Two special needs schools in Lewisham are to be replaced by one pic: Soil Net

Lewisham teachers have been warned that their jobs could be at risk with the closure of two special needs schools in the borough.

Meadowgate and Pendragon School will close in July and replaced by Drumbeat School, a new centre for children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders.

Staff have been told they will need to apply for jobs at the new school where positions will also be advertised externally.

Head teacher of Pendragon School, Timothy Stokes said: “None of our staff know whether they will secure posts in the new school and there is understandably a great deal of uncertainty, not to say anxiety, about the future.

“One particular concern is that Lewisham Council are insisting all teaching posts for the new school will be advertised nationally. This is considered by many to be entirely unfair and possibly prejudicial.”

One councillor told a Lewisham council meeting last month: “Some staff will be displaced due to the need to ensure the right skills mix at Drumbeat” and consequently Meadowgate and Pendragon Schools will be offering voluntary redundancies.

Cllr Paul Bell, cabinet member for children and young people told EastLondonLines he believed the situation had not been handled well: “Assurances were given to the staff that they would transfer to the new school. I feel that hard working and caring staff have been let down by the council on this matter.”

Drumbeat’s head teacher, Dr Viv Hitchcliffe, is currently in consultation with the temporary governing body on the new staff structure for the school.

Unions including the National Union of Teachers and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers expressed their concerns to Lewisham Council, saying that the borough’s teachers had been assured their jobs would be secure.

These groups now call for the consultation period to be extended before anything is implemented, though the coalition of teaching unions are currently in discussions with the council.

Michael Powell-Davies, member of the Lewisham NUT said: “Students will be disturbed to find that the staff that they have built up a relationship with, may no longer be supporting and teaching them in September.”

Both schools are due to close in July, with plans for Drumbeat to open for the new school term in September this year. However building work on the school, which is on the old site of the Pendragon school in Downham, won’t be completed until April next year.

Until it is completed, Drumbeat will run from the existing Pendragon and Meadowgate sites.

Lewisham Council have said that they cannot comment on whether staff were given assurances until they have responded to the local union on the matter.

Claire Shaw

The idea that headteachers who earn over £100,000 a year should be “named and shamed” according to Union leader, Chris Keates, is irrational, unnecessary and simply unfair.

The UK press reported this week that there are over 1,000 teachers in the country who are earning more than £100,000 a year, 200 of which are based in London schools.

Out of the highest paid headteachers in London, 17 are from schools in Tower Hamlets – the borough with the second most improved GCSE grades in the country, after Darlington.

For schools situated in a deprived area of London to exceed the GCSE national average for the first time is a significant achievement, one that would have taken a lot of time and effort.

Headteacher, Craig Tunstall, earned £186,203 last year. He successfully improved four failing schools in Lambeth. To suggest Tunstall should be “named and shamed” for helping children gain a good education seems very unreasonable.

Critics argue the increasing number of headteachers earning over £100,000 is putting a strain on school budget pressures, on taxpayers, and local authorities, which are being forced to pay higher wages due to competition.

Over 100 of these ‘over-paid’ heads run academy schools, which are free to pay their staff what they like. But the idea behind academy schools is to raise attainment levels. If this is achieved, then heads should be rewarded with a high wage package.

It is no mean feat to run a school. If Education Secretary, Michael Gove wants to “restrain” what heads get paid, even when a substantial number of schools in the UK have seen big improvements over the last year, he is simply saying that, headteachers do not deserve a good wage for improving the standards of education in the UK.

Headteachers have the high-pressure job of raising education standards in the UK to ensure all children are given a good start to life. A job worth the money.

Tower Hamlets said head teachers “played a key role” in the borough’s increasing grades pic: Judy Baxter

A total of 17 school staff in Tower Hamlets earn six-figure salaries, more than in any other London borough.

A total of 200 head teachers across London schools earn over £100,000 a year, with twelve of the highest earners being paid more than £150,000 a year, new figures show.

A spokesperson for Tower Hamlets council said: “Investing in the best possible education for our children and young people is paramount to give them the best possible start in life.

Tower Hamlets faces some of the highest levels of child poverty in the country, and the council believe that paying head teachers and other school staff is a key way to “provide young people with the tools to overcome these barriers.”

