Wembley & Alperton Residents' Meeting Monday March 19th 7pm

This is the rearranged date for the meeting that was cancelled due to the 'Beast from the East'. Better luck this time!

Brent gives a little funding to family play project

Press release from Brent Council. (Given the closure of the Stonebridge Adventure Playground and all but one of Brent's youth centres,  as well as Brent's child obesity problem, this funding seems rather stingy.)

Place2Play, an inspirational project which hopes to transform underutilised parks as venues for inclusive and family play challenges, has received £1500 funding from Brent Council.

The pledge follows Brent's partnership with Spacehive, the UK's crowdfunding platform for projects that improve local places, to support local groups to get their great community project ideas funded.

Spacehive's project, Place2Play, will help local families get fitter and they will also have the chance to learn new lifelong skills together through access to qualifications.

Brent's pledge comes at a critical time for the campaign with only 19 days left for Place2Play to raise the remaining £7821 of their £22,361 target.

Cllr Krupesh Hirani, Cabinet Member for Community Wellbeing said: "I am thrilled to be supporting the Place2Play project which will create exciting opportunities for families to be active and enjoy physical activity together while learning new skills. I'm calling on everyone in Brent to help us make this project a success and make our parks even better."

London Sports Trust, the group running the Place2Play crowdfunding campaign have run an incredible campaign, attracting over 110 pledges from local individuals and organisations.

Ulick Tarabanov, CEO of London Sports Trust, said: ""London Sports Trust is delighted that Brent Council have pledged £1500 towards our new family play programme Place2Play. We are looking forward to using local parks and open spaces across Brent for inclusive and fun family play challenges bringing families together outside teaching healthy lifelong skills. If we can teach a parent or carer to play with their children then we will change a lifetime of behaviour."

If the campaign is successful, Place2Play activities will take place in the following parks in Brent: Roundwood Park, Gibbons Rec, King Edward VII Park.

For more information, visit www.spacehive.com/place2play

Diabetes Awareness Preston Hub Friday 16th March

Shefffield Trees and Labour: 'They just don't get it'

 

Lobbying Labour

Guest blog by Alan Story

When you in a very bad relationship or in a marriage that cannot be saved, the first thing you need to do is to admit to yourself: “you know what, I've made a horrible mistake.”

But nearly six years after Labour-control Sheffield City Council (SCC) signed a disastrous £2.2 billion PFI contract and on a day when the Sheffield trees crisis featured in the New York Times no less, the local Labour Party has again pulled down the shutters and refused to address the havoc that SCC’s relationship with Amey plc is causing to our now-privatised streets and privatised street trees.

The occasion was the monthly meeting Tuesday night (13 March) of the Sheffield District Labour Party (DLP) meeting. Outside, 35 picketers/ tree campaigners had come together for what was likely the largest picket ever held in front of a Sheffield Labour Party meeting.

But as delegates inside discussed the draft election manifesto it will use for the 3 May election, it was clear that most of those in attendance at the local party's highest decision-making body still did not grasp the basics of what was going wrong on the streets of Sheffield. (Those in attendance included Council Leader Julie Dore who came late and, sadly, after most of the 35 picketers had dispersed.)

Yes, there was concern raised about the contracting out of public sector jobs as a result of the work being done under the profit-making auspices of Amey plc. And yes, that is ONE problem with this PFI deal and, indeed, all PFI deals.


But what delegates failed to understand is that it is the very nature of THE WORK being undertaken which is the main problem. In other words, the planned felling of 17,500 street trees is NOT the same thing as the contracting out of NHS jobs to a US-owned healthcare corporation. Or transforming state schools into profit-driven academies.

This is what a significant number of LP members just do not get.

On one level, to bring contracted out jobs "in house" has, since the September 2017 national Labour Party convention, become National Labour Party policy. It is becoming harder and harder for the SCC to operate a PFI deal that is in direct contravention to the national policy of its own party.

But by focusing almost exclusively on the contracting out jobs issue, the local Labour Party last night again missed the big picture, they didn’t see the forests for the trees ….if you will.

