Caroline Lucas: We need to bring our schools back under local democratic oversight, not erode democracy further through forced academisation

As teachers leave in droves as a result of  workload stress and unachievable changes in pupil targets the government has deepened the crisis its policies have caused with the decision to force all LA schools to become schools academies by 2022.

Caroline Lucas, the Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion, today slammed Government proposals to force all schools to become academies. 

She labelled the proposed changes as 'deeply undemocratic' and said that she fears that forced academisation could 'lead us down the path of privatisation of education.'

Caroline Lucas said:

Forcing schools to become academies – and leaving them unaccountable to local communities – is the wrong approach. Local authorities are needed to ensure good planning and fairness across a local area. They can provide for the efficient pooling of resources, including legal help and support services for pupils with special educational needs.

From a Government that bangs the ‘localism’ drum this attack on local authorities is particularly shameful. People in my own city, Brighton and Hove, have resolutely opposed academies. Forcing parents, teachers and pupils into accepting these changes by Government dictat is deeply undemocratic.

This is part of a sustained attack on local government.  Funding has been slashed, services have been cut and now they are seeing this outrageous attack on their vital role in local education. I fear the Government want to lead us down the path of the privatisation of education.

There's no evidence to suggest that academisation solves problems in education and there are concerns raised by Oftsed that academy chains have serious weaknesses.

You have to ask just how much of the funding for academy conversion will be paid to lawyers rather than invested in schools?   As well as continuing the fight against cuts in school budgets and the shortages of school places and teachers, we need to stand up for local education.  Properly supported and funded local authority schools can best help meet our young people's educational needs and deliver school improvement and social justice.

The Chancellor is careering forward in entirely the wrong direction and against the interests of children and communities.  We need to bring our schools back under local democratic oversight, not erode it further.

Palestinian Hanan Al Hroub beats Preston Manor's Colin Hegarty to Global Teacher Prize

Preston Manor School will be disappointed that maths teacher Colin Hegarty narrowly missed out on the £1m Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize. Commiserations to Colin after all his great work but the prize has gone to a very deserving winner.

Hanan Al Hroub, a teacher from Palestine, won the prize amid much public rejoicing in Palestine. Her story is inspiring.

Hanan grew up in the Palestinian refugee camp, Bethlehem, where she was regularly exposed to acts of violence. She went into primary education after her children were left deeply traumatised by a shooting incident they witnessed on their way home from school. 

Her experiences in meetings and consultations to discuss her children’s behaviour, development and academic performance in the years that followed led Hanan to try to help others who, having grown up in similar circumstances, require special handling at school.

We just want peace; we want our children to enjoy their childhoods in peace.

 With so many troubled children in the region, Palestinian classrooms can be tense environments. Hanan embraces the slogan ‘No to Violence’ and uses a specialist approach she developed herself, detailed in her book, ‘We Play and Learn’. She focuses on developing trusting, respectful, honest and affectionate relationships with her students and emphasises the importance of literacy. 

She encourages her students to work together, pays close attention to individual needs and rewards positive behaviour. Her approach has led to a decline in violent behaviour in schools where this is usually a frequent occurrence; she has inspired her colleagues to review the way they teach, their classroom management strategies and the sanctions they use.

 

Hanan has shared her perspective at conferences, meetings and teacher training seminars. She hopes that, with education, her people can reclaim their homeland.

• Grew up in a Palestinian refugee camp; motivated to teach by her experiences as a mother of children traumatised by a shooting incident
• Offers specialist care to pupils exposed to violence
• Focuses on providing a safe space in the classroom and pays attention to individual needs
• Has shared her approach at Ministry conferences and teacher training seminars

West Hendon documentary BBC1 tonight spotlights the housing crisis

Wembley Matters has covered the scandal of the social cleansing of the West Hendon Estate at the north end of the Welsh Harp over the years.  The Our West Hendon campaign has fought tooth and nail for the rights of tenants and leaseholders. in Brent Labour, Greens and community activists fought against the plans which is on our borders. Most of the Welsh Harp is in Brent and the development will set a precedent for future development attempts in the area.   LINK 

Now a documentary will be screened on BBC1 at 10.45pm (after the news) until 11.45pm.

