Tuesday 18 February 2014

Tell them what future you want for Central Middlesex Hospital tomorrow

Following the decision to close the A&E at Central Middlesex Hospital a question mark still hangs over its future and the future of Willesden Centre for Health and Care. Millions have been spent on the PFI scheme for Central Middlesex and Willesden has only fairly recently been revamped.

At the extreme of possible decisions either site could close but there are other options in between including shifting some facilities from Willesden to Central Middlesex, and the mental health facility at Park Royal into the main hospital, as well as the GP/Dental surgery on Willesden High Road, moving to the Willesden Hospital site.

There is a possibility that some of the Willesden site will be sold off for housing. Come to the meeting at the Brent Civic Centre to find out much more about what may happen and have your say.





Monday 17 February 2014

Green Party Education Policy offers a real alternative

I will be moving a motion revising the Green Party's Education Policy at our forthcoming Spring Conference. The revisions take account of recent developments in what has been termed GERM (the Global Education Reform Movement) and the various campaigns that have sprung up as a result of privatisation, forced academisation, test led curriculum and pedagogy and the attack on teachers; conditions of service.

The full briefing paper on the motion can be read HERE. This extract sets out the background:


Since the current Education Policy was written there has been much change in the direction of education both nationally and globally. What has become known as GERM (the Global Education Reform Movement) emphasises competition between schools and between countries, education’s contribution to global economic growth and competition, the provision of a ‘market’ in education with increasing involvement of private companies, a narrowing of the curriculum through a concentration on basic subjects that can be measured through standardised testing, and a convergence between the world of work and education. 

In England the three main parties, to varying degrees, support this movement, which has resulted in the promotion of free schools and academies, the increasing role of private companies not just in sponsoring such schools but also in the provision of curriculum and learning materials. Companies such as Pearson and Murdoch are poised to exploit this situation. Testing at the age of four is now being mooted as well as the existing Phonics Screening Test at six, Key Stage 1 SATs at 7 and Key Stage 2 SATS at 11. In the secondary sector there is a huge emphasis on examination results. Test results are used by Ofsted as the first measure for judging school performance and schools spend an enormous amount of time analysing and ‘interrogating’ the data. A blip in these results can lead to a local authority school being forced to convert to academy status.

The paradox is that increased centralisation and the granting of unprecedented powers to the Secretary of State for Education, in this government and any successor, have accompanied the rhetoric about setting schools free from local authority ‘control’ through academies and free schools. Currently the micro-management of schools by Michael Gove has extended to advocating particular policies on behaviour management. Peter Wilby has described the situation thus:

Michael Gove is on course to complete what Kenneth Baker began… the creation of a fully centralised school system in which the secretary of state for education has the powers of an elected dictator.

The agreement between the three main parties on this gives the Green Party the space to offer a completely different approach based on our underlying principles:

  • Our rejection of the economic growth agenda and the accompanying international economic competition enables us to have a broader interpretation of the aims and content of education.
  • This in turn enables us to reject the narrow curriculum, testing regimes and league tables associated with the GERM model and to put forward a child-centred approach taking account of child development, especially in the early years.
  • Our belief that decisions are best made at local level rather than by centralised diktat means that decisions about curriculum (apart from a broad entitlement) and pedagogy are made by teachers and the school community rather than the Secretary of State.
  • This enables diversity and creativity to take place within the state funded local authority school system, which will have the effect of empowering teachers and developing their professionalism rather than deskilling them.
  • Our belief in cooperation rather than competition means that we put forward collaborative models of school improvement including school to school support and a partnership role for an independent inspection service informed by educational research/
  •  Our support for increased democratic accountability at a local level involves improving the representation of parents and pupils within schools and democratic accountability through local authorities and removing the excessive powers of the Secretary of State.
  • Our commitment to social justice means that we put forward policies that support fair admissions and fair funding of schools and inclusion of children with special needs.

Brent Executive to discuss £18m budget cut tonight

The Brent Executive will tonight discuss a budget reduction for 2014-15 of £18m that will go before Full Council for final approval. This is achieved through a mixture of reduction in services, out-sourcing, adminstrative savings and increased fees.

