First public meeting a big success

More than 50 people gave up part of their valuable Friday night on 1 March to attend the first of our public meetings, titled ‘Education Crisis in Waltham Forest?’ Jonathan White introduced the meeting as the planned first of a possible series of meetings designed to raise the profile of the issue of Free Schools, Academies and the provision of education in the borough. The audience was a mix of parents and teachers with a range of views, including some supporters of WSSI, the parents’ group who secured Oasis’s backing for their proposed Free School.

Kicking off the meeting, Jonathan White charted the origins of Waltham Forest Defend State Schools as a response to the proposal for a Free School in the borough. He explained that the group initially saw itself as combatting some of the propaganda about the demographic crisis in the borough, raising consciousness about what kind of school a Free School is and explaining what its impact on the borough’s other schools is likely to be. He argued that existing evidence showed that Free Schools increase social segregation, increase damaging competition, sucking resources from other schools, and represent a decisive move toward breaking up local community school provision in preparation for privatisation. Most of all, unlike local authority schools they are unaccountable to the democratic public in the borough.

Jonathan finished by suggesting that campaigns coordinate their work better, not just around defensive campaigns to protect local authority schools from new Free Schools or forced academisation, but also around democratic ideas of education which can force schools outside of local authority control to take account of their local communities.

Mark Holding, a governor at Thomas Gamuel school, gave a moving account of how his school had been targeted by Ofsted and the Department of Education for academy conversion, in spite of the fact that it was a good school, initially on the basis of an administrative error. Ofsted and the DFE argued that TGP ought to become an academy sponsored by Barclay Academy, in spite of the fact that Barclay itself had only been converted recently, meaning that any benefits it brought as a sponsor were based on its achievements as a local authority school.

The main thrust of Mark’s talk was to highlight the widening gap between the idea of parental choice and the profoundly anti-democratic nature of academy conversion. At Thomas Gamuel, he explained, the governors, teachers and local parents had built a broad-based campaign which resulted in the governors voting to reject academy status, the parents voting by 95% on a 57% turnout to reject academy status and a mass petition from the community Yet in spite of the clear preferences of the entire school community, academy status is now being forced on Thomas Gamuel by an interim executive board and the DFE.

Mark finished by echoing the first speaker’s view that the real agenda here was about breaking up all structures of local democratic accountability to place community resources and assets in the hands of private companies and echoed the call for the building of broad-based, borough wide campaigns for a more equal, accountable and democratic system.

Kiri Tunks, a local parent, teacher and NUT activist finished the panel speeches by speaking about her veiw of Free Schools and Academies from these three perspectives. She stressed how Free Schools were taking resources from other schools by drawing money from the funds reserved to provide Central services for Local Authority schools, directly financially damaging our community schools. As a parent, she pointed to the experience of academies: academies do not raise standards, they have higher exclusion rates than community schools, they are poorer at providing for special needs pupils and, to echo the first two speakers, she re-emphasised, they are unaccountable. As a parent, she said, you have a democratic avenue for redress of your grievances with local authoriy schools – a right of appeal and a vote. With academies and free schools, there is no democratic route and no such democratic right.

Speaking as a teacher, she recounted how colleagues have experienced conversion to Academy status: attacks on terms and conditions, increased workloads, greater use of unqualified staff, higher staff turnover rates and less experienced headteachers. Kiri finished by stressing that coordination and planning of schools provision works, as shown by the success of London Challenge and the only beneficiaries of a competitive market in schools would be private education chains and companies who will look to profit from the system. She, like the earlier speakers stressed the need for campaigning that emphasised the need for a decent education for all children across all our schools.

In the discussion that followed several teachers gave their experience of academy conversion, echoing points made by Kiri. Speakers from WSSI argued that Oasis had been misrepresented and that there is a problem of schools provision in the borough. Speakers from the Anti-Academies Alliance called for support for the petition for the removal of Michael Gove (which can be found here). The chair finished by noting that the number of people who had wanted to speak was clear evidence of the demand for more meetings of this kind around education in the borough and saying that WFDSS would look to organise more soon.

Watch this space!