--> THE ESTATE WE'RE IN - 60 minutes BBC1 Tuesday 15th March 2016 10:45pm

A North London council estate is to be demolished as part of a multi-million pound regeneration. But will the residents get a place to live on the new development as promised?

High rise luxury private housing looms over the old estate

Situated beside the beautiful Welsh Harp Reservoir, the West Hendon Estate was built in the 1960's to provide housing for families on low incomes. Today, the local council have deemed that the estate's 'grotty' buildings are beyond repair, and, in partnership with private developers, the estate is being demolished to make way for a multi-million pound regeneration.

For many of the residents, the regeneration has caused uncertainty and stress. Council tenant Katrina, who has lived on the estate all her life, has been told that she and her daughter are being evicted from their flat. Pensioner Joe, will have to sell the maisonette that he has lived in for 30 years and saved up to purchase under right to buy. If the council do not increase their offer he will have to leave London and the three generations of his family who live locally, to afford a home elsewhere.

Filmed over a year, 'The Estate We're In' follows home-owners and council tenants as they fight to save their homes and campaign against the regeneration, which they claim is forcing low-income families out of London. Council leaders argue that there is no public money available and that private investment is the only way to supply much needed housing.

Through the experiences of the residents, 'The Estate We're In' gives an intimate perspective on the housing crisis and raises broader questions: What makes a community? What kind of cities do we want to live in? And are the rights of the poor being ignored for the benefit of the rich?

More in the Guardian HERE

Gladstone School - enjoy what you're earning

Principal Designate Paul Phillips with 'pupil'

The Gladstone secondary free school has announced on its website,' Owing to unavoidable delays in acquiring a site it is no longer possible to prepare for opening in September 2016.'

This is now becoming a regular announcement woth 120 Year 6 pupils receiving this news every year since 2014.

Meanwhile the school, which has had a Principal Designate since January 2014, has not filed accounts for 2015. The last net assets recorded totalled £93,000.

Since the free school was launched there has been a substantial turnover of directors:

Click to enlarge

The school, motto, 'Enjoy what you're learning',  has still not educated a single child despite having pictures of happy uniformed pupils on its website.

Previous coverage LINK

Clean air for London - Sian Berry's plans

London needs a comprehensive plan to bring its air within legal limits as soon as possible, using every tool at our disposal, the Green Party mayoral candidate said today.

With air pollution estimated to cause more than 9,500 premature deaths in London every year, Sian Berry lists a wide range of actions that she would carry out as Mayor to comply with air pollution laws by 2020 at the absolute latest.

Immediate measures include enforcement of the existing ban on idling for parked vehicles, a higher congestion charge for all but the cleanest vehicles in Central London, and accelerating the programme of replacing diesel buses with hybrids and electric vehicles.

In the longer term, she will create a much larger Ultra Low Emission Zone, write much stronger car-free policies into the London Plan, commission a cleaner version of the ‘New Bus for London’ and expand the electric car charging network to create 25,000 charging points.

Sian Berry said: 

Sixty years after the Clean Air Act helped put an end to the deadly smogs that came from coal fires and power stations, we are now faced with a comparable problem.

The time for half-hearted efforts to clean up our polluted air and ensure compliance with existing laws is past. If I’m elected Mayor I will immediately exclude the most polluting cars, vans and lorries from central London, and speed up the switchover to make all new buses and taxis zero-emission. I will cancel road-building plans and oppose all airport expansion.

I also believe in telling Londoners the truth, and I will provide warnings about bad air days so people can protect their health by cutting car use and avoiding outdoor exercise.

In the longer term we need an effective new Ultra Low Emission Zone to keep polluting diesel vehicles out of London, along with fair charges on motoring to reduce traffic levels. That’s the only way we can bring pollution down to levels that we can genuinely describe as ‘quality air’.