The 'savings' are in the following service areas:

Adult Social Care £4,450,000
Children and Young People £3,157,000
Environment and Neighbourhoods £3,412,000
Regeneration and Growth £2,729,000
Corporate Service £4,081,000

Full details are here:




The Executive will also discuss proposals on council rent increases which average 3.7% or £4.53 per week per dwelling with higher increases for larger properties. Full details HERE

Friday 14 February 2014

Feisty parents fight off forced academy conversion

In a victory that may have wider repercussions for schools facing forced academisation, St James' Church of England School in Gloucester have been told that it will not face academy conversion for the foreseeable future.

Parents at St James' have been campaigning vociferously over the issue. Recently Michael Gove has not be very pleased with Ofsted Inspection reports that have noted forced academisation takes schools' attention away from getting out of special measures. The problem is referred to here.

A letter from the school on February 12th stated:
Since receiving the Academy Order which was referred to in my last letter, the governing body, Local Authority and Diocese have collectively sought approval from the Department for Education (DfE) to defer the academy conversion process for the foreseeable future. I'm please to be able to tell you that yesterday we received formal notification that the request has been approved.

The specific reasons for the agreement is that the DfE have acknowledged that the school needs to prioritise coming out of special measures and would have been distracted from this by the amount of administration involved in academy conversion. In addition, the Local Authority has yet to complete its audit which determines whether additional school places may be needed in the city for 2016 and beyond.

Governors acknowledge that some parents have expressed their concerns about academy consultation. Please be assured that all parents, as well as other local stakeholders, will be fully consulted about future plans for thye school once the Local Authority have undertaken this work. 
The letter goes on to invite  parents to hear about the latest HMI monitoring report at the meeting which was to be held about academy consultation.

The letter concludes:
We do hope that as a community we can now all collectively focus on the immediate priority - to ensure that St James' moves out of 'special measures' and appoint a sunstantive headteacher with the energy and ambition to ensure that St James' is the school of choice for parents in this locality. 
The St James' Campaign  Facebook was jubilant with this heartfelt message posted about one of the leading campaigners:
You are a true inspiration to others your drive passion and fight for a cause you believe in have done you proud you are a woman to aspire too who has gone to extraordinary lengths to fight for Save St James....since September you took this on as a full time job as well as being a full time mum and all the voluntary work you do to help others...even when you were at your lowest point kicked in the teeth by the very people that are in charge of our children you never gave up hope...may your children also see you for the remarkable strong and dedicated woman that you are...a true fighter to the end!!!! so proud of you and may many children benefit from this x x
Congratulations. I hope Brent and other local authorities and governing bodies will note the importance of standing together against forced academisation and getting behind parent campaigns..

Temporary classrooms at Mahatma Gandhi House?


According to a report going before Brent Executive on Monday, Mahatma Gandhi House, vacated by Brent Housing Service, could be used to house primary school pupils.

The report outlines a number of options to provide temporary extra places in schools and at the vacated Pupil Referral Unit in Church Lane, Kingsbury. The council will prioritise provision on school sites first but state:
Mahatma Gandhi House is considered as meeting the criteria providing a managing school could be identified. It is in an area of high demand but as the priority is to provide school places on school sites; officers propose to undertake a feasibility study and to discuss matters with the landlord, but to prioritise school based options first.
The nearest primary schools are Elsley, St Joseph's and Park Lane. A  managing school would also be required for the Church Lane PRU and the nearest school, with building work for permanant expansion just completed, is Fryent Primary.

The report is only about the provision of additional temporary  'bulge classes' or satellite classrooms but a full report on the permanent  expansion of schools to add forms of entry will be presented to the March Executive.