Second faith-based Free School proposal in Waltham Forest

We are hearing information about a second bid to open a faith based Free School in Waltham Forest, this time a Muslim Girls’ School to be run by an organisation called Tauheedul Free Schools. Tauheedul describe themselves as a chain of “non-selective Muslim faith-based schools which welcome pupils from all faiths and none. They offer a high-powered academic curriculum and promote progressive Islamic and traditional British values.” The rhetoric very closely mirrors that of Oasis of course, somehow squaring the circle of being faith schools, infused with a particular faith’s ethos and at the same time, welcoming all faiths or none, as in law they must.

Tauheedul schools’ website also contains the statement “In a society where great inequality already exists, Free Schools can be powerful agents of change.” Agents of change maybe, but probably not agents of community cohesion, diversity or equality. The evidence from Sweden and the United States, where Free School models have been extensively used, is that in societies where inequality exists they increase social segregation. Researchers at the Civil Rights Project and a separate study by academics at Arizona State University and University of Colorado who looked at the Charter Schools movement in the USA, which closely mirrors the Free School model, argued that “Charter schools facilitate the re-segregation of our society.” Studies of the Swedish Free schools experiment have reached the same conclusion. Evidence about their academic performance is highly contested but one thing that is incontrovertible is that they have increased social segregation.

More faith-based schools in the borough will suck resources and pupils away from local authority comprehensive schools in Waltham Forest and surrounding boroughs while acting as forces toward ghettoisation. Far better to support the expansion of our existing local authority schools.

Read more about Tauheedul Free Schools here: http://www.tauheedulschools.com/

Public meeting on Friday - Update

PUBLIC MEETING: EDUCATION CRISIS IN WALTHAM FOREST?

Hosted by Waltham Forest Defend State Schools

Friday 1 March - 8pm, Welcome Centre - Off Church Hill, or Church Lane in Walthamstow Village, E17 9RJ

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=537832&Y=189151&A=Y&Z=106

Speakers:

Jonathan White, Waltham Forest Defend State Schools

Kiri Tunks, local parent, teacher and National Union of Teachers

Mark Holding, Governor, Thomas Gamuel school, Waltham Forest

• Is there a crisis in our education system in Waltham Forest?
• Are Free Schools or Academies the Answer?
• What happened to the idea of comprehensive education for all?

Come and hear the case against Free Schools and Academies and discuss the crisis in Waltham Forest

ALL WELCOME

Walthamstow Guardian covers our campaign and meeting

Today's Walthamstow Guardian featured an article on page 2 covering our campaign and giving a pretty good summary of some of the key issues. One of the contributions to the letters page also expresses support for our campaign. You can read the full article, including a plug for our public meeting by reporter Daniel Binns here.

The article also confirms what we'd already heard, that Oasis and WSSI have indeed got their preapproval from the DFE. This means they have a period of around three months to conduct a public consultation. The timing of our public meeting probably couldn't be better as a way of beginning a wide debate in the borough.

Don't miss this meeting, which will feature speakers from Defend Waltham Forest State Schools, a governor at Thomas Gamuel school, currently being forced to convert to academy status, and local parents and teachers.

Friday 1 March - 8pm,

Welcome Centre - Off Church Hill, or Church Lane

Walthamstow Village, E17 9RJ

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=537832&Y=189151&A=Y&Z=106

 

Bribery and Coercion versus Democracy

1 March public meeting – make sure you’re there:

There’s already been a lot of interest in our public meeting on 1 March. The full details of the meeting are here.You can let us know you’re coming via our new Facebook event and you can also follow us on Twitter at @SaveE17Schools. We’ve also been out on the school gates with old fashioned leaflets, with a good response at both Henry Maynard and Thomas Gamuel. So it’s looking good.
Let us know you’re coming on Facebook here:

We’re hearing that Oasis’s application has been granted preapproval by the Department for Education. If this is true, it means that we enter a new phase where they have to launch a consultation of the local schools and community while they build a full business case for the Department. Anyone who attended the previous consultation events will know, this will need watching! Still, it means that our meeting comes at a very good time.

Bribery and Coercion versus Democracy:

In theory, the government’s Free Schools and Academies programme is supposed to be about promoting choice by enabling the growth of efficient and competitive schools. Of course it turns out that when governors and parents make the wrong choice, it’s a very different story. One of the speakers at the meeting will be talking about the challenges to democracy at Thomas Gamuel where a ballot of parents and successive votes of the governing body have been overruled because they rejected the move to academy status.