Results showed that 2011 GCSE results in the borough were showing improvement on previous years. Tower Hamlets is the borough with the second most improved grades in the country, after Darlington, and currently 38 in school grade tables, moving up 72 places in the national rankings.

The council spokesperson went on to say that recent achievements were thanks to head teachers who “played a key role” in the borough’s increasing grades.

Head teacher recruitment salary ranges are normally set by school governors and based on factors such as how many pupils attend the school, and additional
responsibilities.

The Old Schoolhouse pic: Clapton Arts Trust

The Clapton Arts Trust has outlined plans to restore the grade II-listed Old Schoolhouse on Lea Bridge Road. The building, built in 1841, is just a stone’s throw from the new Olympic Park. The Trust hope the restoration will bring the schoolhouse back into use to provide educational activities for local children.

CAT Chair Councillor Ian Rathbone said: “We are applying for a Heritage Lottery Fund Grant and if successful, we will open the school doors next year with a range of activities on offer for schools and colleges, as well as the general public.”

Negotiations are being held with the building’s owners, The Vision Group, and with a wide variety of other local charities and organisations who plan to be involved in the project.

Members of the CAT. pic: Jeanette Arnold

Parma Sulh, managing director of The Vision Group, said the project will not only preserve a heritage building, but will provide a fun learning environment for the Hackney community.

The grand room at the front of the building will be transformed into a living schoolroom complete with actors in period costume and a curriculum of authentic Victorian learning.

According to the Trust, the restoration will also incorporate a number of short walks around the site and grounds, with activities such as sketching classes provided at the heritage interest points nearby.

Lewisham College pic: Jisc Infonet

A consultation process on the potential merger of Southwark College and Lewisham College opened last week and will stay open until 21 February.

The Chief Executive of Skills Funding has called for comments from key partners, students, staff, local business and the local community.

The two southeast London based colleges plan to merge institutions, in the belief that combining the resources and strengths of both colleges will ensure growth. But creation of a new college, likely to be called ‘Lewisham and Southwark College’, still depends on government approval.

After Southwark College’s poor inspection result in 2008, it was decided that with a falling number of students and the economy worsening, the college needed an immediate expansion.

Lewisham College, in the neighbouring borough, is in sound financial condition, whilst Southwark College enjoys excellent contacts with major employers. Based on these factors, the colleges plan to work together and make best use of each other’s potential.

With the creation of the new college, the institutions aim at educating over 4,000 young people aged 14-19 and over 15,000 adults.

A statement on Lewisham College’s web site said: “Southwark College has faced a difficult time and its achievements fall some way short of its potential. It has, however, developed some excellent links with major employers in the local area and with the right resources this potential could be realised.

“We believe that by combining the resources and strengths of both colleges we can plan for growth. To do this we will work closely with employers, local authorities and schools to ensure that our offer makes a direct contribution to improving job prospects and increasing prosperity for the local community.”

When asked about the plan, 18-year-old Rebecca Hatchins, a catering student at Lewisham college said: “I support this plan because my course will benefit from it.  Jointly, two colleges are more likely to provide good cooking facilities for teaching.”

A college staff member who wishes to remain anonymous said: “Most of us don’t really care about this merger because it is not going to affect our jobs in a significant way.”

Miriam Lopes, a carer and a Health and Social Care student at the college, was not aware of the merger plan, but after being informed of the proposals told EastLondonLines that the merger would be beneficial because the colleges would jointly bring in better opportunities and facilities for students, as well as a greater number of courses.

The two colleges together occupy five major sites with excellent facilities. A detailed estates strategy will be developed for the college buildings.

If the two colleges successfully sail through the legal process, the merger plan will be presented by 1 June 2012.

Pic: byzeligfilm

Figures released by the Government last week show Tower Hamlets is the second most improved local authority for GCSE results in the country.

The national ranking, published by the Department for Education, includes all local authorities across England and places Tower Hamlets as the second most improved in 2011, just behind Darlington in the north-east.

It highlights the fact that 61.4 per cent of students in the borough achieved at least five A* to C grades including English and maths, the highest ever figure for Tower Hamlets and higher than the national average of 58.9 per cent.

Isabel  Cattermol, Corporate Director for Children, Schools and Families in Tower Hamlets borough said: “We have got a very strong focus on teaching and learning and a great relationship with teachers, parents, council and all our partners. What we have done is relentless in trying to get a education achievement. Extra classes after school, extra classes in the holiday period, sometimes it was not too popular with the pupils but they have got the results.”