The full details of her policies are:

Immediate action:

• Tighten up the standards on the current Londonwide Low Emission Zone for vans and make sure they are properly enforced through vehicle checks, with enforcement of the existing ban on idling for parked vehicles.
• Introduce a higher congestion charge for all but the cleanest vehicles in central London, to create a Very Low Emission Zone. This will ensure that where drivers have a choice of vehicle they never bring polluting cars into London and provide a strong incentive for London’s car owners either to give up their vehicles or to change to petrol or hybrid cars as quickly as possible. We will invite boroughs to opt in some or all of their area to expand this zone into illegally polluted parts of inner and outer London.
• Accelerate the programme of replacing diesel buses with hybrids and electric vehicles, ensuring the entire fleet is moved to these technologies by 2020 at the latest and that the Ultra Low Emission Zone can be extended to all of London without affecting bus services.
• Maintain and extend scrappage grants and loan schemes for black cab drivers so that all their vehicles are zero-emissions capable by 2018, ensuring there is a suitable charging infrastructure for them to run on electric power in all areas of inner London at least.
• Join car owners and those affected by high air pollution in bringing legal action against car makers for cheating on their emissions tests and misleading all of us about the pace of change in the pollution caused by our vehicles.
• Begin consultation immediately on introducing emergency traffic reduction measures to protect Londoners from the worst air pollution days we currently experience.
• Lobby government for a scrappage scheme for all diesel vehicles, and changes to Vehicle Excise Duty and the new Roads Fund to encourage Londoners to give up car ownership by switching to walking, cycling, public transport, car clubs or at least low- or zero-emission vehicles.

Longer term plans:

• Begin consultation immediately on a scheme to replace the ULEZ that will cover all of London and be effective in complying with the law. This could be combined with the new traffic demand management scheme we will develop to replace the Congestion Charge. 
• Put much stronger car-free housing policies in the London Plan to support the trend for lower car ownership in both inner and outer London. This will be supported by our transport policies to improve public transport and make living without a car easier in all parts of our city.
• Ensure all planning applications are air quality neutral, requiring new developments to reduce air pollution in the most heavily polluted areas.
• Oppose all road and airport expansion in the South East and London, as well as putting together proposals for City Airport to be closed and replaced with a new city quarter for homes and businesses, working with local authorities, businesses, developers, large and small, along with academic and cultural institutions.
• Revisit plans for the ‘New Bus for London’ to explore a number of newer, more accessible, higher capacity and cleaner versions of the new design, more suitable for Londoners’ varied needs.
• Ensure the electric car charging network is properly maintained and funded and aim to expand it to provide 25,000 charging points across London.
• Develop further electric vehicle charging networks for vans, car clubs and private cars in local areas in collaboration with local councils.

NB Sian will reveal plans to promote walking and cycling in her forthcoming People-Friendly Streets manifesto. This will complement the public transport policies she has already announced – flattening the fare zones, making travelcards fairer for part-timers and allowing interchange between different modes of public transport at no extra cost – which are also designed to reduce private car dependency.

'The Kurdish Revolution' Brent Stop the War tonight 7.30pm Trades Hall

Why Scrutiny needed a Task Force on the South Kilburn Regeneration

The following letter was sent to members of Brent Scrutiny Committee and Cllr Conneely by Pete Firmin on January 28th.  None of the Committee have acknowledged receipt.  It was a follow up to the December Scrutiny Committee discussion of the South Kilburn Regeneration which is on the agenda of the Cabinet tonight:
 

Firstly, thank you for allowing me to express our concerns with regard to the regeneration of South Kilburn at the Scrutiny Committee meeting of 2^nd December, we often feel that residents of South Kilburn are not listened to. Thank you too for asking searching questions of the lead member and officer presenting the report.

There are a few issues which arose in your discussion which I would like to clarify or correct, and which may help you decide how to proceed:

* Councillor McLennan insisted that she had responded to the concerns raised by our TRA in its motion of July 2014 (which I attach again for your interest). Unfortunately this is not the case. The walkabout which Councillor McLennan referred to was about day-to-day issues rather than the more general issues we raised in the resolution. You do not have to take my word for this, if Councillor McLennan is correct that she has responded to those concerns, I’m sure she will gladly provided you with a copy of correspondence from her on the matter. This is not of minor importance; it goes to the heart of how our concerns have been ignored.

