Should a BANG Free School be supported?

The list of proposed free schools elicited by the British Humanist Association includes a real mixed bag for Brent. They are:

Ysgol Gymraeg Llundain, London Welsh School
BANG Edutainment Ltd
London Ballet School
Sakutu Montessori Organisation School

The London Welsh School already has premises in Stonebridge and the application merely means a change of status.  The BANG Edutainment application is also in the south of Brent and is an interesting proposition which may meet the criteria set by Brent Council for partnership.  However the application has only 76 signatories on its on-line petition. LINK

I am opposed to Free Schools (as designated by the Coalition) on the grounds that they undermine local authority provision, take a disproportionate share of public funding which would otherwise go to ordinnary schools, are not democratically accountable and open the way for privatisation of schools.

I query whether,  given those overarching reservations, free schools can be used for progressive aims. However  it is only fair to let the proposers speak for themselves. I would be interested in what readers think. This is what their petition asks for:

We the undersigned declare support for BANG Edutainment’s proposal for a Free Secondary School for young people in Brent and surrounding boroughs.

The school will offer places to young people with poor choices of schools because of their area of residence.  

The school will target those young people whose needs are not fully met my existing mainstream provision and who at risk of failing to achieve academic success and not reaching their full potential.

The school will offer a holistic provision of personal, social, work and life education alongside the established curriculum.

In a way those goals refer back to the free schools of the 1970s and the supplementary school movement both of which I worked with. They succeeded with many children that local authority schools had given up on. One question for me is whether our current schools are still failing to that extent with London schools performing above the national average in terms of examination and test results.. To answer that question we would need to look at exclusion rates, staying on rates and a breakdown of examination entries and results by ethnicity and social class. The statistics quoted by BANG indicate that a problem continues.

The preamble to the petition sets out BANG Edutainment's rationale:

BANG Edutainment is proposing a Free School that will target young people from the South of Brent and the boroughs surrounding. The target areas are characterised by housing estates with some of the most deprived neighbourhoods in the UK. (e.g. Harlesden, Stonebridge and Church End fall within the top 10% of the UK's most deprived wards. Residents in these communities suffer from poverty, deprivation, social and economic exclusion with high rates of unemployment.

Many people are from Black and Minority Ethnic groups with many refugee and asylum seeker families. Children from these communities experience a challenging home life, limited parental support and a lack of effective role model. In 2007 the Learning and Skills Council identified over 8.6% of young people in Brent as Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET); amongst White and Black Caribbean it was even higher at 18.2% and amongst Black or Black British 17.7% against 2.1% for Indians. It is estimated 1 in 16 young people complete year 11 without qualifications, 17% of 16 - 25 year olds have literacy problems, 22% have numeracy problems and the number of 15 year olds identified as at risk in Brent alone is more than 15,000.

For the past 10 years BANG has worked very successfully with young people from these areas; young people considered hard to reach and socially excluded. And we’ve had a 75%+ success rate in terms of qualifications and progression to Further Education with limited resources! Our model of working with these young people includes: engaging them at their point of interest, working with them in small groups, building their motivation and aspiration, one to one support to overcome intensive issues, coaching and mentoring, peer education, building skills through practical and real life work and developing skills to prepare them for life and work. We are successful because we care about every young person we work with, we listen to them and we are flexible in how we meet their individual needs.

BANG proposes to adapt its existing model in delivery of a Free School and in partnership with local partners provide a real route to success for local young people.

The Centre for Staff Development building in Brentfield Road, which is soon to be vacated when staff transfer to the Civic Centre, seems the most obvious site for the proposed school if it goes ahead. I have long supported the idea of a secondary school in the area but always assumed that would be provided by the local authority.

I would be interested to hear your views. Please comment below.

 

Will Duckworth: Green Party needs to build links with unions to fight injustice

From the Green Left blog (Virtual Water Melon) LINK

The Green Party’s deputy leader Will Duckworth has called for stronger links between politicians, the general public and unions to fight workplace injustice.

Mr Duckworth spoke out after attending a demonstration against a series of forced redundancies at Halesowen College, which is close to his home and the area he represents as a Dudley Metropolitan Councillor.

He said:

---

Governments in the last 30 years have been working hard to try to destroy unions, and the result is that it’s now too easy for management to bully individual employees, who don’t have the protection they need and deserve. Standing up for workers’ rights is vital, especially during times of economic downturn when increasingly desperate employers look for ways – some of them unfair – to reduce outgoings including wages and sick pay.

The current government is working hard to destroy the collective bargaining power held by unions – one of the only ways employees can safeguard pay and conditions, including basic rights to safety in the workplace. Only by standing together can we protect these basic, necessary rights.

Mr Duckworth joined union members and members of the public to protest against the dismissal of four Mathematics lecturers from the College. He was one of more than 12,000 people who signed a petition calling for the reinstatement of the lecturers.

College management argues that the lecturers have been ‘underperforming’ but many, including union leaders, college students and the lecturers themselves, fear that financial pressures and the lecturers’ union membership may have played a part in the decision.

They also expressed concern about the way the redundancy process has been handled by the College.

Mr Duckworth said: 

We’re very concerned that the proper disciplinary processes haven’t been followed: if the College was unhappy with the lecturers’ performance, it should have issued them with notices to improve before taking this very strong action.

He added that he hoped to build stronger links between the Green Party and trades unions.

He said: 

My attendance at the demonstration was to show support for workers who I believe may have been treated very shoddily. It was also to help to build links between the Green Party and trades unions, so we can work together in future to combat and prevent such injustices.