Mayor Lutfur Rahman congratulated pupils and teaching professionals who for their contribution to the succes. Rahman said: “We’ve known for months that our pupils exceeded the national GCSE average but to hear that the borough is the second most improved in the whole of the UK is the icing on the cake.

“With success like this and programmes such as Building Schools for the Future providing our pupils with first-class learning facilities, I hope we’ll continue to lead the way in delivering improved educational attainment.

“Every headteacher, member of teaching staff, pupil, parent and school governor in Tower Hamlets should be very pleased with the news.”

In Tower Hamlets the main spoken languages are Bengali, Somali, Panjabi, Gujarati, Arabic, Turkish, Tamil, Yoruba and French while almost 75 per cent of local school children speak English as a second language –the highest percentage of any borough in the UK. More than 28,000 pupils speak EU languages other than French, Portuguese and Spanish, while more than 19,000 speak Arabic. Also, 53 per cent of children coming from families living on unemployment benefits.

Recent research compiled by CentreForum, which looked at the difference between the expected and actual GCSE performance of 151 local authorities across England in 2009/10, ranked Tower Hamlets as ninth nationally.

Pic: Goldsmiths

Figures released by UCAS today reveal a significant drop in university applications across east London boroughs, with applications from Hackney dropping a whopping 14.6 per cent.

According to the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), applications from Lewisham were down 11.8 per cent compared to last year, whilst Croydon experienced 9.3 per cent drop. In Tower Hamlets, applications fell by 7.7 per cent.

The figures, which relate to the mid-January deadline for most undergraduate university courses, confirm fears that students are being put off going to university by the prospect of huge debts. UCAS reports that applications to UK universities have witnessed a fall of 8.7 per cent, the steepest fall in decades.

The data comes just over a year after London witnessed mass student protests over cuts to the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) and the proposed rise in tuition fees. In December 2010 the Coalition government narrowly won a vote in the House of Commons allowing universities in England to charge up to £9,000 for the annual tuition costs of undergraduate degrees.

East London universities were hit worse than the national average, with all higher education institutions to east of Westminster experiencing a drop in applications of over 10 per cent.

Marlon Gomes, Head of Admissions at Queen Mary said: “We expected applications to fall with the increase in student fees for 2012, and an increase in entry tariffs across most of our programmes, so although some courses experienced a drop in applications, we were pleased with the influx of applications to Queen Mary’s School of Medicine and Dentistry. Our 16 per cent increase is particularly impressive when compared to a reduction of over 3 per cent in Medicine and Dentistry applications to other UK universities.”

According to the Guardian, languages and art related subjects have witnessed the biggest falls in applications, with non-European languages down by 21.5 per cent and creative arts and design courses down by over 16 per cent. Figures at Goldsmiths and the University of the Arts bear this out but an unofficial source at Goldsmiths said that as a result of a surge in late applications the figures are a lot better then they appear.

Another reason for the overall drop is a significant drop in applications from mature students.

Reacting to the drop in applications in Hackney, Diane Abbott, MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, told EastLondonlines: “Under this government, in Hackney, we’re seeing big rise in the number of young people on the dole, and a significant drop in University applications.  It’s a perfect storm for young people in Hackney, because the Government is costing the economy jobs, whilst bulldozing over education opportunities – kicking away the ladder.  The brutal price our young people are paying for this government’s economic policy is now crystal clear. The verdict is in: this government is failing an entire generation.”

Jamie Duff, teacher at Brooke House Sixth Form College in Hackney told EastLondonLines: “The biggest factor putting students off going to university is the rise in tuition fees and the huge debts that come with it. But the removal of EMA has also had a knock-on effect. At our college, 75 per cent of students were in receipt of EMA. Across the board, 6th form colleges have seen numbers drop as a result of cuts to EMA. I believe it’s a mixture of people not doing their A-levels and people put off by the rise in tuition fees. “

Toni Pearce, Vice President of the National Union of Students, said: “The indication is that the confusion caused by the government’s botched reforms is causing young people to at the very least hesitate before applying to university.

“The significant reduction in applications from mature students is a warning sign and government needs to quickly take their concerns on board or else risk those people falling away from education for good.”

