Greens back independent grassroots candidate for Willesden Green

Several members of Brent Green Party attended the Make Willesden Green campaign's policy discussion on Saturday as observers. The participants were local activists and residents, mostly non-party but with some disillusioned Labour supporters, who were concerned about their lack of say in local issues, poor consultation, the loss of some key local amenities, and the feeling that Willesden Green was being changed into a featureless dormitory which would squeeze out poorer people.  The Council was seen as remote and unresponsive.

The meeting was highly positive and very participative and people left determined to exercise some People Power at the local elections in May 2014.

Alex Colas is standing as an independent grassroots candidate in Willesden Green ward. He has worked alongside Green Paty members in several campaigns including the Keep Willesden Green campaign over the redevelopment of the Willesden Green Library and the loss of the Willesden Bookshop and the open space, as well as the continuing campaign against the forced academisation of Gladstone Park Primary School which serves many children from Willesden Green,

Alex wrote a Guest Article in the last edition of Brent Green Party's Willesden Green News.

At the beginning of the well-attended  meeting Alex explained the relationship between MWG and the Greens. MWG is standing on an independent platform and is not a political party and welcomes support from supporters of all parties and none. The 'Green' in Make Willesden Green stands for the place and not the party.

However, the Brent Green Party believe that an independent grassroots councillor for Willesden Green would enhance local democracy and has issued the  following statement:

Brent Green Party welcomes the candidature of Alex Colas who is standing as an independent on the Make Willesden Green platform in Willesden Green ward in the local elections.

We believe that the election of Alex Colas, arising from his principled participation in local campaigns, would be healthy for local democracy.  In recognition of this we will stand only two candidates in the ward and recommend that our supporters give Alex their third vote.

Further information on the Make Willesden Green campaign can be found HERE

Copland teachers stage unprecedented 5th strike against forced academisation

Copland Community School teaching unions remain solid in their determination to stop the ARK academy chain taking over their school in Wembley. They will be taking an unprecedented fifth day of strike action tomorrow (14^th January). The IEB continue to refuse to take part in any negotiations let alone even reply to communications from the Unions.

Hank Roberts, Immediate Past national President of ATL said:

The IEB have yet to respond to an offer of further talks nor even yet able to respond to staff and parents demand to be given a proposed timetable for the proposed conversion! The massive strength of feeling is because staff know that this is really about privatisation and Gove intends to allow those running academies like ARK to make profit out of state education. Their intention is to impose a third world education system in England.

Our intention is to continue and increase the level of resistance to stop them.

 Tom Stone, Acting NASUWT Brent Secretary said:

Copland staff are showing amazing tenacity in continuing to be prepared to stand up for their school by taking yet another day of strike action. The NASUWT fully supports members taking action at any school where management try to impose academisation.

Jean Roberts, Joint Brent Teachers Association Secretary said:

By standing firm staff have won on a collective grievance over job titles and also, through the threat of further strike action, the threat of compulsory redundancies for teachers has been withdrawn. At the well attended joint unions meeting last week staff were up beat and fully behind the campaign to defeat ARK. Just today there were revelations in The Guardian after freedom of information requests showed taxpayer-funded academy chains have paid millions of pounds into the private businesses of directors, trustees and their relatives.

Leaflets will be handed out today outside Copland for pupils to take home to parents explaining why the action is taking place. This leaflet from the school’s anti academy working party has been translated into the most common languages used by pupils. 

This has not been done for any letters sent out by the IEB.

There will be a mass picket outside the school from 7.30 am tomorrow until 9.00 and then there will be a letter writing session to the local councillors and MPs. There will also be discussion on what further action will take place to further the campaign.

Loos, libraries, Humpty Dumpty and the fight against austerity

http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/

As local people fight against cuts here in Brent  there is often much to be learnt from other parts of the country. In this Guest Blog (first published in 'Speakers Corner; in the Bristol Post, Green Party member Julie Boston writes about a creative campaign to save public lavatories. Not a glamorous topic but a practical one that affects the daily lives of parents, the pregnant and the elderly and one that links to the whole austerity agenda as Julie shows.

 On Saturday 21 December 2013, a group of us spent an hour in central Bristol asking people to sign a petition headed ‘Save Our City’.

