Teachers' commitment to children & determination to challenge government policies shines through on Tuesday's march

NUT: We must say 'never again' to SATS car crash

Kevin Courney, Acting General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers made this statement on Facebook earlier this morning:

On comparing SATs results and Morgan's failure.

This year 47% of children will be told they haven't reached the "expected" standard in at least one of their SAT papers.

Last year this figure was only 15%.

It is really important that we reassure parents and children. These children haven't failed. Nicky Morgan has failed.

She and Nick Gibb have consistently ignored advice - even pleas - from educationalists and teachers.
It was clear to many teachers that these tests were going to be a car crash.

The material was too hard, the curriculum wasn't in place, the tests were badly designed.
NUT called for this year's tests to be cancelled - but Morgan wouldn't listen.

We must reassure children and parents now. It's not their failure - it's Nicky Morgan's failure.
But we must also say "never again".

Next year's year 6 mustn't be put through this experience

Complaint after 'flood' of pupil comments on Kingsbury High Lucozade Powerleague Planning Application

Roe GreenVillage Residents' Association have asked Nicky Morgan MP, Seceretary of State for Education, to intervene over the involvement of Kingsbury High pupils in the Lucuzade Powerleague planning application for the school playing fields.

The Residents' Association note a deluge of support for the application lodged on the Brent Planning Portal by pupils and ask whether it is appropriate for pupils not to have had a balanced presentation about the issues involved in a controversial development.

I think the pupils are old enough to be able to express a view but agree with the residents that a balanced presentation should have preceeded any writing - perhaps a debate at the school involving representatives of both sides.

Greens back campaign against over-testing

Revolting childfen and parents yesterday

Vix Lowthian is the Green Party's spokesperson on education. She posted this on her blog on Monday LINK

 Thousands of parents of six and seven year olds will be keeping their children at home on Tuesday May 3^rd as a protest against the government national SATS exams.

The Green Party are very clear on this – we would abolish external SATS, and trust the professional judgement of teachers to assess their pupils in a much less pressurized environment. As Green Party national spokesperson for Education – and also a parent of 3 primary-aged boys and a working teacher – I have every sympathy with parents making the tough decision to withdraw their children from school.

Education at primary school level must be about a broad, child-centred curriculum with a wide variety of experiences and opportunities which will engender a love of learning and equip them for life. This over-emphasis on external testing is zapping the creativity out of our teaching and learning, thereby stifling the inquisitive nature of our children and limiting their future prospects.

The Let Our Kids Be Kids campaign has led the strike, saying that English children are ‘over-tested, over-worked and in a school system that places more importance of test results and league tables than children’s happiness and joy of learning’. It is a clear message to education secretary Nicky Morgan and her department that enough is enough, and we should not put our children through such a narrow and high-stake learning experience.

I fully support families getting behind our main teaching unions who have repeatedly called for an end to the over testing in our schools. Even the head of the usually moderate NAHT (Headteachers’ union) Russell Hobby has criticised the tests: “Testing has a role to play in the assessment of children, but the poorly designed tests and last-minute changes we have seen this year do not add value to teaching.”

I back the campaign against over testing of our seven year olds. I know that those children out of school on May 3^rd will have a happy and enriching experience away from mock tests and box ticking.
The government needs to listen.

SATs Protest: 'Parents, you have done us proud!' declare #LetKidsBeKids

The #LetKidsBeKids have issued the press release below after today's action:

 

To all of the parents, grandparents, friends, and most importantly, children who took part in an amazing today, a huge thank you! You are amazing people who have achieved something enormous! We salute you all! 

Thank you to all of the teachers and headteachers who supported both the events and the children in taking part. This has been in support of you. 

The press has played a massive part in the success of this campaign. We want to thank you for the interest you have shown and for the dedicated and thoughtful way in which so many of you have worked with the supporters of the campaign in order to enable us to share our opinions. In many cases, opinions that, as parents, you have shared with us. 

Thank you also to the many, many supporters who have rallied to the numerous calls to appear on radio and TV and to be interviewed for newspapers. You have done us all proud! It has been amazing to hear so many standing up for what they believe in. 

We have monitored the day from the tagboard http://bit.ly/KidsStrike3rdMayNow and have enjoyed watching the thousands of pictures coming in of children enjoying fun learning everywhere. We are happy to report that no child looked damaged or harmed in any way as a result of missing one day off school. Thank you for your concern DfE. Children visited museums, enjoyed woodland walks, learnt about democracy, engaged in scientific discovery, painted, sang, danced... they did all the things that kids should be doing. Today we Let Our Kids Be Kids. 

