Claremont Takes a Step Back on Academy Status

The Governing Body of Claremont High School has acted after contradictory statements from the headteacher over applying for academy status. Terry Malloy's statements to the press had ranged from the tentative to the gung-ho and resulted in an anti-academy demonstration outside the school. Reading between the lines it appears that there might have been a good old-fashioned row on the governing body.

A statement published in the Harrow Times said:

"The discussion was full and frank. At this point in time, the governing body has concluded that no expression of interest in pursuing academy status will be made and the school will continue to explore the specific and wider implications of academy status to be better informed."

As Brent Green Party spokesperson on Children, Families and Schools I welcome the governing body's statement which indicates that they have recognised their democratic responsibilities and the need to be accountable to the wider community. I hope that after due deliberation they will reject the academy option on the grounds that it would undermine central services provided by the local authority, take money from other schools, and remove democratic accountability.

Coalition Academies: The Battle Begins

The demonstration outside Claremont High School on Tuesday

There was a swift and determined response to Claremont High School headteacher's announcement that he wanted Claremont High School to apply for academy status, when demonstrators gathered outside the school yesterday. They gave out leaflets setting out the issues to the 1500 pupils to take home to their parents.

The protesters said that the headteacher, Terry Malloy,  had made the announcement before he had consulted the staff, parents or even the governors. They added that if the school does not consult parents and teachers further action will be taken.

Hank Roberts, Brent ATL and NUT Secretary said, “Democracy is non negotiable”. Shane Johnschwager, Brent NASUWT Secretary said, “The teachers and education unions are totally united on this. As soon as these headteachers attempt to undermine accepted democratic values we have to hit them hard and fast and we make no apology for it”.

The letter to parents included the following points:

• You as parents have not been fully consulted on this significant change.
• Your child's teachers have also not been fully and properly consulted.
• The headteacher has gone to the press before discussing this matter at a full meeting of the Governing Body
• Of the 8 oustanding schools in Brent onlt two have indicated they have any interest at all in even considering this proposal. The clear majority of Brent's oustanding schools value the role of the Local Authority and do not want academy status.
• Statutory provisions and professional services currently provided by the Local Authority, such as Special Educational Needs and School Improvement Services, would need to be provided by private firms and paid for by the school. This would come out of any additional funds.
• Any serious problems encountered by the school would leave them isolated and without council support.

1.

Academies Rule OK- Sarah Teather

On Sunday's blog I asked, "How long can (Sarah Teather) go along with undemocratic, cash grabbing academies and the 'shambles' of free schools?"

It didn't take long for her to respond!  In a written answer published yesterday,  as Minister of State for Children and Families, she said:

We will reform the school system so that children with special educational needs and disabilities get the best possible support. We will halt the unnecessary closure of special schools, improve diagnostic assessment for schoolchildren, and remove the bias towards inclusion. We have introduced legislation to make it possible, for the first time, for special schools to become academies. We are committed to offering special schools the additional freedoms that we are giving mainstream schools.

So it seems that she is going all the way with academies that she opposed back in 2007 and with 'free schools' that she dismissed as a 'shambles' during the General Election campaign. Added to that she appears to be suggesting that children with special needs and disabilities should not be integrated into mainstream schools.Umph!

GREEN GONE WRONG How the Economy is Undermining the Environmental Revolution

Heather Rogers is the author of the book with the above title published on June 14th 2010. An event to discuss the ideas in the book is being held on Wednesday 30th June at the ICA, Carlton House Terrace, SW1 5AH

£12 / £11 Concessions / £10 ICA Members

Heather Rogers and Kirsty Wright explore the rapid expansion of environmental production and consumption worldwide and the way in which we are coming to rely on consumerism as the solution to the very problems it has helped to cause. What are the structural forces that led us to this place, and who is paying the price? Do we have the capacity to find solutions that are not mere palliatives, but ways of engaging with how we live and what kind of world we want to live in? And who is challenging the big business-as-usual approach and proposing social change as a solution to climate change?

Kirsty Wright is the climate justice campaigner at the World Development Movement. She has been involved in the worldwide ‘Climate Justice Now!’ network and recently returned from the People’s Conference on Climate Change in Bolivia, which was organised as a radical response to the failure of the UN talks in Copenhagen.

To book, please call the box office on +44 (0)20 7930 3647, or online here:

In association with the World Development Movement

Claremont headteacher rises to the academy bait

Getting 10% more money (at the expense of other schools and centrally provided services) and more curriculum freedom (which the Green Party argue all schools should have), is the bait provided by the government to entice schools to become academies - and Terry Malloy, headteacher of Claremont High School in Kenton has swallowed it hook, line and sinker. He remarks, 'It enhances your income giving you more money to spend on pupils and that's a good thing.' As someone remarked this is a cash grab that will deprive other schools of income and ruin central services that provide support to all schools.