Table 3: Summary of Pupil Projection Increases by Planning Area 2013-2019

Planning Area,  Number,  Percentage Increase

1 Kingsbury 1172 34
2 Preston 751 17
3 Wembley Central 1534 27
4 Harlesden 901 22
5 Kilburn – Dollis Hill 525 6

Total 4883

London Green Party calls for action to end London’s housing crisis

 Green Party leader Natalie Bennett will tomorrow highlight the desperate shortage of affordable housing in London in a protest outside Mount Pleasant development in Islington
 
The party says this new development of 700 private flats is symbolic of Mayor Boris Johnson’s strategy of prioritising homes for the super-rich whilst ordinary Londoners are priced out of their homes.
 
Natalie Bennett commented:
Boris Johnson is once again riding roughshod over the people of London by privileging the profit of a developer over the need to provide ordinary Londoners with affordable homes. By providing only 12 per cent affordable housing in the new development, he's failing to allow for the development of a balanced community. He's not providing homes for the teachers, police officers, cleaners, and many other people who serve our communities, but setting up big profits for property speculators and private landlords. This public land should be put to community use with genuinely affordable council housing. That is why I ask all those who feel that it is time for change to join us Islington on Saturday 15th February from 10am.
Research from the Mayor’s office shows that, despite the rise in homelessness and overcrowded housing in London, two-thirds of all newly built properties are being sold to investors – pushing up prices even further. The party argues that the Mayor’s strategy of marketing new properties to rich investors is completely inappropriate for a city where the median house price is now three times the affordable limit for the average household.

EMERGENCY PUBLIC MEETING: MORE FLOODS, MORE FUEL POVERTY?

ENERGY CRISIS, CLIMATE CRISIS – WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?

Emergency public meeting organised by Brent Campaign Against Climate Change and Brent Friends of the Earth. Supported by Brent Housing Action, Brent Trades Union Council and Brent Fightback. Speakers: Sophie Neuburg (Friends of the Earth), Ewa Jasiewicz (Fuel Poverty Action), Pilgrim Tucker (Unite Community), Suzanne Jeffery (One Million Climate Jobs Campaign)

Thursday 20 February, 7.30 pm, Chalkhill Primary School Sports Hall, Anton Place,  Bowater Road (off Chalkhill Road), Wembley Park. Free admission – all welcome.

Wembley Park Tube or buses: 83, 182, 245, 297

 


Solution in sight for dangerous Harrow Road junction?


Guest blog from Kensal Triangle Residents' Association who appear closer to a solution that they began to campaign about in February 2008. (pic from Kilburn Times above) Six years on a solution may be in sight.
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On Friday 7th February representatives from Transport for London, Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea and Brent councils, West One ( the infrastructure management company employed by Westminster Council to manage its traffic planning) and Kensal Triangle Residents Association joined in a meeting kindly organised  and hosted by Fr David Ackerman for a meeting at St John's Vicarage to discuss the Harrow Road /Ladbroke Grove crossing. 

This brought together professionals and locals to address the need for immediate action. The campaign for the provision of safe pedestrian crossing facility has been going for nearly eight years now, and the meeting was arranged to give updates on plans formulated by West One as a result of the last round of surveys. 

The meeting proved to be positive on all counts.  It was agreed by all that the attempt to improve the situation by providing wider refuges in the middle of each arm of the junction had not worked at all. West One, in conjunction with TfL are now recommending to all parties that a system be installed with a phase where all vehicle traffic is stopped at the junction to allow a pedestrian crossing phase with the traditional ‘green man’light – an All Red Phase.  This will allow pedestrians enough time to cross any one arm of the junction.  (it was not proposed to encourage crossing diagonally over the junction as is the case at Oxford Circus)  

There will also be consideration of lane confusion, signage and the hold-ups on Kilburn Lane.
West One needs to consult with the two other councils to ensure that this solution us agreed by all parties, and further modelling needs to be done to ensure that congestion will not be increased by the new scheme, but the overall message was that positive and effective action is being taken  to make the junction safer for pedestrians and drivers. 

West One could not give a precise timetable for implementation for the plan, but hoped to finish the modelling by the end of March, and installation of the new lights by the end of 2014.

The meeting was also notable for its focus on a solution, and Fr David was glad to host a meeting that brought together the most important people who can affect change.  It was extremely helpful and positive to have a meeting so close to the junction concerned, where everyone could see the scale of the problem.