Highlights for us today were watching over 600 attendees and Children’s laureate Chris Riddell at the Brighton and Hove rally showing support for their amazing teachers; banner waving children handing over more than 47,000 signatures on our 38 Degrees petition to the DfE offices and knowing that at 12.30 we were united via this statement in shouting “Are you listening Nicky?” across the nation. We really hope she heard us... 

We were also encouraged to hear Nick Gibb MP so publicly demonstrating the problems with SAT tests on Radio 4 when attempting to answer questions for 11 year olds... he said ‘it’s not about him’ and he’s absolutely right. This is about OUR children who feel the pressure of these ridiculous tests just as he did today. 

Throughout the day over 400 events took place across the country; the absence letter has been downloaded over 63,000 times; our hashtag #KidsStrike3rdMay trended and we have been sent thousands of pictures of smiling happy children so far. 

We have a leading statistician compiling the figures (parents are statisticians too!) but for now are delighted to estimate that today we are reporting numbers in HIGH THOUSANDS. This is far bigger than we imagined this would become just over 5 weeks ago... what an amazing show of parent power!

    

This figure does not include the thousands of parents not able to strike due to work commitments who took letters into school to say they supported our action today and also want to see change.

We have shown in just over 5 weeks that there is an enormous enthusiasm nationwide for the cancellation of this year’s chaotic SAT tests. 

Today was about standing together to share our belief that the education system in this country is damaging our children. It was about making our voices heard. It was about working together to bring about change. It was just the start. 

Parents have shown their massive support today for their children’s teachers and have demonstrated clearly that they want to see a change. We need to see teachers, unions and the Government working together with us now to find a way that works. Not just a way to pass tests, but a way that encourages a lifelong love of learning in our children and that develops, through a curriculum rich in a wealth of experiences, the confidence, imagination and passion for learning that will help our children to succeed. 

The NAHT stated that ‘The government must step back from its piecemeal, last minute changes and engage with the profession now – well in advance of next year – in a fundamental review of assessment from reception to key stage three.’ Parents have shown today that they are offering teachers their full support - now. Please support us and act NOW to make this happen. 

To Nicky Morgan: we have shown you today that we want to discuss education with you. Teachers, parents and students. We are asking you again to do the right thing. 

Will you listen to us now?

Nicky Morgan to be grilled on White Paper this afternoon

From the Petitions Team, House of Commons

     
Dear Martin Francis,

You recently signed the petition "Hold a public inquiry and a referendum over turning all schools into academies":
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/124747

You may be interested to know that on Wednesday 27 April at 2.30pm, the House of Commons Education Committee will question Rt Hon Nicky Morgan MP, Secretary of State for Education, on the policies announced in the Department for Education’s White Paper: Educational Excellence Everywhere. This includes Government plans for all schools to become academies.

Talking about the session, the Chair of the Education Committee, Neil Carmichael MP, said:

As a Committee, we are determined to take a close eye to the Government’s latest proposals for education policies and this session provides an early opportunity for us to press the Secretary of State on her plans for all schools become academies by 2022. We will also want to pick up on a number of other significant challenges to the success of our education system today, including issues relating to teacher supply, school leadership, and school funding.

You can watch the session on live and on demand afterwards on Parliament TV: http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/8a66c874-4332-491b-a297-f56d71f4951a

You can find out more about the session on the Education Committee’s website: http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/education-committee/news-parliament-2015/secretary-of-state-evidence-15-16/

Grand Alliance needed to fight forced academisation

It was fitting that it was the Chancellor of the Exchequer who announced the new government policy of forcing every local authority school to become an academy because the policy has everything to do with the seizing of public assets for private profit and very little to do with education.

On Twitter yesterday I called it a proposal with no democratic mandate to abolish democratic accountability fo schools.

It is now widely acknowledged that there is no convincing proof that acdemisation improves the quality of education, even when judged solely by narrow examination results. At the same time Ofsted has been critical of the educational failure of some academy chains and the high salaries (creamed off from schools) that their CEOs command.

It is easy to ignore the fact that the public service ethos in local government is not just limited to Labour or Lib Dem led authorities but is also shared by some Conservatives. LINK   This shared commitment could be the basis of a Grand Alliance to fight to maintain the role of local authorities in the oversight of educational provision.

The statement by the Local Government Association yesterday LINK is particularly significant and an opportunity for dialogue with an influential body that could make an impact on the Chancellor's plans.

The government often claims that parents are in favour of 'freeing' schools from local authority 'control' but there is no evidence for this. London Councils research in September 2014 indicated that parents would like to see MORE powers for local authorities to intervene in poorly performing academies and free schools LINK:

A new report has found substantial variation and confusion about these things. According to research by You Gov for London Councils, parents are most likely to look to their local authority, rather than Ofsted or the Department for Education, if they have concerns about school governance or leadership, inappropriate treatment of their child by staff, educational issues or bullying.