NW London NHS vote to close Central Middlesex A&E with potentially life threatening consequences

Hospital campaigners from Brent, Ealing and Hammersmith and Fulham assembled at a chilly 8.30am today outside the Methodist Central Hall, Westminster in the shadow of Parliament's Victoria Tower. They were protesting against Shaping a Healthier Future plans to close A&Es at Hammersmith, Charing Cross, Ealing and Central Middlesex Hospitals.

Their pleas were ignored just as were their letters, petitions and marches and the Trust went ahead and voted for all four closures.

Campaigners warned that the decision will hit many of the area's most vulnerable residents and could result  in life threatening delays for urgent treatment.

The ITN report on the demonstration and decision can be found HERE

A wonderful facility for children - let's see it widely used

Brent has some resources that deserve to be more widely known and used.  One such is the Brent Play Association on the ground floor of Peppermint Heights (formerly Middlesex House) adjacent to the Grand Union canal and opposite Sainsbury's in Alperton. It is close to Alperton Station. The BPA's John Lyon narrow boat is moored close by.

The Peppermint Heights facilities are  used for holiday and weekend play schemes for children with special needs. However, the facilities would be useful for organisations working with young people during the week including play therapy, art therapy, one to one contact, sensory work, group work as well as for voluntary organisations or community groups wanting a meeting place.


I will let the facilities speak for themselves through the images below:

Art Room

Multi-sensory room for stimulus or calming

TV Room

Play area

Large kitchen

Conference space (up to 100)

Small meeting space

Safe outdoor play

As one of the trustees of the Brent Play Association I would like to see these wonderful facilities much more widely used. The BPA would be pleased to show you what they have to offer. Contact details are HERE

Barry Gardiner quizzes Michael Gove on Michaela Free School

A Brent North resident writes:

 

I thought followers of Wembley Matters  might be interested in the copy letter below. It appears that I was one of several people to contact our MP raising concerns about the proposed Free School at Wembley Park. Barry Gardiner has put our questions to Michael Gove, and has promised to forward a copy of his response as soon as he receives it.

 

When Gove and David Cameron launched their latest list of approved Free School bids in July last year, it showed that its funding for the Michaela Community School was on the basis that it was to meet demand for a Free School in Lambeth, which it highlighted as a deprived area. I know that Brent has some deprived areas as well, and our schools do need to be fairly funded; but it seems unfair that the money for this school should be taken away from Lambeth, where there is the need and apparently the demand for it, and spent in Wembley Park, where I am not aware of any such demand.

 

Barry Gardiner's letter to Michael Gove:

 

Click on image to enlarge

 

Early signs of Spring in Fryent Country Park

A stroll through Fryent Country Park turned into a slipping, sliding, squelchy, sucking battle with mud today but I was rewarded by early signs of Spring. There wasn't much sign of frog activity yet but birds were busy and that drumming of a woodpecker could be heard across the woodland.

Hazel catkins

Lesser Celandine

Pussy Willow

Gorse flowers

Bluebell leaves emerging

Never mind your heritage - get excited by the shops!

Guest blog by local historian Philip Grant

It seems that we are likely to see the last remaining relic of the British Empire Exhibition, the Palace of Industry building in Olympic Way and Fulton Road, demolished within the next couple of weeks.

Quintain Estates advised me on 14 February that they intend to go ahead with the demolition before their planning application for 1350 temporary car parking spaces on the site goes before Brent's Planning Committee on 13 March. They can do this, as Brent gave them permission as part of the overall scheme for Wembley City some years ago. 

I had asked them to allow the east and north external walls to remain standing until the main redevelopment of the site for a shopping centre goes ahead in several years time. This would not stop them from having all of the car parking spaces they require to fulfil their commitments to Wembley Stadium, and would allow visitors coming to Wembley Park for the 90th anniversary of the British Empire Exhibition in 2014 to see the scale and style of the last of these iconic buildings. They claim it would be unsafe to do this, but have ignored my request (four weeks ago) to have sight of their evidence.

It was intended to ask for the retention of the walls to be made a condition of granting planning permission for the temporary car park. It appears that Quintain Estates have decided not to take that risk, so that the demolition will already be a "fait accompli" when the Planning meeting takes place. As a concession to the proposed BEE 90th anniversary exhibition, which it is hoped will be held in the new Civic Centre in the summer of 2014, Quintain have said that they will give Brent the lion's head corbels from the building.

When I suggested to the Quintain representative yesterday that it might be better to co-operate with local people and Brent Museum and Archives on this matter before sending in the demolition team, I was told they 'hope that the excitement about a new cinema for Wembley, with shops and restaurants accessible for all plus 1500 new jobs will outweigh any "bad publicity".'

Cllr Mary Arnold: Gladstone Park forced academy is 'outrageous'

Cllr Mary Arnold, lead member for Children and Families on Brent Council, has declared support for Gladstone Park Primary School in a message to the NUT:

We are giving the governors a lot of support including approaches to DfE.

