Anyone else get harangued outside Northcote Library today?! Post Reply

[localunionmember]

The Bolingbroke story is in this evenings London Evening standard too. picked it up on way home.

The ONS income figures are official data. They confirm what we all know that people living in the areas around Clapham Common Northside/ Bellville and both sides of Nightingale Lane are much better off than people on the Winstanley Estate. There seems little point in disputing that.

The group who made the decision to exclude the Falconbrook kids should revisit this decision and reverse it.

[livegreen]

Localunionman
The newspaper articles in Morning Star and Mirror are so biased and incorrect that they are embarrasing for those that are against academies and free schools.

Most people believe in local schools for local people - do you ??

[doleofficedad]

Laura Brown is the woman who started the anti school campaign along with her mate Jane Eades who works for the Anti Academy Alliance. On another web forum Laura Brown wrote "This is not about bashing the rich" and denies being linked to the GMB union. Yet on her Facebook page today she writes "Our free school concern makes the Mirror front page " under the Mirror headline 'Class War'. It is very obvious that Laura Brown cannot be trusted to tell the truth. She is also listed as a point of contact on the GMB press releases along with Jane Eades. I enjoyed the Mirror article today because if that is the best they have to put on a front page then they are on very weak ground. For anyone who supports the new school, they should take a great deal of comfort from the Mirror front page today. It was crass journalism. Those such as Laura Brown and Jane Eades who seek to make political capital out of our childrens education should also carry on as they are because it wont stop the school opening and their class war nonsense helps the case for the new school. We salute you Laura Brown - keep up the good work!

[ready2pop]

What is the feeder school policy going to do to the problems about oversubscription of Belleville and Honeywell?

If you look at the other thread about the Belleville consultation you'll see that people are already moving into the area short term to get their kids into these primaries and this is going to get much worse if getting into one of them effectively guarantees you a place at BA too.

Also, ARK acknowledges that they have also had opposition to the feeder policy from people with kids in private primaries as it will exclude their children. Presumably, they may opt for Belleville/Honeywell instead? This will just shorten the distance for entry to those schools reducing the range of social backgrounds of their pupils (and by way of knock on those of BA) even more.

Seems insane to me that the council isn't looking at the two issues together.

Maybe the press coverage will force a more considered review of all of this.

[equality]

readytopop
I think it is true that the feeder school policy just feeds the frenzy of getting into BV and HW and if the council precedent of satellites carries on, who knows how far away the next site will be for BV. The whole thing needs some rethinking from grass roots level.

See today's Observer for article on the Free School. I guess that Newspaper will now get a bashing!

[localunionmember]

From the Observer story it is clear that Orwellian double speak is alive and well in Wandsworth council.

The piece says that the council told Ark that Falconbrook should be excluded for "lay of the land"reasons, that that feeders policy had been deliberately selected to "increase diversity" and goes on to quote a council spokesperson saying "its rubbish to say that the academy will filter out kids from local estates- the selection process is completely open".

The council and self selecting group are in effect confirming that the Winstanley Estate is "on the wrong side of the tracks".

That is precisely what GMB objected to was it not?

That is the official reason for their exclusion while at the same time including kids from the further away Wix.

Kids from poor homes are being excluded for no good reason. All these kids would have to do is walk from their front doors to Plough Road and proceed south to Wakehurst Road to the new school a distance of less than a mile. The bridge is passable.

[LauraBrown]

Apologies, this is a long one - I just logged in to see if there was any comment on the Observer article and discovered I was getting a bit of a personal pasting!

I am Laura Brown. I am not a member of a trade union (although clearly those that are also have a right to an opinion!). I wrote a press release for my campaign which was picked up on by the GMB who linked their press release to it. A researcher from GMB did contact me with some questions about my press releases/sources etc but prior to that I hadn't even heard of the GMB. If anyone is aware of something I have said that is not true, I would be happy to correct it as I am always keen to link to sources etc to avoid further confusing the argument.

I am in favour of good local schools for local people as are many of the people who support the campaigns for and against. I agree that there is likely to be a need for extra school places in the Borough over the coming years. However, I am concerned that the current proposals from the ARK Bolingbroke Academy will not provide these places in a way that provides equal access to improved educational opportunities for all sections of the local community and that they will do very little to address the achievement gap that exists for children from underprivileged backgrounds.

