Wembley Stadium area road closures on Sunday for 'Color Run'

The 5k Color Run is being held around Wembley on Sunday 7 June.

There will be some road closures in the area between 12pm to 8pm.

Engineers Way – Closed from Civic Centre to First Way
South Way – Closed from Ibis Hotel to its junction with Great Central Way/Fourth Way
Second Way
Third Way – Second Way to Fifth Way
Fifth Way
Fourth Way – Fifth Way to Great Central Way
Great Central Way – South Way to Hannah Close
Hannah Close
Atlas Road
First Way

For more information go to http://www.thecolorrun.co.uk/London
Route map: http://www.thecolorrun.co.uk/London#map

Wembly Central petition Brent Council for more action on rubbish and flytipping

The Green Party and Brent Fightback long ago forecast dirty streets LINK  as a result of cuts to street cleaning and other services and the decision to make the contractor Veolia responsible for monitoring its own performance.  More recently I have also had comments regarding the maintenance of parks which is also part of Veolia's empire.  As a result of the Veolia taking over Brent's Public Realm the Environment Department of the Council has been severely cut LINK.

Wembley Central residents have now launched a public online petition to Brent Council and Muhammed Butt calling for action LINK

The petition reads:
 

--> We the undersigned petition Brent Council to resolve the issue of unacceptable amounts of rubbish being dumped on our streets.  The dumped rubbish is anti-social, it causes potential health hazards by attracting rats and other vermin to our streets and it affects the well-being of responsible residents, whilst making the area unwelcoming to visitors.

We call on Brent Council to implement the following 6 point plan to clean up Wembley Central:

1.      We call on Brent Council to put in place measures which prevent rubbish being dumped on our streets and to fully publicise what these measures are.

2.      We call on Brent Council to strongly enforce existing laws and regulations against those who litter, those who dump rubbish/fly-tip and those who do not manage their waste properly on private land.

3.      We call on Brent Council to raise awareness of this problem, stressing that it will no longer be tolerated, through an education program including posters and leafleting, whilst engaging with local landlords, businesses, schools, colleges and places of worship.

4.      We call on Brent Council to respond to genuine complaints from residents in a timely and respectful manner.

5.      We call on Brent Council to pro-actively combat the effects of recent multi-occupancy housing on the existing local community.  Each landlord licence would generate £400 per property.  This income must be invested to regulate and enforce regulations.

6.      We call on Brent Council to issue financial penalties against Veolia where the service fails to meet the required standard.

For too long the Council have ignored our complaints about rubbish in our area and they need to take immediate and long term action to solve this problem.

On the petition sight Cllr Sam Stopp (Labour, Brent Central) writes:

The cleanliness of our streets is the measure of our community spirit.

To rebuild community spirit, we must first remove the blight of dumping from our streets.

Lycee International de Londres Winston Churchill produces record 14,000 page views on Wembley Matters

Unique page views on Wembley Matters topped 11,000 yesterday mostly reflecting interest in the story on the 1,000 pupil French School in London opening in Wembley at the former Brent Town Hall.  LINK Hits are normally between 1,500-2,000 a day. More than 14,000 have read the article.

What this means in terms of applications for places at the school remains to be seen.

GLA Labour backs Green call for public debate on Proportional Representation

Brent Central Labour nominate 'safe' candidates for London Mayor

Brent Central Constituency Labour Party has nominated Sadiq Khan and Diane Abbott as Labour candidates for the London Mayoral elections. There has to be both a male and female nomination.

The nomination of Sadiq Khan is no surprise as senior Labour councillors have been tweeting in his support for some time and he was active in Brent during the General Election campaign.

However his nomination has not been universally welcome. Cllr Sam Stopp, who was recently elected to Brent Scrutiny Committee, supported  David Lammy denouncing the current front runners as 'safe choices' and 'establishment' candidates.

He argues that Lammy has a wider reach outside the Labour camp.

Stopp said on Twitter that he suspects that there has been an element of 'machine politics' in Labour's Mayoral selection process and refers to a recent Comment is Free article by Rafael Behr LINK

Behr wrote about the leadership election where MPs have publicly endorsed candidates but it could be equally true of the Mayoral campaign where senior Labour councillors endorse candidates:

  Meanwhile the system by which Labour MPs publicly nominate candidates for the leadership and deputy leadership militates in favour of the status quo. Endorsements are traded for preferment in future shadow cabinet appointments or favour in elections to select committees. Hope of ascent up the parliamentary pecking order – or fear of a punitive pecking by a rival faction – often comes before appraisal of the arguments.

Of course this isn't limited to Labour and although the Greens have few preferments to offer it is something to be aware of in our selection process for London Mayor and GLA.

Meanwhile David Lammy appears to have got into a bit of a spat with Rev Paul Nicholson, a leading poverty campaigner. LINK

It will be interesting to see who is nominated by Hampstead & Kilburn and Brent North CLPs.