Perhaps the most notorious example of this was at Downhills in Haringey where the DfE forced through academy conversion in the face of similar democratic opposition. This is the subject of a brilliant new film by independent filmmaker Rhonda Evans. You can watch this on Youtube here.

And then of course, there is the bribery, documented in the Independent, which reported that officials from Michael Gove's department are offering £65,000 "bribes" to convince reluctant headteachers to convert their schools to academies. Read more here.

“You can have any school you like as long as it’s an Academy or Free School”

“It’s time to elect a new People”

Etc etc etc.

Public Meeting: Education Crisis in Waltham Forest?

PUBLIC MEETING: EDUCATION CRISIS IN WALTHAM FOREST?

Hosted by Waltham Forest Defend State Schools

Friday 1 March - 8pm, Welcome Centre - Off Church Hill, or Church Lane in Walthamstow Village, E17 9RJ

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=537832&Y=189151&A=Y&Z=106

Speakers to be confirmed

• Is there a crisis in our education system in Waltham Forest?
• Are Free Schools or Academies the Answer?
• What happened to the idea of comprehensive education for all?

Come and hear the case against Free Schools and Academies and discuss the crisis in Waltham Forest

ALL WELCOME

 

 There are now two proposals for Free Schools in Waltham Forest. More schools face conversion to Academy status, in the face of fierce local opposition.

We are told that Free Schools are the only answer to a demographic timebomb in the area, but is this true? Or do they pose a greater threat to our existing schools?

We are told that Academy status will improve our schools, but the evidence suggests it makes little or no difference to the quality of the school, promotes greater selection and makes our schools less accountable to our communities.

It's time to start a proper public debate and expose the half truths and misconceptions that circulate around education in our borough.

Be at this meeting.

Just a few of your comments...

Here are just a few of the comments of people supporting our campaign and signing our petition:

“We have very good community schools in LBWF that will be adversely affected on several levels if this is allowed. It will also create divisions in our society. Schools should have qualified teaching staff, be inclusive and teach the curriculum.”

“I think that we should focus resources on existing community schools rather than these "free schools". We see today that Accademies are costing £1billion more than expected, I wish this extra money was spent on community schools rather than the opt-out brigade who wish to have something special for their children alone.”

“We need to support the schools we already have, instead of undermining them by building Free schools that will decrease the numbers attending our community schools. This will threaten the very survival of inclusive education in this borough. Why don't we increase the capacity in our existing secondary schools, just as the primary schools have done?”

“When the time comes for my child to go to secondary school, I would like to see a good selection of local schools, with good teaching and facilities. I believe the LEA is best placed to provide this. I do not believe it is right for education to be placed in the hands of commercial organisations (academies) or organisations with biased, vague or undisclosed agendas (free schools).”


“I am opposed to the incremental break up of the state education. When fundamental reforms take place in other crucial services, consultation takes place, for instance the NHS. In this instance, a policy is in place which does not have the benefit of consultation and as a result there are no checks and balances in the new system which is being imposed on parts of the british education system through coercion of those running schools placed in impossible situations and complicity of those in local governments and otherwise. And there is always a risk of a third 'c' that often rears its head at some point where coercion and complicity exist, and the ends have justified means the reprecusions of which have not been fully assessed.”

“With the imminent rebuild of Willowfield School in Walthamstow and the number of Secondary Schools with places I see no reason why we would need another school in Waltham Forest.”

“Fully agree that consultation was biased. Also believe Oasis and WSSI are deliberately undermining the very good work done by Walthamstow schools whilst exaggerating the success of Oasis schools to suit their case. Further believe that the LA must rapidly get and publicise clarification on the pupil placement issue to show the Oasis/WSSI case is fundamentally flawed.”

“It is, in my view, essential that we support state schools and avoid the competition and 'privatisation' which free schools create.”

“I find the whole government agenda of moving away from la run schools into the hands of religious institutions very worrying. I'm not sure the public at large is aware of or understands what is happening.”

“Education is a right which cannot be adequately provided by the private sector.”