It is outrageous that the school is at risk of being forced into academy without a further inspection and a chance to improve their progress – especially as results were OK

Cllr Hirani tells Gove Gladstone Park academy conversion 'simply not needed'

In a welcome move Brent Council Executive member,  Cllr Krupesh Hirani,  has  written to Michael Gove regarding the DfE's attempt to force Gladstone Park Primary to become a sponsored academy:

(Click on image to enlarge)

Green Assembly Member backs parents battling against forced academy conversion

Darren Johnson, Green Assembly Member for the whole of London has issued a statement supporting  parent groups in London campaigning against their schools being forcibly converted into academies. He said:

Forcing schools to become academies is deeply wrong on every level, particularly when it flies in the face of what the majority of local parents want. That is why I am giving my full support to the Save Gladstone Park,  Save Roke  and Thomas Gamuel Primary school campaigners in their battle to keep their schools as local authority-run schools,  properly accountable to local people.

Parent spills the beans on life under Harris

A parent from Roke Primary School in Croydon which is being threatened with having Harris imposed as a sponsor posted the following worrying account. Harris have several academies in Croydon and appear to be embarked on an empire building exercise aided by Michael Gove and the Conservative Party. Presumably they look forward to converting taxpayers' money into profits for themselves when Gove frees them to make profits.

From a parent in another Harris Primary school. I asked "How are your kids finding the school now? You ever thought about moving them?" ..... the reply: "I've got to say yes. Before Harris took over the atmosphere was calm and behaviour always good (always praised by Ofsted). The discipline now is much harsher. There's constant telling off and seemingly random punishments - not in line with their own policy. School uniform is constantly picked up on e.g. kids having a logo on their PE jogging bottoms. There's testing every six weeks and the reports that Harris promise you every half term are just a print out of NC levels from the tests. The extra Harris resources we were promised (school improvement teachers) are just being used as classroom teachers to cover the vacancies. Harris will of course promise you the world ...."

How Michael Gove is killing democracy in our schools

This letter to Michael Gove from parents of yet another school that is being forced to become an academy,  demonstrates just how governors, staff and parents are being trampled on:

Dear Mr Gove,

We are a group of parents whose children attend Thomas Gamuel Primary School (TGPS) in Walthamstow, east London.We are writing to object to the Department for Education’s decision to force TGPS into Sponsored Academy status, ignoring the objections of the parents, carers, teachers, support staff and governing body

:• 95 per cent of parents returning a ballot voted against academy status (60 per cent of parents voted)• 85 per cent of teachers voted against converting
• The governing body unanimously voted against becoming a sponsored academy.

We understand that the local authority has this week applied to you 'for consent to constitute the governing body of Thomas Gamuel Primary School as an Interim Executive Board (IEB) in accordance with Schedule 6 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006'. We strongly object to this application to dissolve a governing body that has made a decision the local authority disagree with.

We have met with our local MP Stella Creasy and our local councillor Clare Coghill to try and get some answers. We now write to you to outline our major objections and to ask that you reject the local authority’s application and allow the school to continue on its current path to improvement:


1. We are not a failing school. Ofsted inspected TGPS in April 2012. They rated the school ‘inadequate’, mainly due to an administrative error, informing the governing body two months after the inspection at the end of the summer term. Ofsted allocated a timetable for improvement between June 2012 and April 2013 (nine months). Ofsted’s interim monitoring report in November 2012 (three months into the plan) said the school was making ‘satisfactory progress’ in implementing its improvement plan. The monitoring report specifically noted that the administrative error which had caused the 'requires improvement' rating in April 2012 had now been fully resolved.The DfE states on its website that: 'When schools have been underperforming for a long time, decisive action is needed to raise standards and ensure that the children in these schools are able to achieve their full potential.'TGPS’ previous two Ofsted reports (2009 and 2006) rated the school 'good' with 'outstanding' aspects. We do not understand why one unsatisfactory Ofsted report classes us as ‘underperforming for a long time’

2. Teaching standards are improving. We are aware that teaching standards in the school need to be raised. The parents and carers are confident that this is being achieved. The teachers and support staff, and the governing body are confident, indeed even Ofsted is confident - as it reported in its monitoring inspection in November 2012. Why then is the DfE forcing TGPS to rush into Sponsored Academy status?The DfE states: 'Wherever possible, the Department will seek to find solutions to raising standards that everyone can agree on - as has been the case with the vast majority of the schools that have become academies. Where under performance is not being tackled effectively the Secretary of State does have powers to intervene to help ensure standards are raised.'The School Improvement Plan in place is tackling underperformance - and we as parents can see the visible results of this. We are all committed to this plan and want the DfE to allow the plan to run the course of its original timetable (April 2013).As stated earlier, the parents of children at the school have voted overwhelmingly against sponsored academy status. The school governing body have voted against it. The teachers at the school are against it. How is the DfE seeking to find a solution that ‘everyone can agree on’?

3. We are not being consulted. Since October 2012 the DfE has been consistently applying pressure to TGPS’ governing body to agree to conversion to sponsored academy status. The Local Education Authority is now also applying pressure, regardless of the fact that the improvement plan’s original timetable – agreed by Ofsted – has not expired.The governing body originally voted against making a decision without consulting parents and chose instead to focus on improving teaching standards within the school. When they did consult with us, they listened and voted with us. The local authority is now planning to take away the only body that truly has our children’s best interests at heart.We want the original school improvement plan and timetable – ratified by Ofsted – to stand. The changes that have already been implemented need time to embed.We want to make an informed, unrushed decision about our future status. A proper consultation – with all the facts about what the change will actually mean – needs to take place. We would like a choice of sponsor. There has been a lack of transparency of the criteria used by the DfE/local authority to choose the proposed sponsor.

Thank you again for your time and attention.