Everyone understands that the parents involved in the campaign are trying to do what they believe is best for their children (and others living in that area) and they, of course, have as much right to educational opportunities as any other members of our community. However, in a time of constrained resources, I feel strongly that any additional funding allocated to new/existing schools should be targeted where it is needed most.

A group of us (local people and parents - I have a 1 year old and a 3 year old) have written to the Council/Michael Gove and others about the key issues we would like to see addressed which are 1) the lack of evidence that a school is needed in this location rather than others; 2) the small size and location of the proposed site and 3) the admissions policy which focuses on only 4 primary schools (out of some 40 that are within a 1.5 mile radius of the proposed site); excludes Falconbrook, the most deprived primary school in Wandsworth and is expected a lead to a school that is significantly less socially and ethnically diverse than other nearby secondary schools.

[LauraBrown]

And a further plug... For anyone who would like to sign up to the statement:

"We, the undersigned, call on Wandsworth Borough Council to prevent the creation of the Bolingbroke Academy free school and instead carry out a proper assessment of school place needs to provide planned provision in local authority schools which allocate places fairly to applicants."

can find the petition at http://www.gopetition.com/petition/41013.html

There are 140 signed up online and I think now over 400 on paper from a few hours each Saturday standing in various shopping areas over the last few weeks. Having spoken to many people in various parts of the Borough while brandishing me campaign, it has actually suprised how many people from all walks of life are concerned about this.

[LauraBrown]

I meant 'brandishing my petition' (in a hopefully non-threatening fashion)...

[LauraBrown]

Just to be totally honest, I think I probably had heard of the GMB but thought they were something to do with Municipal Boilermakers (which I believe they were at some point in their history...). I feel there is a coalition of concern across people of many political views which leaves all this looney leftie, trade union bashing completely ridiculous! I'm not sure why being in a trade union makes your opinion invalid but then again I can understand why the 'bankers' on the other side might be a bit perplexed by similar stuff. All of that stuff is clearly a sideshow to the real arguments and issues for the children of Wandsworth.

That's it now... Apologies for being so long-winded!

[livegreen]

Its great that we live in a democracy and that we had both local and national elections just 6 months ago which included a great deal of discussion regarding the issue of a new secondary school in Battersea.
As I understand it all the MP Candidates from all the major political parties looked at this issue in detail and all expressed their support for the local neighbourhood school at the Bolingbroke.
I believe this was also the same for the local elections as all the material I was sent again supported this as a great idea.
We then had the elections and the victors again expressed their support for the school and would use one of the Conservatives flagship policies - Free Schools to make it a reality.
Great - we actually have our elected representatives actually delivering what they promised !!


I am a little surprised that Laura and the anti schools group in one of their GMB Union press releases claim to represent the views of the majority of local people - I must have missed that election!!!!

[LauraBrown]

You point out that all politicians (in the immediate area) were supporting the free school (at a time where the full facts were not on the table e.g., the Falconbrook exclusion). So, who should we have voted for if we didn't agree?

[doleofficedad]

Laura Brown - it is clear from posts on your Facebook page (where you called the GMB press release 'priceless') that your basis for objection is little more than nasty 'class war' type rhetoric, and on other websites where you raise subtle accusations of racism against those parents who support the school, that - as has been said above - you are seeking no more than to make left wing political capital out of the education of our borough children. That is why you are linked to the GMB and Janes Eades, treasurer of the SWP backed Anti Academy Alliance. It is quite futile of you to pretend otherwise as you have tried to do above. The facts are quite clear.

[LauraBrown]

My aim is not waging class war. I have no previous links to trade unions apart from talking to the GMB about my press release although obviously now we are all campaigning on the same side. I am campaigning with Jane Eades because we are both concerned about the situation and she is also a lovely woman (although I didn't know her until I heard about her campaign and decided that I was also concerned enough to get involved). You can slur me and try to discredit my views all you want but that's the truth. Not sure why it shows anything that I described the GMB press release as 'priceless' - you must agree it was a novel take on the situation. In fact, I know several 'bankers' who also oppose the free school as they are concerned about all the issues I am. As I said the whole bankers vs looney left is a sideshow from the real debate and real people's lives.

[yummydaddy]

so what's the real debate then for you Laura ?

that where you live (it's tooting isn't it?) there aren't any decent secondary schools (apart from Graveney, which is notoriously oversubscribed) and that's why you suggest Springfield because it's closer to your own house ?

Let's just be all honest and not pretend we are holier-than-thou.