brent public realm contract



Following  a two year local campaign by activists in North London, French multi-national waste company Veolia withdrew from a North London Waste Authority £4.7 billion waste contract just before Christmas.  Campaigners opposed Veolia on the grounds that it abuses human rights through its complicity in Israel's violations of international law in the occupied territories of Palestine.
Richard Falk, UN Special Rapporteur on the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in a letter to NLWA councillors wrote:
It is my view that Veolia’s violations of the UN Global Compact principles and its deep and protracted complicity with grave breaches of international law make it an inappropriate partner for any public institution, especially as a provider of public services.

....I urge you to follow the example set by public authorities and European banks that have chosen to disassociate themselves from Veolia and take the just and principled decision not to award Veolia any public service contracts. Such a measure would contribute to upholding the rule of law and advancing peace based on justice.
Veolia currently  operates waste collection, recycling and street cleansing services in Brent in a contract that expires in 2014. The procurement process for a new contract, that also includes parks maintenance, has begun.
Brent Palestine Solidarity Campaign has pledged to campaign against its inclusion in the upcoming Brent Council public realm procurement process. Liz Lindsay, Secretary of Brent and Harrow Palestine Solidarity Campaign said:
Brent Council must not ignore Veolia’s grave misconduct. They should not include Veolia in their procurement short list. Otherwise they will risk Veolia pulling out at the last minute as they did with the NLWA procurement, This would leave  the Council obliged to give the contract to the only remaining bidder  left in the process.  I am sure  Brent Council will recognise Veolia’s role in Palestine and exclude Veolia from the start.

Declaration of interest. I am chair of Brent and Harrow Palestine Solidarity Campaign

Thursday, 17 January 2013

Preston Manor teachers strike as Co-operative values betrayed





Values betrayed?
 Members of the National Union of Teachers at Preston Manor All Through school are to strike against the governors' intention to convert the school to become a Co-operative Academy.  Staff,  parents and the community had all been assured by the school's  headteacher Matthew Lantos and the then Chair of Governors, last year that forming a Co-operative Trust was not the first step to becoming a Cooperative Academy. The first strike will take place on Wednesday 23rd January in an attempt to force the governing body to step back from their intention to convert the school on February 1st.

The NUT wrote the following letter to parents this week.
 Dear Parents/Carers

You will be aware of the consultation over academy status. The joint education unions sent you a communication during that consultation (see overleaf) about why they believe this is NOT the right move for Preston Manor. In a secret ballot the staff rejected the move by 86.5% - a massive vote against an academy. This was also on a large turnout of staff. Parents have also voted by a good majority against the school converting.

Due to this overwhelming opposition the NUT, by far the biggest teachers union in the school,
balloted our members on possible strike action. This is particularly after the governors decided to ignore the staff and parent ballot and continue down the academy path. NUT members have voted YES by 94.6% on a high turnout to take strike action if the Governors do not listen to staff and parents.

None of our members want to go on strike and we are hoping to negotiate with Governors to at least postpone the process. Currently the school is a co-operative trust school supposedly run on a democratic basis. There has been no opportunity to develop this with almost immediate academy conversion.

The Governors are not following the Co-op values they and you agreed to.We therefore are asking the governorsto heed the democratic vote and not convert. The school, Co-op and unions have had the opportunity to put their arguments to both staff and parents/carers. No-one can claim that the facts were not clear to those voting. People clearly voted against an academy.

We ask that you support the NUT members in their action. The first day for action is proposed for Wednesday 23rd January. We really hope that this can be averted by the Head and Governors deciding to step back from conversion on 1st February.

Please contact the parent governors (details on school website) and tell them that you support the teachers and that governors should follow the democratic wish of staff and parents


Roke Primary parents denouce government 'master plan'

The Save Roke Primary School campaign in South London, which like Gladstone Park Primary faces being forced into becoming an academy  has issued the following statement after today's news that Ofsted is to focus on schools in under-performing local authorities:

Ofsted’s move to make blanket inspections across under-performing areas is front page news today. This will catch out not only failing schools but those like our school – a popular, well-achieving primary – caught out by a temporary blip in performance. Roke primary has been forced to academy status, and alarmingly, handed to David Cameron’s personal friend, mentor and major Tory donor, Lord Harris of Harris Academies raising concerns about vested interests.  