Yours sincerely

TGPS Parents Say No 
(Representing the voice of the majority of parents and carers at Thomas Gamuel Primary School)

Willesden Greeen Public Inquiry report ready in '7-10 days'

The Public Inquiry into the application for registration of the open space outside Willesden Green Library as a Town Square finished this afternoon.  Martin Redston and Philip Grant summed up with a detailed response to this morning's submission by Counsel for Galliford Try/Linden Homes and Brent Council.

Concluding Martin Redston said, "(In the 1980s) Brent Council wanted to put the Green back into Wiillesden. Brent residents embraced it."

Paul Brown QC, the inspector who held the inquiry said that he would  priortitise the report and expected his writing up to take 7-10 days and commented that he couldn't guarantee it by Friday of next week, "If it takes longer it is because I want to get it right."

The Special Planning Committee considering the Willesden Green Planning Application has been scheduled for Thursday 21st February, before the report is likely to be ready.

Brown commended the public, who had attended every day of the 4 day inquiry, for sticking it out.

In turn I would commend Martin and Philip for the enormous amount of work they have done in preparing the case and presenting it to the Inquiry. As Paul Brown,said they were doing it in their own time and were up against people whose paid job it was to represent objectors.

The Planning Committee Agenda is now on the council website. I suggest that anyone who was planning to speak should resubmit their request. LINK

Brent Council Executive member backs Gladstone Park parents

Cllr Krupesh Hirani, lead member for Adults and Health, has become the second Dudden Hill councillor to back the Parents Action Group at Gladstone Park Primary.

In a meeting with representatives from the campaign he stated that 'enforced academy is wrong' and 'we think Gladstone Parl doesn't need to become an academy'.

He agreed to write a letter in support of the Save Gladstone Park Primary School campaign for dessmination and he also signed the parents, carers and friends petition.

Parents finally requested that Cllr Hirani ask Cllr Muhammed Butt (leader of Brent Council) to instruct  Christine Gilbert (Brent Chief Executive) or any other relevant Brent officer to write to DfE stating (a) that DfE’s is in breach of Civil service Codes of Conduct and acceptable behaviour in making decisions that impact on the general public and (b) that Brent is confident in GP leadership successfully seeing through improvement action plan in response to Ofsted report, without change in governance status. In this regard, Ofsted Principal Officer Deana Holdaway’s response to Sarah Cox was quoted: ‘The judgement that leadership and management are not inadequate is an important one; it shows that staff have the capacity to continue the school’s improvement’.   

In response Cllr Hirani said there was a distinction between Council and councillors and he would seek advice before making such a request.

Willesden Green Planning application descends into chaos

The Keep Willesden Green campaigners have long argued that there is a possibility of 'pre-determination' over the Galliford Try/Linden Homes planning application for Willesden Green: that the Council had already made up its mind and that the Planning Committee would rubber-stamp the Council's deal with Galliford Try.

Their worse fears seemed to have been realised when Brent Council sent out a message overnight saying that the Planning Committee had yesterday approved the two applications - despite the Council having previously announced that the decision had been deferred to a Special Planning Committee on February 21st for 'technical' reasons'.

A call to Democratic Services early this morning elicited the response that the release of this announcement had been a mistake and that the application hadn't been considered last night. The announcement was quickly removed from the website.

Doesn't look the model of efficiency does it - not to mention the number of heart attacks it might have caused at breakfast time in Willesden Green?

Dudden Hill Labour Councillor supports Gladstone Park Parents' forced academy resistance

Councillor Aslam Choudry (Labour Dudden Hill) has responded to an e-mail from a resident whose grandchildren attend the school with this message:

Let me make my position clear. I have been associated with Gladstone Park School for over 20 years . All of my four children attended Gladstone Primary School and I firmly believe that the school does an excellent service to the local community.

Last Friday, I spoke at the local mosque in Willesden Green before the Jummah Prayers in favour of the demonstration outside the school and, in fact encouraged the congregation to take part.

I am aware that at least 5 parents came to the demonstration .

So, I support your efforts and I believe the Gladstone School is already doing a great deal to improve the education for all children and therefore it should not be forced to go the academy route.

Please let me know if you wish to talk further on this.

Acad£mies and Lies - lessons from the movies

As the struggle of Gladstone Park Primary parents against a forced academy hots up and attention also turns to Kensal Rise Primary, this film shows how a community rose up in defence of its schools. The bullying of the DfE is challenged by parents and school staff. With more attempts at forced academies provoking revolt across London the Guardian, Independent and the Evening Standard (see below) have woken up to what is happening. LINK to coverage in yesterday's Evening Standard.

 As with the closure of Central Middlesex Hospital, Brent Labour councillors have been slow to react. As representatives of local residents who have shown such passionate support for their local school and commitment to the role of the local authority, surely they must state loudly and clearly that they oppose forced academisation and are confident (as Ofsted said - see below) in the capacity of the present leadership and management to improve the school and deal with the weaknesses revealed by the recent inspection.

London Councils act to improve HIV prevention services

Source: Health Protection Agency

 Press release from London Councils

Leaders of London’s councils yesterday agreed to take decisive action together to improve HIV prevention services in the capital.

As they prepare to take on new public health responsibilities from 1 April, London boroughs have recognised that the HIV prevention activity they are inheriting is not meeting the needs of Londoners.  They have today initiated joint work to improve future commissioning of such services.

In the meantime, Leaders have agreed that some of the contracts from the current Pan London HIV Prevention Programme due to terminate on 31 March should be extended subject to more robust programme management – initially for six months and, subject to performance, potentially a further six months to ensure provision continues.  Final details will be resolved in the next few weeks.