This finding reflects many parents’ imperfect knowledge about where responsibility lies. For example, 38% of London parents with a child in an academy school believe their local authority has the power to step in if the school is under performing, and no less than 56% of those with youngsters in free schools believe the same.

In fact, local authorities have no such formal powers, as academies and free schools are run by central government. Yet many parents clearly wish they did. You Gov found strong parental support for councils having powers to intervention across the spectrum of state schools. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this was found to be highest, at 77%, among London parents with children at local authority maintained schools. However, 68% of parents with children at free schools and 63% of those with children at academies felt the same way. Even 35% of parents who’ve “gone private” would like their council to be able to step in in this way.

There was even stronger parental support for local authorities having influence over schools in their area expanding and supplying more places. At 81%, this is up by five points compared with the same time last year. London Councils thinks this particularly significant in view of its own estimate that the capital will need a further 133,000 school places, secondary and primary combined, by 2018 to accommodate its current baby boom. And it is highlighting all parts of the report suggesting parents favour local councils having more clout in education oversight and provision.

A campaign uniting education unions, governor organisations,  local authorities and parent groups could be very effective in maintaining the democratic accountability of schools, their public service ethos and saving them from privatisation.

In the short term there is the demonstration advertised above and a Twitter storm organised to coincide with Nicky Morgan's appearance on BBC 1 Question Time tonight:

Teacher ROAR ‏@TeacherROAR 1 hr1 hour ago

SPREAD THE WORD FOLKS! Twitterstorm tonight to coincide with Nicky Morgan on BBC QT. When the programme starts use the hashtag #tellNickyNO

A petition against the policy has also been launched: CLICK HERE TO GO TO PETITION

This is the wording of the petition:
 

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Hold a public inquiry and a referendum over turning all schools into academies 

The government has announced that every school in England will become an academy. This was not in their manifesto and is therefore a completely undemocratic move. 

There is growing evidence that academies underperform & serious questions about their financial oversight. Buildings & land are being handed over to unaccountable orgs. Once they are transferred there is no legal mechanism to get them back. Before all schools become academies we demand the government holds a full public inquiry - that takes into account educational research and the views of teachers, parents and students - followed by a referendum in order to show that they have a mandate.

  

Terrence Higgins Trust condemns government decision on Sex and Relationships Education

Already two months later than expected, having promised to comment by the end of last year, Education Secretary Nicky Morgan has ignored countless reports, evidence and calls - most notably from the Education Select Committee - to make personal, social and health education (PSHE) and sex and relationships education (SRE) statutory.

Instead, the government has announced it will work with a group of leading head teachers and practitioners to improve PSHE, but this will not include statutory status, and is hardly likely to have the breadth or scope to tackle Ofsted’s finding that 40 per cent of PSHE teaching is not of sufficient quality.

Shaun Griffin, Executive Director External Affairs, Terrence Higgins Trust said:

The government missed its own deadline in reply to the Education Select Committee on PSHE, and now reveals itself to have completely  ignored that report, and the recommendation of no less than four chairs of parliamentary committees. Quite incredible.

Confusingly, in its letter the government expresses concern around the variable quality of PSHE provision, yet rejects the obvious solution. If  PSHE and SRE is made compulsory in all schools, it will be treated as other subjects, with teachers getting the training they need, and enough time being allocated in timetables for quality lessons.

Countless reports have shown the value of statutory PSHE including a strong link to good academic performance. It is quite astonishing that the government should disregard the advice of its own committee and mounting external evidence that the current system doesn’t work. We have failed young people in our country with inadequate and unrealistic SRE, and we now look set to fail many more.

Contrary to the government’s current assertion, that the vast majority of schools already make provision for PSHE and SRE, this is only obligatory in the 40 per cent of secondary schools which are maintained. This excludes the growing number of academies and free schools, let alone primary schools.

As part of the Sex Education Forum , Terrence Higgins Trust, is campaigning for universal statutory status for SRE in all schools.

Barry Gardiner wins parents' meeting with minister over Byron Court school expansion

Nicky Morgan, the Secretary of State for Education, yesterday agreed to try and arrange a meeting with parents from Byron Court Primary School either with her or the Minister for Schools to discuss their concerns over expansion of the school.