Roke parents are campaigning against rushed Academy takeover with an overwhelming majority against being coerced into forced academy. Roke Primary school has no consistent history of low standards, just one unsatisfactory Ofsted report. Despite strength of parent feeling, there is no DofE appeal procedure allowing the parents’ case to be heard. The speed at which the school has gone from being outstanding to being cast as a ‘failing’ school- in just 7 months – resulting in Roke being snatched from local authority control has taken parents by profound surprise. Many are left with questions about whether takeover has been unfairly fast tracked by the Government. 

Roke parent Debbie Shaw comments, ‘We believe that this is a concerted government master plan to catch out not only low performing schools, but wavering schools just like ours who have a temporary blip in their results. This is clearly part of a larger government agenda.”

Roke father, Nigel Geary-Andrews said, “It is alarming that the government is rushing through forced academies on schools like Roke, where there is no proven record of failure over any length of time, without any consultation with parents at all and no way of appealing. This does not seem democratic or transparent to me”.

We would like reassurance from Mr Gove that his new targeted approach will allow schools such as ours time to show that we have turned around performance in a short space of time. As well as a voice for the parents through proper consultation - and the right to appeal.

An investigation in The Guardian 15/01/13 revealed that, ‘The government may be flouting its own education guidelines’. DofEofficial directions say poorly performing primaries should only be obliged to become sponsored academies ‘when a school has been underperforming for some time and if the problems are not being tackled’.

A shotgun Ofsted inspection was announced at Roke Primary on Tuesday, less than 24 hours after it was revealed in The Guardian that, ‘The government may be flouting its own education guidelines’. Parents are eagerly awaiting the results of the monitoring visit which they believe will show evidence of excellent improvement at the school.

There is disquiet among parents about the Government’s choice of sponsor. Roke is being handed over to the Harris Federation, run by millionaire Tory Lord and Carpetright businessman, Phillip Harris- who David Cameron has named as a personal friend who helped to prepare him for power. Lord Harris has donated in excess of £2 million pounds to the Tory party, as well as personal donations to David Cameron, George Osborne and Boris Johnson. He plays a key role in advising the government on failing schools and academy policy. 

Parent, Janine Norris expressed concern at the close relationship between the Harris Federation and Government decision-makers, ‘It concerns me and many other Roke parents that the Government has not got the good grace to seek our views or explain the decision and we can’t help but wonder whether the fact that Lord Harris has donated substantial sums to the Tory party is a significant factor’.

Cllr Choudry clarifies Brent Budget 'done deal' claim

Cllr Choudry has asked me to issue this clarification to my blog post: 
When I said ‘done deal’ I was referring to the Government’s settlement to the Council, not to the Council’s own budget. No decisions have been taken yet in relation to our budget, and won’t be until the Council has consulted fully with residents and partners.

Brent Council and schools: 'Responsibility without power' conundrum

Ofsted announce today that they will be going into local authorities where schools are not doing as well as expected and inspecting 10% of schools.  They will be particularly focusing on how the local authority is monitoring schools and supporting improvement. Brent schools are doing well but do appear to be under the DfE spotlight at the moment.

There is a contradiction here because the Coalition's policy is to 'release' schools from what they call local authoirty 'control'. This has meant that schools that become academies manage their own improvement and more power is devolved to heads and governing bodies in local authority schools. Schools appoint their own Link Advisers  (the latest version of inspectors) who are supposed to act as a critical friend who are increasingly consultants, rather than being employed directly by the local authority. Some suspect that appointing your own critical friend ensures that  the critical friend is not too critical. As a result of schools' autonomy School Improvement Services have been cut.

 In Brent things have gone further with primary school headteachers decide to set up a social enterprise to manage their own improvement services with the local authority retaining only core services for schools causing concern. The danger in this is it relies on schools themselves, via headteacher, governors and link adviser, recognising that they are not doing well and seeking help from the diminished local authority.

The recent Ofsted report on Gladstone Park Primary School  LINK which had lead to it being given Grade 4 Inadequate, apart from being unique in not mentioning the headteacher, has a passage on the local authority.
Representatives from the local authority have helped the school identify where teaching could be improved but they have not asked questions about the school’s progress records so they have not had a strong impact on addressing the weaknesses in pupils’ achievement
Early this term following the Ofsted report on Gladstone Park and the earlier report on Salusbury Primary, issued an updated guide on Schools Causing Concern. It sets out the role of the Link Adviser:

  Link advisers are expected to challenge and support the school’s self-evaluation and planning.