Figures released by UCAS yesterday are indicative of the changes but do not paint the full picture for the 2012 intake, as students can still apply for most courses through UCAS until the end of June.

pic: Hackney_DannyBoyle_Press_photosubbed

Oscar winning filmmaker Danny Boyle is looking for school children across Hackney to perform at the Olympics opening ceremony.

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) announced last Friday that under-16 volunteer performers for the Olympic and Paralympic ceremonies will be selected from various British schools, including four schools from Hackney.Students from Brook Community Primary School, Gainsborough Primary School, Sir Thomas Abney Primary School and Skinners’ Academy have been auditioned among 25 other schools across six Olympic host boroughs.

More than 900 youngsters will be chosen as part of the spectacular £81million ceremony. Eighteen primary and seven secondary schools in the six Host Boroughs have been involved in an audition process and in total 1,650 children auditioned for the London 2012 Ceremonies Mass Movement Team, undertaking large scale choreography as well as dance routines.

For the selected children there will be rehearsals taking place initially at the selected schools, then in East London at London 2012 Ceremonies rehearsal sites and finally in the Olympic Stadium. LOCOG is providing transport between the schools and the rehearsal venues for the young people.

Seb Coe, London 2012 Chair, said: “Being part of the Ceremonies is a great way of inspiring young people, I’m delighted school children from the host boroughs will be part of show and help tell our story to the world. The students involved will have an incredible experience which will build their confidence and a sense of pride in themselves, their friends, family, school and wider community.”

Principal Jenny Wilkins, Skinners’ Academy said; “Skinners’ Academy is committed to inspiring our students to become involved with all aspects of the London 2012 Olympic Games. We are excited and honoured to have been selected to participate in the London 2012 Opening Ceremony. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity which will be fantastic for our students and will be one that students, staff and parents alike will always remember!”

The theme of the opening ceremony will be based on a passage from Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Around 10,000 volunteer performers have been recruited and Boyle hinted that there will be a sequence in which school children will be taking part.

school children pic: soil-net

Hackney councillors discussed the future of the borough’s education system on Monday night in advance of control over schools being brought back in-house for the first time in ten years.

The contract with the Learning Trust, an independent body charged with overseeing the running of the area’s schools, will come to an end later this year. The trust will now begin the process of handing back the running of Hackney’s education system to the local authority.

Members of the Children’s and Young People’s Scrutiny Commission discussed details of the plans for the transfer and re-branding of the trust, which will be named the Hackney Learning Trust, and councillors paid tribute to the achievements of the non-profit organisation at a town hall meeting on Monday January 16.

Labour Councillor Rita Krishna, Cabinet member for Children’s services, assured members that the system would continue to operate smoothly and according to the Learning Trust’s current guidelines. She told the meeting that no jobs would be lost.

The meeting heard that costs of the transition have been kept to a minimum, and telephone numbers and email addresses will not be changed for convenience to the public.

The handover will officially commence on August 1. In a joint statement made by Mayor Jules Pipe and Chair of The Learning Trust Richard Hardie, both guaranteed the transition would be as ‘seamless’ as possible.

The independent body took over Hackney Council’s educational role in 2002 after an Ofsted report deemed that the council was failing in its capacity as local education authority. Under the trust’s guidance, secondary and primary education steadily improved, with the number of pupils attaining GCSEs grades at A* to C more than doubling from 31 per cent in 2002 to 74 per cent in 2011, making it one of the most improved boroughs in the country over that time period.

Given the success of the Learning Trust over the years, members of the Commission were anxious for education standards to continue improving.

Lib Dem Councillor Abraham Jacobson, said: “The transfer is a concern. The Learning Trust were fixers, but the contract was never forever and now it’s time for Hackney Council to slowly take it back in house.”

Outside of the meeting, others expressed concern that education standards may diminish over the next few years due to extraneous factors. The possibility of more schools opting to become Free Schools and Academies, outside of the local education authorities control, has given rise to fears of a depleted budget.

Mark Lushington, spokesperson for National Union of Teachers said: “The Learning Trust is on a slimming diet that is about to vanish in a puff a smoke, and not because Hackney council will take over, but the problem lies in the rise in academies.”

Pauline Pearce meets Boris pic: BackBoris2012 (Flickr)

Pauline Pearce, who rocketed to fame as the ‘Hackney Heroine’ during last summer’s riots, is to join the advisory group for a Hackney free school.