The Save Our City’ campaign is supported by trade unionists and people on the Left. In case the words Left and Right are vague, here’s a fellow pensioner’s definition to her grand-daughter. “People on the Left think things should be fair. People on the Right think things should be unfair!

For the past 100 years people have tried to make their cities fair. Bristol can be proud of owning more Council housing than many cities. Bristol City Council (BCC) still owns green open spaces, allotments, twenty five branch libraries, part of the Central Library, the M Shed, museums, some Primary Schools, public toilets, cemeteries, the roads and endless car parks.

But what happened to the buildings which used to house Bristol Day Centres, Care Homes, swimming pools and Youth Centres? I remember visiting some of them before the last round of BCC cuts. They were attractive and the atmosphere calm but busy. Did their sale generate profit to fund current services?  Does anyone know? Once they are in private ownership, information is protected by ‘commercial confidentiality’.

I am not convinced that the Mayor of Bristol appreciates the culture of public ownership, the need for the public sector and the need for elected councillors. He certainly does not understand the concept of paid public sector workforce which brings a certain amount of security to the individual and commitment to the job.  The Save Our City’ campaign aims to reject £90m of council cuts and protect up to 1,000 Bristol City Council jobs.

As a pensioner with a lifetime’s experience, I can say ‘public service good, private service bad’. My husband’s family of 5 children lived in rented accommodation until their dream of a council house came true in 1948. Our children were educated under the auspices of London County Council. The many benefits included reasonably funded buildings, school dinners, no homework and no stress.

As a bus pass holder, I can travel free and attend BCC meetings and am increasingly alarmed. At the Neighbourhoods and Communities Scrutiny Commission on 20 November 2013, Councillor Peter Hammond pointed out that BCC Property Officer’s promotion for renting out two floors of Bristol Central Library sounded like a holiday brochure. The low rent from Bristol Cathedral Free School and the 125 year lease is an insult to Bristol.

At BCC cabinet meeting on 5 December, the 126 pages long executive summary on re-tendering of Home Care, was accepted in 4 minutes ! Anyone with any experience of working in the privatised ‘care’ sector knows the long hours, low pay, lack of tea breaks and the deathly long daily commute.

However people are moving. The Council meeting on 17th December was inspiring and chaired humanely.  St Paul’s Learning Centre, Felix Road Adventure Playground, the Anti Bedroom Tax campaign, the Iliminster Road School and Hengrove Play Park all made their case strongly. Hengrove youtube, supported by all local councillors, was especially inspiring. But we need to go back to basics.

You cannot cut you way out of a recession. Austerity does not work.Save Our City’ does not accept that government’s austerity programme is necessary. The banks and the major corporations should be taxed at a rate which can provide the necessary resources to provide for the public sector.

The Mayor’s hostility to Bristol City Council (BCC) is confirmed with the appointment of Max Wilde ‘who will join the council in February as Strategic Director for Business Change, tasked with overseeing back office services and working as part of the council’s push to become a more efficient and less costly organisation’. These efficiencies sound remarkably like Barnet Council which has outsourced most of its activities to one of Private Eye's regular incompetents, Crapita.

For the past three years I have supported National Libraries Day as branch libraries are vital and branch libraries everywhere are threatened. In preparation for National Libraries Day in February, I arranged to meet a couple of friends from Anti Poll Tax days in Hartcliffe library only to find that loos not libraries are even more crucial.

Deb Smith, a care worker and UNISON member texted this to me:

Humpty Dumpty needed the loo

Humpty Dumpty needed a poo

George Ferguson had shut all the loos down

So Humpty Dumpty turned his pants Brown.

Local campaigners join in Cambodian garment workers protest

Yesterday, workers’ rights, anti-poverty, student groups and members of Brent Fightback joined together  to condemn the Cambodian government’s violent repression of garment workers’ strikes that led to four people being shot and killed  demanding an end to the repression, the recognition of unions’ right to strike and an increase in the minimum wage – the issue that sparked the workers’ protests.

The demonstration took place outside the Cambodian Embassy in Brondesbury Park.

The Cambodian garment workers’ strike began on 24 December, following a government announcement that the minimum wage would only rise by £9 to £60 a month, far short of workers’ demands for a living wage of £100 ($160) a month. The garment industry in Cambodia employs 700,000 people, 90% of whom are women, producing clothes for a huge range of UK high street companies, including H&M, Gap, Marks and Spencer, Tesco and Levis, who profit from the workers’ low pay.

