How the Hands Off Hove Park campaign successfully opposed academisation

Natasha Steel of the Hands Off Hove Park campaign told the Anti Academies Alliance yesterday how a group of parents, teachers and community activists successfully opposed the academy conversion of their school.

Brent Council to expand & merge schools & seek free school partners to tackle places crisis

The Brent Cabinet will tomorrow consider the School Place Planning Strategy 2014-18. It includes the above actions and the following schemes:

Expansion of the following schools in 2015 at a cost of £19.5m:

• Byron Court Primary to increase by two forms of entry (2 additional classes in each age group)
• Leopold Primary school to increase by two forms of entry on the site of the Gwenneth Rickus Building in Brentfield Road (2 additional classes in each age group)
• Oakington Manor Primary to increase by one form of entry (one additional class in each age group)

Amalgamations of the following separate infant and junior schools into all-through primary schools. It should be noted that the second two  involve expansion as well as amalgamation and in the Kilburn case a new building. This is a significant challenge to headteachers in terms of disruption.:

• Lyon Park Infants and Juniors (currently operating under one  headteacher)
• Carlton Vale Infants and Kilburn Park Juniors (subject to agreement on a suitable shared site for an expanded school in the South Kilburn regeneration area)
• Malorees Infants and Malorees Junior  (subject to agreement by the governing bodies of both schools to amalgamation and expansion)

 The Cabinet will also consider the use of a former school site in The Avenue, Brondesbury for educational use. The site is currently owned by a developer. The site could potentially be used for SEN provision.

The report notes that proposed free schools in the borough will potentially provided a total of 10 forms of entry for primary pupils and 9.3 for secondary pupils in the 2014-18 period.

The report notes:

....to be funded directly by the Education Funding Agency (EVA) at no cost to the council. There is a risk to the council that if all of these places are not provided via this route that the council will need to provide places  and fund the associated expenditure.

This September both Gateway and Gladstone secondary free schools failed to open despite recruiting pupils.

The council's policy to seek free school partners (Action 5 above) will be controversial in the light of problems associated with free schools not opening on time, having fewer pupils than designated so provided at considerable expense, and often without the backers having a proven track.

The report can be found HERE and the full Strategy HERE

Natalie Bennett explains Green Party policy on education

Natalie Bennett, leader of the Green party, spoke yesterday at a meeting of the Anti Academies Alliance on Green Party policy. My apologies for the jerkiness of the video at the beginning.

Natalie Bennett to debate Green Party Education Policy ahead of the General Election

Natalie Bennett will be speaking on Saturday at a meeting on 'Education and the election - a discussion meeting about education policy' ahead of the General Election.

Cllr Peter Downes will be speaking on behalf of the Liberal Democrats and Cllr Emine Ibrahim for Labour.

Natasha Steel will be speaking from the Hove Park Campaign which successfully defeated academisation plans.

Education and the Election – which way forward for education?
Saturday 11th October 2-4 pm
Open Meeting ALL Welcome
Senate House, Malet St, London WC1E 7HU

Organised by the Anti Academies Alliance

Green Party Education Policy LINK

Pavey Review won't address the real issues at Brent Council

On Tuesday Brent Council issued a statement expanding on the Pavey Review of Human Resources at Brent Council following the Employment Tribunal.  I reproduce it below for your information.

I am afraid that the review completely fails to recognise and address the seriousness of the allegations about the conduct of HR in Brent Council and the evidence in the Employment Tribunal papers. It does not encompass the wider problem of apparent collusion by senior council officers in that conduct.

The Pavey Review is unsatisfactory because:

1. It will be conducted while staff remain in fear of victimisation and bullying and their eventual loss of job as a result of revealing what is going on inside the Council. At the very least the senior staff concerned should be suspended (a neutral act) while the review takes place. The emails and phone calls I have had from Brent staff as a result of Wembley Matters' coverage of the issue leave me in no doubt that current staff will need a lot of persuading to speak openly. There is also the question of staff who have left and the gagging clauses imposed by HR as well as HR's ban on staff (on pain of dismissal) speaking to elected councillors about employment issues.

2. Michael Pavey is very close to Muhammed Butt, leader of the Council.  Cllr Butt has been alleged to be the 'prisoner' of members of the Corporate Management Team as a result of the machinations that took place over the sacking and replacement of previous Chief Executive Gareth Daniel.  Pavey has said he sees his role in the Council as backing Muhammed Butt's leadership and has excelled at this since his appointment in the role. It is doubtful whether he will produce any findings that are critical of Butt's leadership.

3. Michael Pavey as well as being Deputy Leader is lead member responsible for  Council as Employer, Legal Service, Complaints and Equalities. At least three of those areas of which he is in charge are those that have failed to some extent according to the Employment Tribunal and its accompanying evidence.  In effect Pavey will be investigating the effectiveness of his own oversight of these departments.

4. The last sentence of the Council statement appears to preempt the outcome of the investigation by assuming that the result will be in the form of 'individual action plans'. If the problem is systemic then there has to be action at that level.

In the light of the above the appointment of an independent investigator, acceptable to both sides, is still the only viable option if the aim is to get to the root of the problem.