* Richard Barrett referred to the proposal to site the HS2 vent shaft at Canterbury Works as a success. He did not even acknowledge the concerns of residents about another heavy construction project being sited next to a junior school and in the middle of a residential area. Local residents and parents of children at the school feel much betrayed by Brent in pushing for the vent shaft to be sited there. There has been no serious attempt to engage with them over the issue, even though our objections are known. It is very hard to find a local resident not appalled by this, as evidenced by the fact that several petitions of hundreds of signatures are now with parliament spelling out those concerns. Even if you believe that LBB has been right to argue for the vent shaft to be sited at Canterbury Works, I would hope that you realise that the way it has gone about it can only serve to alienate residents.

* Richard Barrett said that Coventry Close is not within the area of the regeneration. This after having said that regeneration reaches as far as Kilburn High Road. Part of the Catalyst site is on Coventry Close, and one of their site entrances which caused many problems, is on Coventry Close. Yet no-one seems to believe they have any responsibility for a road which is badly in need of work.

* Asked about additional capacity at the proposed health Centre, we are told that, at least in the immediate term, this will merely bring 3 existing GP practices under the same roof. Yet, although Cllr McLennan and Mr Barrett could not provide figures, the population of South Kilburn is increasing considerably with regeneration (possibly doubling). While it was said that the new centre will `have scope’ for additional GPs, there appeared to be no real push for that, leaving it up to whether NHS England decide to act. Yet I can say from personal experience that existing practices are already having difficulty coping.

* When asked about a pharmacy for the health centre, Richard Barrett mentioned the one at Queens Park station and said the next was Boots on the Kilburn High Road. I had to point out that there is a pharmacy at Kilburn Park tube station, in fact the only one actually in South Kilburn. Mr Barrett said one of the two he mentioned should be approached to run the pharmacy in the new health centre, yet the one at Kilburn park should possibly be given first refusal, since it is likely to lose all its trade when the new centre is built, being currently opposite Kilburn Park Medical Centre,  the largest of those due to go into the Peel precinct centre.

* Again on infrastructure, it was clear from Mr Barrett’s response that the suggested amalgamation of Carlton Vale Infant  and Kilburn Park Junior schools is going nowhere, but no plan B is forthcoming to cope with the increased population.

* Councillor McLennan claimed we were in the masterplan but chose not to be. In actual fact, though we had objections to the masterplan, we were eventually excluded through lack of finance, not primarily because of our objections (we also objected to the destruction of some other entirely sound low rise blocks, to no avail). The implication here is that the problems we have suffered with regeneration are self-inflicted. But surely, even if it were the case that we were left out of regeneration because of our protests, that would not excuse the treatment we have had at the hands of Wilmott Dixon/catalyst.

* Richard Barrett said that he had had regular meetings with the developers at Kilburn Park and raised problems of their behaviour towards us with them. All we can say is that if that is the case Wilmott Dixon/Catalyst have ignored such admonishments. The catalogue of problems which I distributed to you at the scrutiny committee meeting (and attached again here) is only a summary, but should give you a strong indication of those problems. They are continuing right up until the end of the development (now more than a year overrun). A recent Freedom of Information request got the response that, actually, Mr Barrett has passed on very few of our complaints to other relevant parts of the Council. Problems are now continuing way beyond the “completion” of construction in the Kilburn Park. Wilmott Dixon/Catalyst have made various commitments about things they will do at completion, none of which has yet been done. As an example, I cite the fact that on many occasions they promised our windows would be cleaned on completion of the site. We are still waiting.

* On the regeneration more generally, Richard Barrett said that part of the success story of regeneration is that property values in the area have increased. What an amazing statement! We would see that as more of a problem than a “success”. Unfortunately, SK regeneration has not provided any additional social housing in the area to what existed, only unaffordable properties.