On 2 January police blocked the route of a workers’ march, then attacked workers, union organisers and bystanders. The following day armed forces fired live ammunition at workers, killing at least four people and injuring many more. 23 people, including a 17 year old, have been arrested, many of whom were severely beaten prior to arrest. Recent reports suggest they are being held in a notorious detention centre some distance from Phnom Penh.

The demonstration, organised by Labour Behind the Label, War on Want, People and Planet and the Asian TNC Monitoring Network took place as part of an international week of action, with protests staged outside Cambodian embassies in Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey and the USA.

War on Want campaigner Murray Worthy said “The violence and repression used against demonstrators by the Cambodian government is completely unjustifiable. Resorting to violence and repression of legitimate strikes and workers’ struggles can never be the answer; the government must end the violence, release those arrested and launch an immediate independent investigation into the police attacks and shootings.”

Sam Maher from Labour Behind the Label said “These strikes were the last resort for workers whose legitimate demands for a higher minimum wage have been consistently ignored by the employers and brands alike. Workers in Cambodian garment factories face economic violence on a daily basis and are prisoners of a system that they cannot escape. This violence must also end.”

Rob Abrams from People & Planet said “This crack down on organised labour is done in the name of so-called ‘progress’, to ‘free’ markets from external pressures, but in Cambodia we see what this means in practise. It means that workers demanding something entirely uncontroversial, a living wage that would afford them the basic right of living comfortably, are treated worse than criminals. All the while, the message coming from multinational companies remains the same undemocratic mantra: ‘if you treat your workers with respect, we see that as a burden on our profits, and we will move our operations to someplace else’. This is a flagrant disregard of human rights, one we will keep working to end. "

H&M,  Gap, Marks and Spencer all have stores in the London Designer Outlet in Wembley and H&M have a distribution depot in North Wembley opposite the Bakerloo Line station.

Teachers turn on Labour after Tristram Hunt announces licensing scheme

The Green Party's Education Policy offers a real alternative

Tristram Hunt's proposals on licensing teachers ignited a furious Twitter firestorm last night with teachers declaring that this was the last straw: there was no one on their side and no party they could vote for. A surge of support for Labour amongst teachers recently recorded in polls looks like evaporating quickly.

There is a party that rejects the centralising and privatising educational agenda of the three neo-liberal parties and that is the Green Party.  Labour started the process of academisation and it is their granting of unprecedented powers to the Secretary of State that Michael Gove is now utilising. Tristam Hunt's proposal should really not come as a surprise.

The Green Party's Spring Conference will be considering a series of amendments aimed at strengthening education policy  which will result in a real alternative which will be attractive to teachers and parents.

Starting from first principles we would state:

The Green Party believes that education should provide everyone with the knowledge and full range of skills they require to participate fully in society and lead a fulfilled life. The Green Party rejects market driven models of education that see its role only in terms of international economic competitiveness and preparation for work

We want to develop an education system that will nurture a desire to learn throughout life. We will do this through a child-centred approach to learning which builds on the skills and interests of each individual child.We will therefore end the current testing regimes and rigid age related benchmarking.

Education should be at the heart of communities and for communities, and should promote equality, inclusivity, social and emotional well-being and responsibility and be democratically accountable to them.

 The Green Party believes that the early years is a unique educational stage in its own right and not just a preparation for school. We recognises the great variance in children's development in the early years and the importance of a developmentally appropriate  provision which includes the important role of play in early learning

These principles lead on to

Education is a right and an entitlement and should be free at the point of delivery to people of all ages.Education is social rather than market provision and we oppose any attempt to privatise state-funded schools or to enable them to become profit-making.  

Free schools and academies, although publicly funded, currently lack local democratic accountability and oversight. We will reintegrate them into the local authority school system.

 In order to do this we have to strengthen local authorities and reduce the powers of the Secretary of State:

The Green Party recognises the key role of Local Authorities in the planning and provision of new school places, establishment of fair admissions policies, ensuring of equality of access for Looked After Children and those with disabilities and special needs, and the provision of School Support Services. We will therefore strengthen local authorities through adequate funding and seek to enhance their local democratic accountability. We will review and reduce the powers of the Secretary of State.