London Councils Executive Member for Health, Councillor Teresa O’Neill, said:

A new approach to HIV prevention is needed to make sure that Londoners are educated about HIV before it is too late.  An estimated 50 per cent of Londoners with HIV are diagnosed at a point where their immune system is damaged and treatment is needed.

Frankly, Londoners have not been well served by the approach to HIV prevention in the capital in recent years.  The transfer of responsibilities around HIV prevention to local authorities gives us an opportunity to look at the way services have been provided in the past and change them so they are more effective, better value for money and targeted in the right way.

Nearly half of people with HIV in the UK live in London and more than a third of new diagnoses take place in the capital.  Terrence Higgins Trust, the charity which campaigns on issues around HIV and AIDS, points to an over-use of specialist clinics and an under-developed approach to community-based testing, care and support. Directors of Public Health will lead joint work, involving stakeholders and experts, to develop a robust needs assessment to inform future commissioning of HIV prevention services.  This will also form the basis for decisions on the whether boroughs want to join together to commissioning some of these services on a pan-London basis in future

Planning Committee won't consider Willesden Green development on Wednesday

The Galliford Try planning application for the Wiillesden Green flats and library development has been deferred until February 21st for 'technical reasons'.  Keep Willesden Green campaigners have raised various issues about the legal status of the  application over the last week or so.

The email from Democratic Services to councillors on the Planning Committee is below:

Dear Member,

Due to technical reasons, the planning applications for Willesden Green Library (references 12/2924 and 12/2925) will be deferred from tomorrow night’s meeting.  As the applications will still need to be considered at the earliest possible time following tomorrow’s meeting, the Chair has asked me to confirm your availability on Thursday 21 February 2013 for the special meeting.

If for any reason you will not be able to attend the meeting please consider asking your alternate. I would appreciate it if you could respond to this request at the earliest opportunity preferably before 10:00am tomorrow morning.

Joe Kwateng

Democratic Services Officer

Legal & Procurement Department

( Direct Line: 020 8937 1354
joe.kwateng@brent.gov.uk

This is becoming a real headache for the developers, maybe Galliford Try/Linden Homes will pull out before the 21st?

Ofsted acknowledges Gladstone Park's strengths and confirms its capacity to improve

 Writing to a grandparent of a Gladstone Park Primary school pupil, Deana Holdaway, HMI , Principal Officer for Quality Assurance at Ofsted reiterated the areas where Ofsted found weaknesses in the school but went on:

However the report also gives due credit to the school's  strengths. The judgement that leadership and management are not inadequate is an important one: it shows  that staff have the capacity to continue the school's improvement. (My emphasis)

Clearly this raises a vital question: If Ofsted thinks the present leadership and management has the capacity to 'continue to improve' (ie the process of improvement is under way) then why should the DfE think that the school needs to be forcibly converted into an academy with all the upheaval that involves.

One can only conclude that there is a conflict between Ofsted's professional assessment and the DfE's political agenda.

Evening Standard covers Gladstone Park, Roke and Thomas Gamuel resistance to forced academy status

Parents join forces to fight academy takeovers

Campaign: families protest outside Gladstone Park primary in Brent

inShare

From today's Evening Standard LINK

Parents of pupils at London schools under threat of being forced to become academies are uniting to fight the plans.

A growing number of schools are at risk of compulsory takeover by private sponsors following unsatisfactory Ofsted reports. Parents from three primaries are working together to combat the plans and are due to contact campaigners at a fourth. They say the move is “politically-driven, disproportionate and undemocratic”.

At Gladstone Park primary in Brent, families have accused Education Secretary Michael Gove of setting the “attack dogs” on them and held a protest outside the school this weekend.

The school received an inadequate Ofsted report before Christmas and governors were told a sponsor would be chosen to take over the running of the school within weeks.

Roke primary in Croydon and Thomas Gamuel primary in Walthamstow are also on the “hit list” after inadequate Ofsted reports. Parents at the schools argue the reports are a “blip”
.
Alex Colas, whose daughter goes to Gladstone Park, said: “The Government has set the attack dogs on us. There is a sense we are being picked on. Bullied is a term that was used.” Parents at Gladstone Park dispute the Ofsted report. The school has previously been rated as “good”.

Mr Colas said they were getting advice from protesters at Downhills in Tottenham, who failed to stop the school becoming an academy last year. There are plans to contact Thomas Gamuel school where 180 parents have signed a petition against academy proposals.

A Department for Education spokeswoman said: “We cannot just stand by if a school is failing children. We need to make changes quickly.”

She added that Ofsted’s report and representations from Gladstone Park were being considered before making a decision.

Brent Executive approves budget and Tokyngton Library sale

The Brent Council Executive tonight passed the 2013/14 budget, which involve cuts in services, frozen Council Tax and increased charges,  without discussion. It also approved rent increases in Brent Housing Partnership and Stonebridge properties and substantial rises in service charges. The Budget which also includes a free on Council Tax will now go before the full Council Meeting where it will rubber-stamped unless there is a (very unlikely) revolt by non-Executive Labour councillors.

A Local Welfare Assistance Scheme was approved which due to government cuts of 13% reduces the amount of emergency payments available to the vulnerable.

Labour Leader Muhammed Butt declared an interest in the sale of the former Tokynton Library to the Islamic Cultural Association (see LINK) and vacated the chair and left the room for the discussion of this item. Cllr Ruth Moher, taking the chair,  told the meeting that the sell-off did not involve councillors and had been carried out according to Council standing orders.