The link adviser acts as a critical professional friend to the school, helping its leaders to:

·        evaluate the school’s performance

·        identify priorities for improvement

·        plan effective change

·        discuss with the school any additional support it may need.



The link adviser is the principal source of challenge and support to schools causing concern. 



The service deploys link advisers whose experience and expertise is well matched to the needs of such schools.  When a school is identified as in decline or a cause for concern, the link adviser is required to provide regular updates on progress to the Principal Adviser and to the Head of Services to Schools. 



The link adviser ensures that the headteacher is fully aware of the link adviser’s view of the school, as recorded in the Records of Visit and in the School Report Form (SRF). The link adviser constantly challenges the school causing concern on the pace and extent of improvement through regular, frequent link adviser visits. The link adviser will also provide the head with strong support, appropriate to the needs of that head. 
Following the Ofsted Report parents at Gladstone Park questioned Faira Ellks, Head of  Brent School Improvement Services, on why the Link Adviser did not pick up on the school's weaknesses. Minutes of the Parents' Meeting record:
Faira Ellks introduced herself and explained her role was to provide monitoring and support to schools. She said that the school’s previous Link Adviser (a new one has been appointed) was very experienced and had pointed out weaknesses in the school. Although she’d had concerns, she believed that over the course of her year’s inspections, the school had done enough to pass the Ofsted inspection and judged the school as meriting a grade 2 (Good). In hindsight, it had to be acknowledged that this judgment was over-generous partly, at least, because it did not take account of quite recent changes in the Ofsted inspection framework. Because the Governing Body, which holds the school to account, had received a report of Good, it did not act as it would have done had this assessment properly reflected the school’s inadequacies. Although the Link Adviser had recommended in her report that there was still work to be done, Ofsted did not agree that enough work had been done.
Parents at Gladstone are challenging the DfE's attempts to force it to become an academy  and calling for the DfE to recognise the strengths of their school.  In Croydon parents at Roke Primary are fighting a similar battle about what they call a 'hostile takeover' of a successful school by the Harris Academy chain:

Nigel Geary-Andrews, a parent said:
For years and years it's been a very, very, good school. There's one little blip and Michael Gove seems to have seen an opportunity and jumped in. It feels like a hostile take-over of a very much loved school.
Speaking at the Brent Executive on Monday regarding the expansion of secondary schools, Cllr George Crane said that the problem was that the local authority had responsibility for providing school places but did not have responsibility for schools now that most have become academies. It is responsibility without power. There is a danger that as a result of cuts to services and increased autonomy of schools, that the local authority will be in exactly that position at a time when Ofsted is expecting more of them.





Wednesday, 16 January 2013

Brent Council Budget consultation dates announced

Brent Council Budget Consultation  dates were announced at Willesden Connect tonight. They are:
4th Feb 2.30-4.30 @ Brent Town Hall
7th Feb 7-9pm @ Paul Daisley Hall, Brent Town Hall
But Cllr Aslam Choudry said that there would not be much opportunity to influence the budget since it was pretty much a 'done deal'.

So that's okay then! 

Green Party opposes 'damaging' teachers' pay reforms

The Green Party has reiterated its opposition to the government’s reforms of teachers’ pay, in the wake of the renewed threat of industrial action from teaching unions.

In response to government plans to end teachers’ pay rises in line with length of service in favour of performance-related pay, the National Union of Teachers executive has agreed to “build towards strike action in the spring term,” while the NASUWT has warned that “resistance across the profession” was growing.

Will Duckworth, Deputy Leader of the Green Party, who was a teacher for thirty years at his local comprehensive school, said: 'This policy may possibly hold some very short term financial benefits, but we should be looking at the long term interests of our children.”

“The reason this is a particularly damaging measure is because it chips away even more at the status of teaching. It is a profession, but this policy treats it as if it's simply a step to be taken on the way to management.

“In a real professional career, of course you receive pay increases based on experience and expertise. But this plan removes that from teaching, meaning the only way many teachers will be able to progress is by teaching for just two to three years then entering school management.