In schools we will tackle the dominance of testing which leads to teaching to the test rather than real education:

There is currently too much emphasis on national tests and fulfilling marking schemes, which can oppress teaching and learning and create a great deal of unnecessary pressure on children as young as 5. Teaching and learning are too often dominated by meeting targets and ticking boxes both for teachers and for pupils. The Green Party will abolish external SATs nad the Year 1 Phonics Test.

We tackle the increasingly politicised role of Ofsted by proposing a new body:

 The Green Party will instate a system of local accountability using continuous, collaborative assessment of schools. We would replace OFSTED with an independent National Council of Educational Excellence which would have regional officers tasked to work closely with LAs. The National Council would be closely affiliated with the NFER

Accountability will be important:

 Where pupils’ attainment and progress is reported as part of a school’s holistic report to parents and the wider community it will include assessments, including value-added, moderated by the National Council of Education Excellence and the local authority’s School Improvement Service as well as the school’s own self evaluation

Secondary and college students will have a right to attend meetings of the Governing Body of schools and members of the elected School Council will have voting rights. Governing Bodies in primary schools will have the duty to regularly consult with the elected pupil School Council.

 The Green Party will encourage schools and colleges to set up Parent Forums or Parent Councils to enhance the school’s accountability and improve communication and collaboration over issues such as curriculum, provision, homework, attendance and behaviour management

Inequality is entrenched in our school system, often through admissions systems and we will tackle this issue: 

Currently there exists a range of inequality within our education system. This can often stem from unfair admissions processes, particularly in private schools, grammar schools, faith schools, free schools and academies. These processes often serve to work against already the most disadvantaged young people in our society (such as those from poorer backgrounds or ethnic minorities). In order to provide an equal opportunity for all young people then admissions must be as balanced and fair as possible.

Selection by aptitude, ability, or social class runs counter productive to creating a high quality education system for all students. Excellent all-ability schools with balanced intakes are the best way of ensuring that every child receives a first-rate education

 The local authority will determine admissions arrangements for all local state funded schools. Ideally young people will be placed at their local schools. However currently, due to the social and economic characteristics of different areas, placing children in their local schools can be a source of segregation and inequality. Therefore local authorities should aim to provide schools (particularly secondary) in their local area with a balanced, comprehensive intake as far as practically possible.

 The Green Party recognizes that the current mix of local authority, private, faith, grammar, academy and free schools reinforces social and ethnic divisions in society. A truly comprehensive intake and mixed ability teaching, coupled with equitable funding based on need, will extend equality of opportunity. We will therefore create a system that facilitates and encourages greater integration.

The recent attacks on teachers conditions of service are clearly a major concern and risk an exodus from the profession:

Teachers are the key resource within the education system. They need first class initial preparation, continuing professional development and appropriate salaries.

Every child should be taught by a teacher with Qualified Teacher Status and Principals and Headteachers of state funded schools should have QTS.

 A Green government will work with the teaching unions to reverse the process by which teachers have gradually been deskilled and their professional autonomy eroded and will review pension arrangements and retirement age with them.

 The Green Party opposes the introduction of performance related pay in education.

The amended policy having stated why we are opposed to academies goes on:

  The Free Schools programme is similarly democratically unaccountable with even more power handed to the Free School providers to decide the curriculum, admissions policy and whether to employ unqualified teachers or headteachers/principals with no formal teaching experience or qualifications

 For these reasons the Green Party is opposed to creating more Academies and Free Schools and will support community, school and parent campaigns that share this aim.

The Green Party will integrate Academies and Free Schools back into the local authority school system. In the short term, where Academies are in operation, we would instigate a maximum 25% voting rights for sponsor appointees to ensure proper democratic and community representation on Academy boards.

Unlike other parties Conference is the Green Party's supreme decision making body and there is extensive pre-conference discussion of motions and a workshop at Conference before a motion is debated. Motions are prioritised by a ballot of members so I urge Green Party members to vote for this motion as first preference. It is a long motion and needs proper debate and a high place on the agenda will ensure there is sufficient time to debate it.

The prioritisation ballot closes at 23.59 on January 15th. Follow this LINK to the ballot.