As EastLondonLines reported in November the free school’s steering committee was initially established by a Cambridge educated corporate finance advisor, a commercial and financial lawyer and a violinist.

Pearce has been inundated with requests from charities and organisations since she rocketed into the public eye last summer, after being filmed bravely telling rioters that she was “ashamed to be a Hackney person”.

Pearce says she is sincerely committed the new secondary school, and to improving Hackney, the borough she “cares about so much”. She said she was “chuffed to bits” to be asked to have a role in its development.

“At last someone wants to use me for something, to get my hands dirty and get involved.

“They wanted me to get more ethnic minorities involved, and explain what the benefits are. So I thought, yeah I’ll go with it, have a go, and see if I can make a difference.

“If there’s something I’m not happy with then I’ll let them know” she says. “Not in a rude way, but if it doesn’t go the way I think it’s going then I’m withdrawing – it’s as simple as that.”

Andreas Weseman, a corporate finance advisor and a resident of Dalston, is leading the application for the new school, named the Hackney New School. He describes his vision for the institution: “All the schools in Hackney have high levels of oversubscription. We want to create an outstanding school in a deprived area.”

The application for the school will be assessed by the Department of Education by the end of February. If approved it could be open by September 2013, starting out with a Year 7 group of 100 children. They say they are aiming to have 45 to 50 per cent of their students eligible for free school meals.

A 2009 statistic shows 40 per cent of secondary school pupils in the borough were eligible for free school meals.

However there has been criticism. Labour MP Meg Hilliers has already voiced concern. Mark Lushington, from the National Union of Teachers told local blog Loving Dalston: “It looks like a private school at the taxpayers’ expense. It is a free school for the Hackney middle class. It’s Hogwarts by any other means, a Michael Gove wet dream.”

Wesemann is undeterred by these comments: “I would love to talk to the NUT, a medieval organisation, and find out why they think what they think about free schools.

“I don’t care if white middle classes are against it, they can go to their own schools. If some post-modernist socialist is against it, I don’t care.

“We’ve been working very hard to have a composition in our group that reflects the pupil population demographic. We’re trying to reach the bottom 10 per cent. They don’t read the Times, or have access to computers  We need to use whatever mechanisms are necessary.”

It hasn’t gone unnoticed in the past that certain free schools have been media savvy. Toby Young, a journalist, was quick off the mark – he understood that to be the first free school to sign up after Michael Gove’s new legislation would be a press coup like no other. In an interview with the Guardian in April 2011 he admitted his ‘celebrity’ status helped in “attracting teachers and applicants”.

Then in October Helen Mirren gave her “full support” to Wapping High School, also in east London.

Pearce realises that Hackney New School will be using her to drum up publicity. She told EastLondonLines: “I’m not naïve, a lot of people probably think I’m a bit dumb and a bit silly but I’m not. Quite a few people have asked me to join certain things they’re doing and of course it’s riding off the profile I have.

“But if it’s for something good then that’s what I’m here for and that’s what I care about. I truly hope they’re doing it for the right reasons and I truly hope I find a role in the school that I’m comfortable with.”

Young’s West London Free School received a lot of criticism for having compulsory Latin lessons up to the age of 14 – a decision which led many to describe his school as “elitist”.

Hackney New School has a similar curriculum. The school’s website states Latin and Greek will be taught to all pupils, although Wesemann says they think may leave out Greek.

Asked whether he thought these subjects were pandering to a private school demographic, he defended the decision.

“There are many things that are done in private schools which are very good. If you look at education outcomes of private schools – they are generally outstanding. Performance of state sector is average.”

Pearce, however, is of a different view. She was taught Latin at Hitchin Girls grammar school in Hertfordshire which she attended as girl, but says she “didn’t do very well”.

“I think it should be an optional thing. Personally, I think Latin maybe not. I wish I learnt more languages as a child, but I’m not so sure about Latin!”

But apart from cutting Latin lessons, what else does Pearce want the school to focus on?

“It’s always the brightest brick in the block that gets pushed so much more, but the child sitting at the back that might not be quite so bright, those are the ones that I’m concerned about”

“People will have their opinions on what they feel is right or wrong, but I feel that the school wants to integrate, as opposed to the other way round – otherwise they’ve got the wrong person on board!”