I attended an NUT meeting recently. It was all about academies. The guest speaker was Alasdair Smith. He represented the Anti Academies Alliance.

Here’s the minutes from the meeting. Alasdair was kind enough to check it and amend where necessary.

Some information about academies

• The previous government wanted to use them to turn around failing schools.
• The new coalition wants outstanding schools to convert – dangers of social segregation.
• This is about privatisation and deregulation.
• Government have admitted aim is to break up system of national pay & conditions.
• Schools & head teachers promising extra money are exaggerating the money available.
• The AAA is an alliance of parents, teachers, governors and all the education unions (ATL, NASUWT, NUT GMB, UNISON, UNITE) and the TUC opposed to academies & privatisation.

Dangers

• There is NO formal or legal requirement for governors, staff, parents or children to be consulted before taking steps to become an academy.
• The breakup of the National Pay and Conditions for teachers.
• The proposal of a National Pay and Conditions for support staff has already been abandoned. They will bear the brunt of schools becoming academies!
• Maternity, sick leave & other rights may well be changed.
• Once you convert, there’s no turning back.
• Staying with the Local Authority has advantages: the Local Authority steps in if the school burns down, bulk buys services to achieve economies of scale, provides many services which we are not necessarily aware of.
• If we opt out of this we’ll need to buy these services back from them or source them from private providers elsewhere.
• Academies standing alone may not be able to achieve economies of scale so they will need to join other academies and form a chain. This will create pseudo local authorities.
• Failing academies can’t go back to being a local authority school. It’ll just get taken over by another academy.
• Some liabilities which academies will need to foot the bill for are still unknown e.g., the pensions of support staff.

The logic

• Heads claim that they want to protect staff against cuts. Thus becoming an academy is the way forward! Protecting staff means protecting national pay & conditions. Becoming an academy wont achieve that.
• Currently schools get funding from the Schools Authority Grant. Education Psychologists, SEN, EMAS etc. are funded from the LACSEG budget. These services are currently provided to schools according to their needs and it is shared amongst schools in the borough.
• Becoming an academy means that the academy will SECURE an amount from the LACSEG based on proportion of pupils, as opposed to, need.
• Money available to others schools for these services will be cut.
• Also, the Government have said they will introduce a national funding formula next year so academies will only receive this extra money as a one off.
• If academy status truly guaranteed success, it would be moral and professional to consider it. The truth is that some academies do fail. The business of schools is to educate but there’s no evidence that academies improves standards at a faster rate than equivalent schools in the maintained sector. So why become an academy?

Questions from the floor

1. Will there be any continuity of service?

An academy will use TUPE to ensure that remaining staff can continue their terms of service.

New staff will have different terms of service.

However, if the head decides to restructure the staff by creating new posts, previous staff, as well as, newer members of the school will need to apply for their position. Thus the TUPE arrangements will be void!

2. Are pensions going to be honoured?

Yes!

However, if one builds up 28 years of ‘years of service’ in one school and then moves to an academy in which they work only 5 years; only the 5 years may be honoured for things such as redundancy severance pay.

3. Could we be paid more if we work for an academy?

Yes, in rare cases! Some academies are recruiting and paying over the odds for members of some staff. The national picture is that the head teacher’s wages increase but the wages of teachers doesn’t change. The national picture also shows that the wages of support staff goes down.

4. How long would an academy last?

Many academies are drawing up leases of 125 years. 7 years notice has to be given to terminate an academy contract.

5. What happens to parental rights?

If a parent is unhappy with a school under local authority provision; they can go and complain to the local authority.

If a parent of a child attending an academy is unhappy with the school; they have to complain to the Secretary of State! This is less likely to happen.

6. Who runs an academy?

The academy will have a few governors who form a business which creates a trust. They then select and appoint the other governors.

7. Can you exclude children in an academy?

The statistics show that academies exclude double the national rate, when compared with schools in a local authority.

8. Do we have statistics about academies?

There are 23000 schools.

407 are academies. 136 of those a new ‘Gove’ academies.

9. How might our rights as teachers be affected?

There are some ‘horror’ stories: staff expected to work from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. , come in to school to work for 2 weeks during the summer holidays, work in school on weekends etc.

Some have changed performance management drastically. Others have introduced harsh forms of competency procedures.

10. What will we lose?

Local authorities rightly challenge and support schools. They do not control them.

Who will ensure this for academies? There is no system of local accountability for academies. They are in effect ‘government’ schools as their legal status is based on a contract (funding agreement) between the school academy trust and the Secretary of State.