Issues around sale of Tokyngton Library to Islamic Cultural Association

The Brent Executive will tomorrow decide whether to sell the closed down Tokyngton Library in Monks Park to the Islamic Cultural Association for an undisclosed sum.

The week before last the Kilburn Times reported that an argument between leader of the Council, Muhammed Butt, and another Labour councillor, had been behind the ill-feeling in the Labour Group which contributed to rumours that Butt's leadership would be challenged. In the event an agreement to show mutual respect was agreed.

Brent Council's Register of Interests shows that Cllr Muhammed Butt has previously declared an interest in the Islamic Cultural Association, which is co-located with Monks Park Masjid at 72-74 Harrow Road. He declared an interest as a Trustee of the Association  on 25.08.2009, removed it on 04.2.10, declared it again on 18.03.2011 and removed it again on 07.06.12.

Whose schools? OUR schools!

Children grasp the key question and answer outside Gladstone Park on Friday

Today's news in the Independent LINK that Michael Gove is looking to privatise academies and free schools, and thus open them up to profit-making comes as no surprise. It would also decouple them from Whitehall removing any semblance of democratic accountability which has  of course already been lost at the local level.

Anti-academy campaigners have always thought this was the long-term intention. Why else would carpet millionaires and hedge fund speculators be interested in running schools? Cleverly getting their foot in the door at an early stage,  academy chains will be in a position to harvest the profits from seizing community assets.

She knew what Gove was up to

It is not just the bricks and mortars and land, paid for by taxpayers over many years, sometimes going back to the introduction of universal elementary education in 1870, that is important. It is also schools as a site for community solidarity and values beyond those of individualism and private profit that is being destroyed,. In essence it is another battle in the war against social solidarity and the welfare state, the post-World War 2 settlement, that is taking place.  It is an ideological attack where the proponents will accuse opponents of being ideological. George Orwell would recognise the technique.

In 1986 Michael Joseph and then then Department of Education focused on the individual aspirations of parents for their children. They promoted what could be seen as the 'ideal' parent and argued that establishing a market in education would benefit individual parents as consumers. Back then phrases such as 'wanting what any decent parent would want for their children' , 'hardworking motivated families' were used to try and recruit parents as ideological partners in pursuit of free market solutions to what was percieved as the education crisis.

Their plans were challenged at a practical level when parents at Drummond Middle School in Bradofrd organised a campaign against the alleged racism of headtecher Ray Honeyford. Margaret Thatcher showed where she stood by inviting Honeyford to an education seminar at Dowing Street. Drummond Parents Action Group took to the streets  to protest. The Tory subtext was that the 'ideal parent' did not include ethnic minorities. 'Parent Power' was only for those who accepted the Government agenda? Does this soubnd familiar?

Another comment may also sound familiar. The All London Parents Action Group (ALPAG) said:

But be warned - for a Government that is so keen to encourage parental participation in education, he (Sir Keith Joseph,  Gove's equivalent at the time) is remarkably reluctant to answer parents' letters.

The Inner London Education Authority election of 1986 was unique because the Greater London Council having been abolished by Thatcher it was an election ONLY about education.  Several activists from the parents' movement stood as Labour Party candidates with experience in the Camapign for the Advancement of State Education (CASE), National Association of  Governors and Managers (NAGM), Save ILEA Campaign, Wandsworth Association of School Parents as well as local Parents Advisory Committees.

The Tories used the election to put forward their right-wing, privatisation ideas as a rehearsal for the next General Election. The result was a thrashing. On a relatively high turn-out, considering this was a direct election only about education in a city with many non-parents, of 44%, Labour achieved 46,8% (45 seats), Conservative 30.2% (11) and SDP-Liberals 21.2% (2).  Thatcher then punished the voters by abolishing the ILEA and handing education over to the boroughs, However the election result contributed to the  Tories moving to the centre ground in education. Michael Joseph was replaced by Kenneth Baker.

Gove's policies on privatisation, academies and free schools represent a move back to the days of Thatcher, Tebbit and Joseph (known by some as the 'Mad Monk') and we need to mount a similar challenge against his ideas and policies.

Is there a potential for a 21st century version of the All London Parents Action Group?

A diverse community sharing common values

 In the building of such a group the slogan Whose Schools? OUR Schools  should be central. We are not talking only about the selling off of public assets but of them being given away to the private sector. It is our taxes and council taxes that have funded our schools, but even more fundamentally the investment of the time and effort of generations of unpaid governors and parents that have made them the successful inclusive institutions that they are.

Fund-raising at Spring, Summer and Winter Fairs, volunteering in the classroom, accompanying classes on trips, regular contact with the class teacher are all ways that parents make it 'Our school'.  It is this closeness and identification with the school that make parents, grandparents and carers a potentially formidable campaigning force.

More and more is expected of the governing body who are expected to oversee the financial management of the school, set targets for school improvement and performance manage the headteacher. They are expected to go on training, attend conferences, and visit the school regulalrly to see it in action.

Michael Gove's forced acdemisation tramples over the efforts of parents and governors, devalues the contribution that they have made, and through his threat of replacing non-compliant governing bodies with Interim Executive Boards flies in the face of democracy.

Make no mistake we are in a fight for control of our schools,  for the future of our children's education and well-being, and for an ethos that values social inclusion, equality of opportunity and democratic accountability.

Let the battle commence to reclaim OUR Schools!