* Again on the issue of involvement/engagement, Mr Barrett said that he regularly attends meetings of the Tenant s Steering Group. Those not in the know will not realise that this is a body only for those being moved with regeneration, not for all SK tenants. Rather, when 2 members of our TRA went to a meeting of the TSG they were told they were not supposed to be there but could stay as long as they did not say anything. Similarly, South Kilburn Trust is repeatedly said to work across all the SK area. It does not. The only issue on which we have managed to get SK Trust to work with us is on the hoped-for access to St Mary’s school MUGA (an issue which has now dragged on for 10 years or more). When, for instance, the SK Trust expressed its view on the siting of the HS2 vent shaft in South Kilburn, they made no attempt at all to find out the views of those living close to the proposed site.

There is much more I could say, but will stop there. We would hope that these comments, together with your views expressed at the scrutiny committee meeting, would encourage you to urgently establish a task force to look closer at the regeneration of South Kilburn and the problems it has thrown up. As an organisation of residents, we would be more than happy to assist with, even serve on, such a task force.

Pete Firmin

Chair, on behalf of Alpha, Gorefield and Canterbury Tenants and Residents Association.

Brent and Harrow Transport Services to merge

Brent Cabinet will tonight consider a proposal to merge the Transport Services of the two brooughs that are used for children and adults with special needs to transport them to schools, colleges or day centres.

The overall aim is to make savings in both Councils' budgets. £1.13m will be saved between the two councils over 3 years and there may eventually be redundancies of drivers, escorts and front line operatives.  This will depend on attempts to market the service more widely.

Consultation in Brent produced different results from families with child users and adult users:

The report says that adult users will be reduced by changes to provision moving away from the use of day centres.

The report LINK states:

This merger of SEN transport services presents a business opportunity for both councils to gain the benefits of economies of scale in contractual arrangements, greater efficiencies in operational front line staffing (drivers and escorts), shared policies from cross working with seconded staff, route sharing and rationalisation and systems and processes. It also provides the opportunity for better utilisation of Harrow’s premises to reduce the operational costs of the combined service. 


 This merger will deliver cost reduction in the following areas:

·      Premises 


·      Route sharing and route reduction and the related front line operational 
costs 


·      Vehicles – greater economies of scale with vehicle contractor and reduced 
running costs 


·      Systems and processes 
 
·      Contractual arrangements – ( the current BTS taxi contract and the labour 
supply contract expires this year and must be renewed) and provides 
opportunities for better contractual terms given the larger value contracts


·      Business development and growth including hiring out spare capacity and 
further collaborations. 


In addition to the operational and contractual efficiencies, there is scope to achieve further savings from demand management activities. Achieving desired outcomes here would require actions to be taken by the commissioning directorates/departments, i.e. children and adult services in both councils and a shared approach being adopted. The implementation period would include the finalisation and agreement of a joint policy built on shared resources. 


The overarching proposal is that the SEN transport services for the two boroughs are merged and operate under the umbrella of Harrow and Brent Special Needs Transport Service (HB SNT). The service will be hosted by Harrow Council and run from Harrow’s Central Depot. The management of the business will sit with Harrow and will include the secondment of any relevant Brent staff to Harrow under a secondment agreement. 


The report recognises that changes may present initial problems for users:

Current users of BTS are likely to have a learning or physical disability and be elderly or young. Any changes to the current service will have an impact on them. The current service is not being withdrawn. It will stay, but as a service run in partnership with Harrow. From the users’ side, not all the changes that come with a shared service will be noticeable. 

What may noticeable is the bus, the driver and the escort and any variation in pick up and drop off times or other occupants on the bus. Routes will be looked at, so there may be more of a change for some users than others in regard to the above. Some users may find any initial change in driver, for example, unsettling for a while. Once the new service is underway, every effort will be made to ensure consistency in drivers and escorts, so users will hopefully soon become accustomed to the new service. The change should not be very noticeable because Harrow and Brent already share some routes, some Brent back office employees will still be in place as will the current drivers and escorts.