Greens condemn Government's contempt for democracy and accountability in education

Samantha Pancheri, Green Party Schools spokesperson has challenged the thinking behind the Government's Education and Adoption Bill whioch was published today.

She said:

It should not come as a surprise that the Conservatives have stepped up their backdoor privatisation of schools by announcing a new Bill that would see schools deemed as ‘failing’ forced into converting to academies.

Once again, the wishes of school staff, pupils, and parents are being robustly ignored by Nicky Morgan, in spite of multiple high profile campaigns against forced academisation, and a profound lack of evidence that conversion to academy status actually improves educational outcomes.

Alarmingly, the bill also includes a measure to scrap the requirement for academy sponsors to consult with school communities, demonstrating nothing short of contempt for democracy and local accountability, while the government dismisses anti-academy campaigns as hindrances.

There is simply no place for business interests in our schools. Education must be protected from being encroached upon by profit motives, and to have schools sponsored by the likes of BAE Systems is a disgrace.

If the Conservatives truly wish to improve educational outcomes for children and young people, they must move away from the rigid and impractical categorisation of schools by Ofsted, and instead look holistically at the environment and opportunities provided in schools. Teachers and unions have highlighted the impact of high workload and stress on their ability to meet pupils’ needs, and also that excessive testing of pupils is damaging their learning experience.

There are many positive improvements that could be made to the school system by reducing teachers’ workload, scaling back overregulation, scrapping unnecessary standardised testing and, above all, investing in schools to enable them to provide the staff and resources that pupils need and deserve in order to realise their potential.

This proposed bill will achieve nothing in that respect, and is nothing more than another step in introducing marketisation, and removing local democratic accountability from our schools.

Brent's Muhammed Butt to be London Councils Equalities Lead despite racial discrimination finding

Despite the Employment Tribunal finding that Brent Council racially discriminated against an employee, victimised her and construcitvely dismissed her, Cllr Muhammed Butt, leader of Brent Council was appointed Equalities Lead by London Councils at their AGM yesterday.

No action has been taken against the CMT members named in the Employment Tribunal case.

Wembley's Lycee International de Londres Winston Churchill on target for September opening

Lycee International de Londres Winston Churchill today

This week the hoardings around the Lycee International de Londres Winston Churchill have been taken down and locals are able to see the result of the work that has been going on.  Workmen tell me that the internal work is largely completed and work on the grounds is taking place as well as installation of iron railings on the existing perimeter wall.

The building includes the refurbished Brent Town Hall (before the merger of Wembley and Willesden, Wembley Town Hall) and a new block for primary pupils. The school's website shows the completed site, complete with running track where the Council car park used to be.

One can't but notice that the building looks far more substantial than many recent new school builds in the borough.

The school is due to open on September 3rd 2015 for Years 1 to 11 with Years 12 and 13 starting in subsequent academic years.

The school will offer a bilingual education with 'an Anglo Saxon' ethos and will be fee paying:

2015- 2016 school fees will be as follows:

• Maternelle: £10,470 / year
• Elementaire: £9,770 / year
• Collège: £9,770 / year
• Lycée: £10,470 / year 

These fees include lunch, insurance and, from Primary onwards, an appropriate tablet device.

Please note that:
There is a non-refundable £90 pre-registration fee per pupil.

If you are offered a place, you will receive an email explaining in detail the acceptance procedure and the Terms and Conditions. A first registration fee of £1,200 per pupil, as well as an advance payment of £1,000 on the first term fees, must be paid to secure the place. These fees are non-refundable.

The school has published a welcoming letter to parents on its website:

Dear families,

It is my pleasure and privilege to welcome you to the Lycée International de Londres. Our school aims to create a nurturing and vibrant environment where students and adults thrive sharing the joys of teaching and learning alike. The Lycée provides an international education based on the French National Curriculum leading to the French Baccalaureate.

Rooted in the tradition of French educational excellence, and aiming to offer the most modern pedagogical approaches, our ethos reflects our commitment to foster the development of the whole child along with collective achievement through mutual respect and dedication.

Our campus encompasses newly refurbished and purpose ­built buildings surrounded by large outdoor leisure and sports facilities on five acres of land. These beautiful surroundings and brand new teaching spaces will offer the school’s 1,100 pupils a wonderful campus ­style environment. The Lycée also houses a large gymnasium, a bright and spacious library, state­-of-­the­-art science labs, a music room and a drama studio: we want to offer the best a modern school can offer today.

We hope you and your children will join our community, share our values and adhere to our ethos. We look forward to welcoming our first classes Autumn 2015.

It is a great honour for me to be entrusted with the mission to build and lead, with your support, such a vibrant community of learners. Rest assured that I will do everything in my power to gain your trust, act with your support and provide the energy and inspiration to succeed in our endeavour.

Best wishes,
Mireille Rabaté
Head of school

The website includes a video extolling the virtues of blingualism/multilingualism:



 The school's website is available in both French and English HERE