The 'shoddy compromise' behind Charing Cross A&E ''victory'

Ann Drinkell speaking at this evening's Torchlight Vigil at Central Middlesex Hospital

Candlelit vigil marks start of week of action to save our hospitals

Campaigners marked the beginning of the Week of Action to Defend London's NHS with a candle lit vigil outside Central Middlesex Hospital tonight. The Central Middlesex A&E is threatened with closure under the Shaping a Healthier Future proposals. People from Brent, Ealing and Hammersmith and Fulham joined in the vigil. Sarah Cox from Brent said that it was important that people across the three boroughs stayed united to guard against any attempts at divide and rule.

On Tuesday February 19th NHS NW London will be meeting at Central Hall Westminster to make decisions on the closure of A&E departments and many other services at Central Middlesex, Ealing, Charing Cross and Hammersmith hospitals. There will be a demonstration outside Central Hall from 8.30am.

Keep Willesden Green campaigners speak truth to power

Willesden residents in  the Keep Willesden Green campaign were able to question the developers and make comments on the plans for the new Willesden Green Cultural Centre today. The councillors who constitute the planning committee were on a site visit prior to the Committee's consideration of the planning application on Wednesday.

The residents were extremely well-informed and officers will be taking away some of the questions and evidence to consider before the  Planning Committee.

On Monday the Public Inquiry into the Town Square application will open at Willesden Green Library and is expected to continue meeting after the Planning Committee has made its decision - a fact that itself is puzzling as.  if successful, he Town Square application would stop the library development as currently planned.

More detail and videos of today's events can be found on the Keep Willesden Green blog HERE

Mary Seacole win was based on People Power - let's use it on forced academies

Readers may have missed another concession by Michael Gove this week.I wrote a piece a few weeks ago  LINK supporting Operation Black Vote's campaign to retain the study of Mary Seacole in the National Curriculum. The campaign succeeded to the extent that Mary Seacole is now in the main curriculum rather than just an option. This is a victory for the thousands who supported the campaign but we now need to turn our attention to other fundamentally problematic issues in Michael Gove's history proposals

Operation Black Vote wrote:

We’ve won ! - Mary Seacole, Olaudah Equiano

Thanks to nearly 36,000 signatories, letters to the Secretary of State for education, politicians, unions, writers and activist, today we celebrate the fact that our children and the next generation of children will be taught about the great exploits of both Mary Seacole and Olaudah Equiano. Furthermore, the importance of diversity within our education system, particularly in history will now be greatly valued.

Back in December a leaked document suggested that Equiano and Seacole be scrapped from the Curriculum.

Simon Woolley stated:

This is a great day for education, but also a great day for the Black community and many others who demanded greater racial justice within our education system. There are too many people to thank personally but, The Voice, The Times, The Guardian, The Independent, and Change.org all threw their considerable weight behind this campaign. Seacole and Equiano would both be saying our spirits fantastically live on with today's activist.  

Michael Gove wrote personally to OBV in response to the campaign:

We are lucky to be heirs to a very rich mix of exceptional thinkers, bold reformers and courageous political activists. I agree that is important that our children learn about difference that these figures have made, and it is right that we do more, not less to make subjects relevant to the lives of our children.

 Professor Elizabeth Anionwu, Emeritus Professor of Nursing, said:

Thanks to all 36,000 people who signed the Operation Black Vote Petition. Mary Seacole AND Olaudah Equiano & Florence Nightingale are all cited in Key Stage 3 of the proposed national curriculum. Brilliant, just brilliant!

Zita Holbourne of BARAC stated: 

This campaign just goes to show that if we stand our ground, stick together and assert our collective 'People Power' we succeed.

Let's now use People Power to defeat Michael Gove over forced academies. Yesterday's demonstration outside Gladstone Park Primary School was a great start.

'Wrong sort of parents' protest against Gove's diktat

I guess Michael Gove will think that these are the 'wrong sort of parents': passionately committed to their children's education;  strongly supportive of their children's school, teachers and headteacher; enthusiastic about the multi-cultural nature of the school's population, committed to equality and, worse of all, keen on the democratic accountability of the school via the local authority.

A group of middle class parents setting up a Free School for their children aimed at keeping out the riff-raff are clearly preferable, and why oh why can't these Gladstone Park parents realise that their school would be far better if it was run by a bloke who sells carpets?

There was a brilliant demonstration after school this afternoon by Gladstone Park Primary parents and children to oppose a forced academy.. A force to be reckoned with!

'Carry on cutting' (and charge more for less)

Brent Council Leader Muhammed Butt, last night rejected making a needs based budget and drew back from committing himself to a united campaign with residents and other London councils against the Coalition Government's savage reduction in local government funding. He said that action through the organisation London Councils was not possible because some were Conservative or Liberal Democrat controlled.

Challenged on setting a deficit budget or refusing to make a budget he asked Fiona Ledden, Director of Legal and Procurement to answer, despite a cry of, 'We want a political answer - not a legal answer!'

Stung into a response he said, 'Councillors are elected to do a job. I'm not going to stand here and say I am not going to do my job (Cries of, 'You are doing the Tories' job!')  I've written lots of letters, I've told people. They're not doing this just to our borough. We still need to provide services.'

He had told the meeting that the situation facing the borough in 2014-5 was dire with £20m cuts required which could mean not providing services  such as youth centres, parks maintenance, street cleaning, employment support, arts funding and voluntary sector support.