As several observers at last night's meeting confirmed, most DLP delegates failed to address a wide range of issues, such as:

1) Why 17,500 mostly healthy trees were ever planned for the chop back in 2012. (It took a recent successful FOI request by Paul Selby to uncover that SCC has being duplicitous to Sheffield residents about planned tree felling number since the 25-year-long contract was first signed.) More than 5500 mostly healthy trees have already come down.

2) The value of trees for the slowing climate change. SCC cabinet minister Jack Scott, who also attended last night's session, denies they have any value.

3) Why SCC is acting with such contempt for local democratic functioning when it ignores the advice of tree experts and the wishes of local residents and simply carries on willy-nilly with its ruthless chainsaw war.

4) Why squads of South Yorkshire Police have been mobilised across the city and are at the beck-and-call of SCC, who are in a serious political fix, and Amey, who are only interested in their bottom line. (It is hardly surprising that tree campaigners now call SYP “Amey’s police.")

5) Why SCC has applied for civic injunctions to stop peaceful protest and has forced tree campaigners to raise tens of thousands of pounds to defend themselves against the actions of this profoundly authoritarian local council. (Pardon the plug: in the current campaign, 440 supporters have raised more than £11,500 in less than five days: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/stump-up-sheffield)

6) In fact, you don’t even get the sense that some of these so-called LP “lefties” really grasp what privatisation means. For example, how can it be a step toward socialism when a public agency like SYP (directed by a Labour Party Police Commissioner) protects a Spanish-owned multinational corporation (operating under a PFI deal negotiated by the free market LibDems) as it pillages a street of much-loved cherry trees on Abbeydale Park Rise (that are lit with lights every Christmas to raise funds for a hospice)?

7) The value of street trees as things of beauty, as a home for birds, and as promoters of mental health (If I hear one more Labour Party flunky tell me that working-class people "hate trees" I will scream.)

8) Why it is just so wrong to call in (or threaten to call in) social services against the parents of youthful tree campaigners, one of whom rode over on his bicycle and was with us last night.

9) Why there was a leak to the media of the preposterous tale that a 59-year-old architect served poisoned tea to three street tree fellers on her own street. Hold The Star’s front page: next thing you know they'll be telling us that Calvin Payne's backpack is stocked up with nerve gas.

The list could on and on.

What local Labour does not get is what a newspaper headline said back in October: “Look to Sheffield: this is how state and corporate power subverts democracy.”

Wembley Futures: Comedy Night at Ark Elvin April 7th

This is a 'not for profit' event for Wembley Futures

Vacancies and waiting lists in Brent secondary schools

An FoI request has revealed secondary school vacancies in Ark Elvin Academy, Newman Catholic College and Convent of Jesus and Mary Language College. Crest Academy and Ark Elvin are more popular than in previous years and the controversial Michaela Academy Free School has a large waiting list. No secondary child is without a school place although the waiting lists show that many would like to transfer to other schools. All Brent secondary schools are now academies or religious schools, none are under the control of the local authority.

The figures are for the January 2018  'in year' census and will have changed to some extent since then. There are plans for a new secondary school in North Brent as the previous primary bulge pupils move into the secondary phase.

 