BRENT COUNCIL STATEMENT

A review of Brent Council's HR and equalities practice and procedures is set to be spearheaded by Councillor Michael Pavey, Deputy Leader of the Council, in light of the recent employment tribunal.
The review aims to identify where improvements can be made and ensure that appropriate action plans are developed and delivered. The review will include a comprehensive survey of all HR and equalities policies and procedures and will ensure that a diverse range of views and perspectives are considered.

Advice from external experts will be sought and the review will look to learn from best practice at other local authorities.

Councillor Pavey says: “The diverse nature of Brent Council’s workforce is one of our core strengths and, importantly, is reflective of the diversity of local people. Therefore, it is vital that we shine a light on our existing policies and procedures to ensure that we constantly strive for best practice to support people of all backgrounds to achieve their full potential.

“I am committed to leading a full and detailed review to determine where improvements can be made. I will be working closely with colleagues inside the council and external experts to achieve this and will ensure there is involvement from members of the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities throughout the process.”

The first draft of the report is scheduled for December 2014, with a commitment to the delivery and implementation of individual action plans in January 2015.

Cllr Muhammed Butt gets a 2 year term taking him through to 2016

How does Brent Council resemble a pint of Guinness?

Despite a long and sometimes heated discussion nothing much seems to have emerged from the Labour Group discussion on Monday evening.

A compromise was reached on  the issue of annual elections to the leadership and cabinet. Muhammed Butt wanted elections every 4 years and others wanted to keep automatic annual elections.

It was agreed that leader and cabinet would be elected every two years and other posts would remain annual with an automatic trigger.

That makes Cllr Butt and his Cabiner safe until 2016

Protest Against MIPIM: Housing for People Not For Profit

Andy Donald, Brent's Director of Regeneration and Major projects, has been a delegate to MIPIM at its Cannes meetings where he shared his thinking about development and regeneration - we can see the results of that thinking in Brent today. LINK

This year MIPIM  is coming to London.

The description under this videa reads:

The world’s largest property fair, known as MIPIM, is coming to London for the first time in its 25-year history. Hundreds of property developers, financiers and politicians will be welcomed by the Mayor of London when they converge on Olympia to do deals that allow them to profit from our land and our neighbourhoods.

This is creating unaffordable, insecure housing and contributing to the corporate takeover of our community space and public services. It means big profits for the richest 1% whilst destroying our communities and keeping millions in poverty.

We don't need more luxury housing, office blocks and shopping centres. We don't want our neighbourhoods to be gentrified and entire communities evicted. We want quality genuinely affordable housing and public services for all.

Join affected communities, the Radical Housing Network, the European Action Coalition for the
Right to Housing and the City, trade unions, tenants groups and many others to say ‘Our communities are not for sale!’

London Mayor Boris Johnson will be giving an opening address welcoming the property developers and financiers who have come to profit from our communities.

Green Party Assembly Member for London, Darren Johnson, will be attending the demonstration at 9am.

#BlockBoris

Wednesday 15 October, 9am

Meet outside Kensington Olympia tube, Olympia Way, W14 0NE

‘And the Brent Staff Achievement Award 2014 goes to ….ROSEMARIE CLARKE!’

-->

Leader of Council, CEO and Head of HR  celebrate popular public verdict.     

 Guest Blog by  ‘E.Tribunal’

Nice idea? Here’s how to achieve it. Every year London Borough of Brent asks for nominations from the public for staff members who have ‘gone the extra mile’ and deserve recognition for outstanding achievement. The nomination form is here  http://brent.gov.uk/your-council/staff-awards-2014/nomination-form/

I’ve just filled one in as follows:  

NAME:   ROSEMARIE CLARK       

DEPT:  HR        ADDRESS EMPLOYEE IS BASED AT:  CIVIC CENTRE                                                                    

REASONS FOR NOMINATION:  ROSEMARIE HAS BEEN AN EXAMPLE TO HER COLLEAGUES AND TO THE PEOPLE OF BRENT IN HER BRAVE FIGHT TO ACHIEVE JUSTICE IN THE FACE OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION , VICTIMISATION AND WORKPLACE BULLYING (I don’t have copyright on any of these words so please help yourself). 

I then filled in my name, address and email address. Given the climate of intimidation which exists, some people may find that part problematic. However, everyone has friends and relations who will have heard of Rosemarie’s experiences (or will be happy to learn of them now) and that knowledge will qualify them to vote and will validate their votes in turn.    WM readers will need no reminding that knowledge is power and modern technology presents us with infinite ways of both spreading the knowledge of Brent employees’ achievements and, at the same time, spreading the means by which people can vote on that knowledge.

 One other point: some may wonder whether Rosemarie Clarke, who is actually no longer a Brent employee,  qualifies for nomination; it would hardly reflect well on Brent Council, though, if this were to be raised as an objection given that the recent Watford Employment Tribunal’s verdict made clear that the responsibility for Rosemarie’s constructive dismissal was entirely that of Cara Davani, Christine Gilbert  and the rest of their friends on Brent Council, precisely the people who will most loudly be celebrating the presentation of these awards. Attempting to block nominations would only draw more attention to the Employment Tribunal’s findings.  Spread the word!

CLOSING DATE FOR NOMINATIONS IS  OCTOBER 17: DON’T DELAY, VOTE TODAY