His future strategy seemed to accept this as inevitable. He said that extracting extra money from the government was unlikely and apart from so-called efficiency savings the alternatives he offered were of allowing local authorities more freedom over tax and revenue (putting up the Council Tax, increasing charges and charging for services that up to now have been 'free') and removing statutory obligations to provide some services (ceasing to provide all but core services).  It didn't escape the audience that all this meant residents paying in one way or another.

He said that he had charged Interim Chief Executive Christine Gilbert with the task of investigating the future form that Brent Council could take including a 'Fair Council' and a Lambeth style Cooperative Council LINK   Admitting that he had been pushed into these public meetings after being reminded at a Brent Connects meeting that he hadn't yet consulted on the 2013-14 budget, he promised a 'community budget' next year.  The consultation would be over a longer period and it would mean him going out to local areas, schools, voluntary organisations and residents' groups to ascertain their views, rather than expecting them to come to him.

He said, 'I will listen to you but sometimes I may have to take decisions which are not palatable to you, not to your taste. That is leadership.'

Earlier members and trustees of Elders' Voice had told the meeting how another organisation had been awarded their contract after putting in a 'cheaper bid'. Despite Brent's promotion of the London Living Wage this organisation, unlike Elders Voice, did not pay it. They predicted that because of  staffing transfer costs, there would be eventually no difference in price but Brent would have lost the experience, expertise and community involvement of Elders' Voice.

As the meeting drew to a close one of  the Elders' Voice contingent stood up and addressed Muhammed Butt directly: 'I have been listening to you but where's your passion? I can't hear your passion. You need passion to lead people!'.

Butt replied, 'Passion is difficult isn't it?  I wouldn't be standing here if I didn't care.'

James Powney roasted in Kilburn Library

While his colleague Muhammed Butt was being grilled at Brent Town Hall James Powney faced a roasting at Kilburn Library. LINK

The occasion was the launch of veteran feminist and anti-racist Selma James' new publication, Sex, Race and Class: The perspective of winning. Cllr Powney was adopting a low profile in the audience. He might have been warned of what was to come if he had read Brent Council's press release on the event which included this quote from Selma James:

 I’m pleased to be talking with my community in our library and to support libraries as centres of learning and culture in every community. We need the libraries for our ongoing education to which we are all entitled.

When Selma started by stressing the importance of libraries and condemned Brent Council's closures of half the borough's libraries a member of the audience stood up and pointing to James Powney  said, 'We have the architect of the library closures in the audience here, Councillor James Powney, I hope he will listen and take note of some of the anger and outrage that residents feel about these library closures.'

The audience rose up up against the slight figure and angrily denounced Brent Council, library closures and capitulation to the cuts. Powney sarcastically said, 'Yes I am the evil architect of these library closures. I am going to defend myself' and gesturing to the refurbished library,  boasted of IT resources, new books and increased borrowing.

Needless to say the audience was not convinced.

Useful information for tonight's Public Brent Budget Meeting

There is another Public Meeting at Brent Town Hall (7pm) this evening to discuss the forthcoming Council Budget with Muhammed Butt. This Appendix to the main document sets out service areas where 'savings' will be made as well as increased fees.

It is worth trying to find out what the apparently innocuous statements really mean in terms of services:

Support Gladstone Park protest against forced academy on Friday

A message from the Parents Action Group at Gladstone Park Primary School who are campaigning against forced academy status:

A public protest will be taking place in front of Gladstone Park School on

Friday 8 February against academy status being forced upon the school.

The protest will take place at 3.15pm by the front entrance to the school in Sherrick Green Road.

Please come armed with placards and banners and please try to mobilise support in the wider community so that as many people as possible attend.

We believe the event will be covered by BBC London news and various other media.

Green Party welcomes Equal Marriage vote

THE GREEN Party has welcomed yesterday’s vote to legalise gay marriage as a “historic moment.”
The vote in the House of Commons passed by 400 to 175 votes, with the latter including 136 Conservative MPs – almost half of the party.

Natalie Bennett, leader of the Green Party, said: “Yesterday's vote in the House of Commons for gay marriage marks a historic moment in the progress of equality in Britain. With the large Commons majority of 225, the elected representatives have spoken, and the House of Lords has no grounds for resistance.”

“Britain has joined other progressive states, including Sweden, Denmark, Canada and Belgium, in giving gay couples an equal right to marry as that enjoyed by heterosexual couples.

“Our Green MP Caroline Lucas was also leading in yesterday's debate, making the point that now there's a further equality issue be tackled. MPs have acknowledged that civil partnerships don't meet all couples' needs - now they need to go a step further, and acknowledge that marriage doesn't meet the needs of all heterosexual couples.”

“There can be no logical grounds for denying heterosexual couples the option of civil partnership as created under the Civil Partnership Act of 2004 - a simple, legal step that can resolve issues around child custody, inheritance, pension rights and a whole host of other issues.

“There's a further important issue to be addressed - an issue of education and understanding. There is no such thing as "common law marriage" in Britain, yet it's a phrase that you'll hear bandied about regularly, and a false belief in its existence has had severe financial and emotional consequences for many .

“There's also a recognised problem around inheritance when an unformalised partnership ends with the death of an intestate partner - a lot of work has been done around this issue; now's the time for action

“We live in a world of many different family arrangements - what we need to do is to give couples a range of legal tools (and full understanding of them) so that they can have security and certainty about the shape of their family life, and real choices about how to construct it.

“We took an important step forward yesterday - now we need to complete the work.”