She was responding to the following question in the House of Commons from Barry Gardiner, Labour MP for Brent North:

The Secretary of State said that her policy is that all “good and outstanding schools” should be able to expand to meet “the needs of parents” in their local areas. Byron Court primary school in my constituency is being forced to expand against the needs and wishes of parents in the local area. I shall not go into the details now, but will the Secretary of State meet me, parents and local residents who are desperately concerned about the state of this school’s expansion programme?

Brent Council has backed the expansion despite the parents' objections and a letter to the Cabinet from Barry Gardiner representing the parents' and residents' concerns. LINK

It became an issue during the General Election campaign. LINK

Anti Academies staff and parents demand 'Give Us A Vote' at DfE Protest

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Wearing purple, the campaigning colour of suffragettes, parents, their children and staff from St Andrew and St Francis, protested outside the Department for Education (DfE) headquarters in Westminster this morning (14^th May). 

Braving the rain they chanted “give us a vote”. This referred to the Interim Executive Board’s (IEB) refusal to grant parents an independent secret ballot to prove, once and for all, their claim that the overwhelming majority of parents are against a forced academy. 

Irene Scorer, parents’ organiser, said, “They say they support parental choice. Why won’t they give us a fair vote in a secret ballot to establish what the parents’ choice is?” Irene handed in the petition signed by 230 parents asking for a vote to a representative from Nicky Morgan’s department at the DfE on behalf of the parents.  

Outside the Department for Education

Lesley Gouldbourne, Brent NUT Secretary, said, “Today was the seventh day of strike action taken by staff against an enforced academy. We have said all along we could have called strike action off if parents had been allowed an independent ballot”. She quoted from the Parliamentary Education Committee’s report on Academies and Free Schools, “We have sought but not found convincing evidence of the impact of academy status on attainment in primary schools.”

Hank Roberts, ATL Secretary, said, “Teachers and support staff have been standing up not just for themselves but for parents’ rights. We are pleased that the newly elected MP for Brent South Dawn Butler and Councillor Muhammed Butt, Leader of Brent Council are calling for Nicky Morgan, Secretary of State for Education to review the academy order in the light of claimed Ofsted irregularities, misrepresentations of parents true views to the DfE and the school already about to come out of special measures”.  The most recent Ofsted monitoring report after a two day inspection at the end of April 2015 says, “The school is making reasonable progress towards the removal of special measures”.

Green Party backs campaign for statutory children's outdoor play space in schools

From Share My School LINK

30 Sep 2014 — We recently met with Natalie Bennett, the Leader of The Green Party of England and Wales to discuss our campaign for outside space in UK schools and the legislation that currently governs this. We highlighted problems within the Standards for School Premises and Independent School Standards Regulations both of which we feel need changing to introduce minimum statutory outside space requirement, which they both lack. We also spoke about the Building Bulletin 103, which sets out the minimum non-statutory guidelines for outside space and how we feel this should be made a statutory baseline requirement for all new schools.

We are very pleased to announce that Natalie Bennett and The Green Party are in full agreement with us and have formally backed our campaign for these changes. Here is a statement of support from Natalie Bennett, leader of the Green Party of England and Wales:

As I am Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, it may seem unsurprising that I and the Party are so solidly in support of Share My School and Learning through Landscapes’ campaign to change the law to provide green space at our children’s schools.

Green space is vital for everyone in society – as a way to protect our own natural environment, and of course as a way for all of us, however wealthy or otherwise, to be able to share leisure time at no cost.

And the provision of green space has even wider-reaching effects: a study completed early this year at the University of Exeter’s European Centre for Environment and Human Health found that access to green spaces improves mental health in ways – and for longer time periods – that almost nothing else can.

For our children, the benefits are even further reaching.

Time spent outside – for recreation or curricular activity – enables children to exercise, to engage with nature and to build stronger relationships with other children.

That’s why we at the Green Party stand with Share My School and Learning through Landscapes on this issue, and call on the government to reverse its poorly-researched, mistaken policy to allow schools to set up without any outdoor space.

Green space helps our children to thrive. The government has a duty to ensure it is provided.

Natalie Bennett, Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales

Our children have a right to access outside space while at school. In a nation facing an obesity crisis and a rise in mental health issues, it should be a priority of our Government to not exacerbate these issues but work towards positive change. We need to provide our children with space to exercise, engage with nature and to gain a diverse and wide ranging education.

As always, please share our petition with friends, family and colleagues.

http://www.change.org/p/nicky-morgan-stop-new-schools-being-created-without-any-outdoor-space-for-children-to-play-and-learn

Thank you

Nicky Morgan: Protect our children's health and wellbeing - Stop new schools being created without any outdoor space for children to play and learn.

http://www.change.org

Think back to your childhood and you'll likely remember being outside, playing tag or other games with your friends, building dens, riding your bike,...