The current Green Party Education Policy can be found HERE

IPNA wounded but the danger remains

The House of Lords has defeated the Coalition's move to replace ASBOs with Injunctions To Prevent Nuisance and Annoyance (IPNAs) amidst much ridicule of the proposal's shortcomings and its potential misuse. See my story 'Don't punish children for being children  HERE 

Peers backed Lord Dear's amendment to the Antisocial Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill that would replace the phrase "nuisance and annoyance" in the legislation with "harassment, alarm or distress" – the words used for ASBOs. He forced a vote on the issue despite the Home Office minister, Lord Taylor of Holbeach, promising talks on the issue and possible concessions if he withdrew his amendment.

The Government seems intent on pushing the matter so it is too soon to start celebrating. The debate resumes on Tuesday.

Crucial Executive vote on Monday on Princess Fred expansion plans

On January 4th LINK I wrote about the officer's report going to Monday's Brent Executive recommending the expansion of Princess Frederica Primary School in Kensal Rise, despite 90% opposition from parents.

On December 17th 2013 there had been a well-attended public meeting about the issue which Cllr James Denselow reported on his blog LINK where Princess Frederica's case was discussed along with the more general issues around rising school population and school places provision.

The Council, schools and parents are in a difficult position because of Michael Gove's policy that local authorities cannot build new schools - these have to be provided by free schools or academy chains. The local authority is left with little option but to expand existing schools on their present site and exceptionally open 'annexes' near a school such as has happened with Leopald in Harlesden and the old CSD building in Brentfield Road and Stonebridge Primary and the disused day care centre on the opposite side of the road.

Expansion on existing sites can reduce play space, convert shared spaces such as school libraries, computer suites and assembly halls into classrooms and create more crowded conditions with more children occupying less space. Parents often prefer smaller primary  schools because of the family atmosphere where the head knows every child by name and the youngest of children feel safe and secure.The officers' report makes the case for larger schools (large school successes in the borough, teachers' career prospects, curriculum opportunities, outside school provision) but doesn't balance that with the case for smaller schools.

Free school providers cash in on this by planning small schools as local schools become bigger and end up competing with them.  So far primary free school providers have not come forward in Brent, instead we have four secondary free schools where generally at present there is not a shortage.

The rub is that in seeking to preserve the positives of space, intimacy and ethos and deciding against expansion other children will be deprived on any education at all.  The real villain is Michael Gove and his policy but children suffer either way.  That is why there is a growing movement, supported by the Green Party, the NUT, Michael Pavey LINK and Barry Gardiner amongst others to restore local authorities' power to build new schools.You can support the School Places Crisis campaign by signing the petition HERE

NUT research suggests that by 2016 2/5 reception age children in some parts of London will not have a school place.

It now appears that as a result of the public meeting and strong opposition to Princess Frederica's expansion that the Executive will reject the officers' recommendation. Michael Pavey told the Wembley Observer 'We are listening to the views of the community and they got their mesage across very clearly'.

Rejection of a tabled report is unusual under the present administration. .It would have been more likely to be withdrawn before the publication of the Agenda if it was clear Executive members, and particular the lead member, were against it.

Th following message appears on the school's expansion blog today:

 The next milestone in the expansion proposal project is on Monday, 13 January 2014 at 7.00pm when the Brent Council Executive will review the report on the outcome of the statutory consultation at the Board Room in the new Brent Civic Centre: http://democracy.brent.gov.uk/documents/s21137/cf-princess-frederica.pdf

This report still recommends that Princess Frederica should expand, subject to planning permission.

However, in a significant recent development, Councillor Michael Pavey, Lead Member for Children & Families, Brent Council, has suggested that he may vote against the proposed expansion of Princess Frederica CE VA Primary School.

In the meantime, the governing body continues to await key information from Brent which would allow it to make a definitive decision about whether or not it supports the proposal to expand.

As soon as we can, we will update you further.

 Unfortunately I cannot go to the Executive on Monday but I will be interested to hear of the outcome.

Meanwhile another consequence of Gove's ban on LA's building new schools is emerging as Brent Council  has started 'instructing' headteachers to take additional Key Stage 2 children who currently are not in school despite their schools being full. This would take class sizes above 30 and conflict with the NUT's class size limit. Some of these children will be new to the UK and some may not have been to school before so they will need additional resources and teacher time.