School Name	Round	Vacancies (unfilled places)	Waiting List
Alperton Community School	2017-18 Y07 In Year	0	3
	2017-18 Y08 In Year	0	6
	2017-18 Y09 In Year	0	2
	2017-18 Y10 In Year	0	2
	2017-18 Y11 In Year	0	0
Ark Academy	2017-18 Y07 In Year	0	4
	2017-18 Y08 In Year	0	1
	2017-18 Y09 In Year	0	1
	2017-18 Y10 In Year	0	0
	2017-18 Y11 In Year	0	1
Ark Elvin Academy	2017-18 Y07 In Year	9	0
	2017-18 Y08 In Year	32	0
	2017-18 Y09 In Year	52	1
	2017-18 Y10 In Year	25	1
	2017-18 Y11 In Year	16	0
Capital City Academy	2017-18 Y07 In Year	0	2
	2017-18 Y08 In Year	0	19
	2017-18 Y09 In Year	0	21
	2017-18 Y10 In Year	1	10
	2017-18 Y11 In Year	0	17
Claremont High School	2017-18 Y07 In Year	0	24
	2017-18 Y08 In Year	1	33
	2017-18 Y09 In Year	0	30
	2017-18 Y10 In Year	0	20
	2017-18 Y11 In Year	5	11
Convent of Jesus and Mary Language College	2017-18 Y07 In Year	22	0
	2017-18 Y08 In Year	10	1
	2017-18 Y09 In Year	11	0
	2017-18 Y10 In Year	3	0
	2017-18 Y11 In Year	9	0
JFS	2017-18 Y07 In Year	6	0
	2017-18 Y08 In Year	0	0
	2017-18 Y09 In Year	0	0
	2017-18 Y10 In Year	11	0
	2017-18 Y11 In Year	14	0
Kingsbury High School	2017-18 Y07 In Year	0	27
	2017-18 Y08 In Year	0	32
	2017-18 Y09 In Year	1	30
	2017-18 Y10 In Year	1	20
	2017-18 Y11 In Year	6	18
Michaela Community School	2017-18 Y07 In Year	0	47
	2017-18 Y08 In Year	0	48
	2017-18 Y09 In Year	0	29
	2017-18 Y10 In Year	2	19
Newman Catholic College	2017-18 Y07 In Year	46	0
	2017-18 Y08 In Year	12	1
	2017-18 Y09 In Year	7	4
	2017-18 Y10 In Year	26	5
	2017-18 Y11 In Year	0	1
Preston Manor School	2017-18 Y07 In Year	0	19
	2017-18 Y08 In Year	1	10
	2017-18 Y09 In Year	2	5
	2017-18 Y10 In Year	0	2
	2017-18 Y11 In Year	2	4
Queens Park Community School	2017-18 Y07 In Year	0	17
	2017-18 Y08 In Year	0	26
	2017-18 Y09 In Year	0	16
	2017-18 Y10 In Year	0	17
	2017-18 Y11 In Year	0	16
St Gregorys Catholic Science College	2017-18 Y07 In Year	0	9
	2017-18 Y08 In Year	0	17
	2017-18 Y09 In Year	2	14
	2017-18 Y10 In Year	0	9
	2017-18 Y11 In Year	0	7
The Crest Academy	2017-18 Y07 In Year	0	10
	2017-18 Y08 In Year	0	20
	2017-18 Y09 In Year	32	25
	2017-18 Y10 In Year	15	17
	2017-18 Y11 In Year	6	15
Wembley High Technology College	2017-18 Y07 In Year	0	6
	2017-18 Y08 In Year	0	5
	2017-18 Y09 In Year	0	1
	2017-18 Y10 In Year	0	1
	2017-18 Y11 In Year	0	0

Figures reveal decline in demand for Reception school places in Brent

An FoI request regarding school rolls in Brent following the January 'in Year' census has revealed a considerable number of unfilled Reception class places in the borough as well as unfilled places scattered across the primary school years.  Some of the vacancies are at schools that were expanded as a result of the high primary demand of recent years. Demographic factors such as EU citizens going home post-Brexit and families being housed outside of London as a result of the Benefit Cap may have affected the numbers.

In the late 70s primary schools suffered from what was called 'falling rolls' as the population of children reduced.  This resulted in the closure of some schools and amalgamation of others. In what was then the Inner London Education Authority teachers were compulsorily redeployed to schools needing teachers.

We are not at that point yet but some schools might eventually reduce their forms of entry - the number of classes they take in at Reception and then in each year group throughout the school. Each form of entry is 30 pupils, so when interpreting the figures for the number of vacancies in each school the number of forms of entry needs to be taken into account. 10 vacancies in a five form entry school is much less serious that 10 vacancies in a one form entry school.

School funding is for the most part based on the number of pupils, so schools suffering from a large number of vacancies will incur a financial loss. Budgeting becomes more difficult when the reduction in numbers is less than a whole class, so the school cannot reduce the number of teachers but has less money to spend on them and teaching assistants.  I understand that some schools which have expanded may have negotiated a 'cushion; with the local authority so they are funded for a full teacher's salary even if the class has vacancies. Unfilled vacancies reduce the number of pupil in each class in a cohort so there is some educational advantage but at a time of education cuts these are undermined by the financial impact.