Malloy was speaking somewhat prematurely as the issue has not yet been discussed by Claremont's governing body. That was another government ploy: they wrote to headteachers rather than governing bodies with the 'academy offer' revealing their disregard for the democratic structures currently in place in schools. Headteachers are in charge of the day to day management of schools, governing bodies are responsible for their strategic direction. Changing status is clearly a strategic matter and governing body as community as well as school representatives should take account of the wider impact on other schools and the community.

Labour having so strongly backed the Trojan horse of academies under Blair and Brown are now backtracking, but lack credibility. Ed Balls, speaking to the Guardian, claims that Labour's academy programme was 'a progressive and comprehensive education policy' and 'What the Tories are proposing is a total perversion of that policy. It will be focused on the schools that are already doing well not those who need extra support. And for all the rhetoric about parent power and decentralisation it will remove the requirement to consult local parents or the local authority and will mean thousands of schools reporting directly to the secretary of state.'

In fact under Labour academy governing bodies appointed governors and the academy sponsor was guaranteed a built in majority. The role of local authorities was only latterly partially restored and academy agreements made subject to agreed admissions criteria. We in Brent know how little consultation there was with local parents and community over the Ark Academy and also remember the council survey (quoted recently by John Christie, Brent's Director of Children and Families against the Coalition policy)that showed the majority of Brent residents wanted schools to be run by the local authority - not by charities, private sponsors or faith groups.Labour had already prepared the ground which the Tories are now  enthusiastically occupying.

Sarah Teather Lib Dem, Brent Central, now Children's Minister, was strongly opposed to Labour's version of academies when she was shadow minister for education, but was demoted when the Lib Dem party leadership changed and their policy softened (just in time for Brent Lib Dems to change their line on the ARK Academy). Now in the Coalition she is having to support an even worse version of the Labour policy she so vigorously criticised. During the General Election campaign she described the Tory free school policy as a 'shambles, unless you give local authorities that power to plan and unless you actually make sure that there is money is available, it's just a gimmick'.

 "Trust in me"

Michael Gove, behind the polite, mild manner and silver tongue,(resembling Kaa in the Jungle Book) is a right-wing Conservative who is implementing potentially devastating, ill-thought out policies at reckless speed. He is Teather's boss - how long can she go along with undemocratic, cash grabbing academies and the 'shambles' of free schools?  The fig leaf of the Lib Dem's pupil premium, on the back burner anyway, will not make up for the cuts and privatising that will wreak havoc in local schools.

The rump regroups

According to a blog on UK Polling by ex-Brent Conservative councillor, later Democratic Conservative; and Independent parliamentary candidate, Atiq Malik, all Brent North Conservative Constituency officers have resigned. New elections will take place at an Extraordinary General Meeting on July 22nd 2010.

Despite a strong showing elsewhere the Conservatives did poorly in Brent North with Barry Gardiner increasing his majority for Labour. There was internal controversy about a very late candidate selection which left Harsh Patel, the Conservative candidate very little time to establish himself. This was coupled with the announcement by Bob Blackman, shortly before the poll that he was not going to stand as a councillor in Preston ward and that he would resign his leadership of the Conservative Group after the election. In the local elections the Tories were left with a rump of only 6 seats, all in the north of the borough, compared with 15 at the previous local elections.

Breathing New Life into an Old Church

Old St Andrew's Church in Kingsbury is probably the oldest building in Brent and our only Grade 1 listed building. Drama Workhouse, a local community group that used to be based at the Dudden Hill Community Centre in Willesden, are the new users of the building. They have secured Heritage Lottery Fund money to survey local residents on how the building can be developed. The vision is to bring the church back to life as a vibrant and dynamic Heritage and Cultural Centre connecting it with the wider community.  Drama Workhouse  want to ensure that activities cater for people of all ages and backgrounds. The survey can be found HERE.
The deadline is July 2nd 2010

No Tube Services Please - We're Brentonians

The lack of tube services for Brentonians yet again this weekend caused local activist Dan to seek an explanation... 

At last, I've got it: it's part of a Transport for London / Brent Council / Boris Johnson initiative to get people off the tubes and onto their bikes to make the most of the glorious summer weather, and inhale more of that lovely EU limit-busting fine particulate matter that causes exacerbation of respiratory conditions, heart disease and premature death, thus keeping the NHS and funeral directors gainfully employed.