“Others will be even less likely to regard teaching as a profession, and turn to do something else instead. It's a waste of talent that we should be harnessing for the good of our children, and society in years to come.”

Mr Duckworth added: “It's also concerning that this seems to remove one more reward for loyalty and length of service, perhaps in an attempt to make it even easier for Academies and Free Schools, which will be able to raise money from private businesses, to poach the best teachers from LEA affiliated schools by offering them more money.

“The majority of children will suffer if this is allowed to happen.”

Some questions I asked Brent Council at Wembley Connects last night

SOAPBOX QUESTIONS (Answers to be given at the next session)

1, With mattresses discarded on the street and increased fly-tipping as a consequence of short-term rental accommodation changing hands frequently, will the council consider producing leaflets on recycling and bulk collections (in appropriate languages) and require that landlords and letting agents give them to new tenants?

2. Can the Council give us an assessment of the impact on the Wembley Park area of an increase in school pupil numbers as a result of the Michaela Free School likely to move into Arena House (the ex-CNWL building) opposite Wembley Park station, an independent 1,500 place French School opening in  Brent Town Hall and Ark Academy numbers due to increase over the next few years as the school reaches full capacity? (Not to mention Preston Manor All-Through School just down the road.)

3. When are we likely to see the affordable family housing promised for the Quintain development in the Wembley Regeneration around Wembley Stadium? With 15,000 on the housing waiting list this is urgently needed. (Quintain is currently building a Designer Shopping Outlet, multi-screen cinema and private student accommodation)

4. Now that the Wembley Stadium car park is moving to the land  around the 'Green, public transport based' Civic Centre giving 1,350 parking places, will there be a parking charge for council workers, coucillors and visitors to the Civic Centre and the Library.

QUESTION TO CLLR KRUPESH HIRANI AFTER PRESENTATION ON ADULT SOCIAL CARE

1. Isn't there a tension between your statement that you will make saving on adult social care costs by 'squeezing providers' rather than change  eligibility criteriam and the Council's commitment to the London Living Wage?  Squeezed providers will save money by paying lower wages and thus reduce the quality of the service.

A. Cllr Hirani said that the London Living Wage Foundation has recognised the difficulties that councils had in paying the LLW to care workers - the cost would be millions. London boroughs were working with the Foundation to plan how to deal with the issue. He said some savings could be made by joint procurement with other boroughs.








Greens urge Government rethink on poorly funded Green Deal

The Green Party has criticised the government’s failure to implement the Green Deal with the required funding.

Nearly 1,800 jobs have been lost and another 1,100 are in danger as a result of the government’s inability to put energy efficiency policies into practise. The current insulation scheme ended a fortnight ago, and the replacement, which is funded by the Green Deal and the Energy Company Obligation, will not be properly funded for several months.

Councillor Andrew Cooper, Green Party energy spokesperson and chair of the Association of Green Party Councillors, said: “It is bizarre that the government's Green Deal is seeing a fall in the number of homes insulated and people employed in the insulation industry.” 

"Getting schemes wrong in this way is bad for the economy, doesn't tackle fuel poverty and shows a lack of urgency around the need to reduce carbon emissions.

“A positive, large-scale energy efficiency programme would generate huge energy savings which would see more money invested in the local economy, reducing peoples’ outgoings and seeing thousands in work, not to mention all the health benefits.

“The Green Party has been at the forefront of the most successful energy efficiency schemes in the country with thousands of homes insulated in schemes initiated and promoted by Green Party Councillors.

“In Kirklees the free insulation scheme that was carried out between 2007 and 2010 saw over 50,000 homes insulated and over £3million saved off peoples’ fuel bills. DECC’s own figures shows that this Green Party Initiative is the most successful in the country.

“Government should listen to the energy efficiency industry and have a major rethink about the Green Deal before it inevitably fails.”

Penny Kemp, Environment Spokesperson, said: "Failure by this Government to act on energy efficiency means that fuel poverty will increase, jobs will be lost, and the cost to the NHS will be greater.”

“The Green Party scheme is a win-win scheme. Jobs are created, fuel poverty is reduced and most importantly of all, lives are saved due to better home insulation, which also saves the NHS the £850m it spends each year on treating illnesses related to cold homes.

“Today, the Met Office tells us that we are entering a very cold spell, and each year up to 20,000 people die needlessly because of hard to heat homes."