The core funding per primary pupil (before sums for deprivation, EAL and other factors are added) is about £3,400.

In the table below, based on the FoI response LINK,  I have included vacancies throughout the school as well as Reception vacancies. I have listed only those schools with significant vacancies. St Mary's RC Primary at only 2 forms of entry is the one with one of the highest percentage vacancies.

Kilburn Grange Free School is not funded by the local authority but instead directly funded by the DfE. As a new school it only has children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2. It has only filled the equivalent of 4 out of 6 classes.

The figures do raise the issue of whether the planned Ark Primary free school on the carpark of York House in Wembley is needed at its planned 3 forms of entry (90 children a year) when the recently expanded Elsley Primary School (it doubled in size) has 48 vacancies, although it will be argued the places are needed for the new Quintain developments.

School Name	Forms of entry	Vacancies (unfilled places Reception)	Waiting List	Total vacancies whole school
Brentfield	3	20	0	44
Bryon Court	5	44	0	69
Carlton Vale Infants	2	22	0	66
Christchurch CofE	1	8	0	21
East Lane Primary	3	0	0	156
Elsley Primary School	4	48	0	71
Harlesden Primary School	3	38	0	112
Kilburn Grange Free School	2	13	0	62
Lyon Park Primary	4	8	2	20
Newfield Primary	2	17	1	48
Preston Park Primary	3	12	1	45
Roe Green Strathcona School	1	23	1	75
St Andrew & St Francis CofE	2	9	0	18
St Mary's CofE Primary	2	7	1	48
St Mary's RC Primary School	2	25	0	150
The Stonebridge Primary	3	57	0	85
Uxendon Primary School	3	16	2	53
Total vacancies		367		1143

“The Beggars Roost” plaque comes home to Kingsbury

Guest post by Philip Grant, local historian

Thirteen months ago I posed the question ‘Where was “The Beggars Roost”?’ in a local history guest blog LINK. I was writing about a photograph I had been sent by a lady in Nashville, Tennessee, of a hand-painted coat of arms she had bought in a charity shop there. It appeared to have been created for Wembley’s A.R.P. (Air Raid Precaution) Warden Post 12 during the Second World War.

I still don’t know exactly where Post 12 was located, or why it was named “The Beggars Roost”, but further research has suggested that it was probably somewhere in the Roe Green area of Kingsbury (though not in Roe Green Village itself, whose wardens had Post 11). However, last summer an amazing piece of generosity happened – Cheryl, who had bought the plaque for her own home, decided that its proper place was back in Wembley, so that people here could see and enjoy the coat of arms in its historical context. 

Cheryl donated the plaque to Brent Museum, and it now forms the centrepiece of a small exhibition which has just opened at Kingsbury Library:

A.R.P. – Wembley’s Air Raid Wardens in the Second World War.

For the past few months I have been working with Alison, a Brent Museum volunteer, and Museum staff, to put this exhibition together. It includes objects and pictures from the Brent collections, and some loaned by fellow Wembley History Society members, and tells the story of Wembley’s A.R.P. Service (wardens, first aid and rescue teams) from 1938 to 1945.

It is a story of thousands of local men and women who gave their time, and in some cases their lives, to help protect their neighbours from German bombing raids. 

This was a very difficult period in our history, and one that those of us born after 1945, including young people to whom it is just something that happened long ago, could benefit from understanding better. Residents whose families have come to our area in recent decades, sometimes from countries which themselves have suffered war, could also see that people here have had that experience too. One of the air raids that the A.R.P. Service had to deal with, and which is pictured in the exhibition, happened within sight of Kingsbury Library.

The exhibition will be on display every day, during library opening hours, until around the end of May 2018. I will be giving a “coffee morning” talk, linked with the exhibition, at Kingsbury Library (522-524 Kingsbury Road, London NW9) on Tuesday 24 April, 11am to 12noon.

I hope that you will take the opportunity to visit Kingsbury Library, to enjoy one or both events. This is the official Brent poster for them:

-->

For anyone who would like to know more about this subject, but won't be able to attend Philip's talk on 24 April, there is an online local history article available on the Brent Archives website LINK