11. Why are some local authorities telling schools to become academies?

The government is ‘top slicing’ a chunk of funding from all local authorities so that they can give it to schools that convert to an academy. If NO schools opt out, they’re going to take the money anyway! Thus some local authorities are telling schools to become academies as the funding will be lost any way. IS IT A CONSPIRACY?

12. Who will provide services if local authorities can’t?

Many posts of consultants & advisors etc. in local authorities are being scrapped. The very same consultants are setting up private companies and are waiting to offer their services to the up and coming academies!

13. How does the Union fit into academies?

Some academies won’t recognise Union rights for the staff. Most will. Staff will need to continue to be members of a union.

14. What are the cons of becoming an academy?

Once you work in an academy you are at risk of being isolated. You haven’t got other schools to support you in fighting for national pay & conditions or over local issues.

If there’s national uproar against, for example, proposed changes to the Pay and Conditions document; you won’t benefit from it because academies don’t have to uphold the Pay and Conditions document.

Extra information

• Make sure you find out what is going on in your school. As a Union Rep you can ask for speaking and listening rights at Governors meetings. Why not ask if you can speak about academies and make sure they know why it’s not a good idea?
• Invite Anti Academies Alliance speaker to address the staff and/or governors.
• Tell the support staff in your school. They WILL be affected and may even bear the brunt of this movement towards academy status!
• Write to your MP – http://www.writetothem.com/ – write to your local authority. Tell them that they were democratically elected and they mustn’t wash their hands with education. They should keep their role and fight this movement which WON’T benefit our children, parents or staff. The Lib Dem conference policy is against academies!

Summary

Serious danger of privatisation & deregulation, ultimately reducing the pay and conditions of staff.

It appears to be part of a strategy, not to raise standards, but to cut costs (due to the financial crisis we are in).

Do you want to let this happen or will you fight it? You need to act now. Pass resolutions to demand that your union ballots for industrial immediately. Do not delay

Contact the AAA for further help & advice: www.antiacademies.org.uk or email office@antiacademies.org.uk

Here’s some extra information in the form of a poster: -

Academies and funding

Academies and pay and conditions

The pros of Local Authorities

Why are ex-council/ex-local flats better?

They are built well as opposed to new private builds, which are rushed and completed after many corners are cut!

They are designed for families to live in comfortably, rather than, cramped in small rooms. The private builds make you feel boxed in!

They are built to last, rather than, new builds which seem to have many faults and issues which show up within a year or so of living in them.

The surroundings have been given thought. The flats aren’t just erected wherever there’s some vacant land or where a business got taken over. There are parks nearby so that families live well. Places to hang your clothes outside. The best way to dry clothes!

The yearly service charge is a FIFTH or less than that of new builds. Most new builds have a tiny sum of £1000 a year.

You only need contents insurance because the building insurance is covered in the service charge.

I lived in an ex-council 1 bedroom flat before living where I do now and it was fab!

The upgrade to an ex-local 3 bedroom flat was NOT a mistake either! I’ve lived here alone and now have the pleasure of living with Suraj.

As you come out of our flat there’s a park for little kids and then another if you keep walking. This one is for older children and behind it, there’s a huge green area where people walk their dogs, go jogging etc. It’s so green.  :)

This message has been written by Debbie Alway – the Chair of the Leaseholder Support Group

If you would like to be kept informed, or if you have any suggestions or would like to participate in the activities of the Leaseholder Support Group, please send a blank email to info@harrowlsg.com so that we can add your email address to our mailing list.

The more people that become involved with the Group, the greater  ‘voice’ the Group will have, and the better it will be able to protect  all of the Leaseholders’ interests.

We can work together to tackle issues such as: -

• your estate in general
• service charges
• the standard of services that are provided

In our Waste Group committee meetings we’ve been talking about these thick rubber bands that have been turning up all over the place!

It may sound little but when you live in a fairly clean area, seeing these rubber bands all over the place is unsightly! Then of course, you have the issue of injustice. Individuals can be fined for dropping litter but a giant like Royal Mail can let their staff continue to do it and get away with it? Also, who will clear them up?

Well….there seems to be a lot of people who are unhappy with it because the Keep Britain Tidy campaign got loads of bands sent in to them! Over 1000 bands were sent to them in one week!

So I’ve written to Keep Britain Tidy and Royal Mail.

Mick Oliver who is the Chair of the Waste Group has written to Royal Mail after I copied him in to my communication with them. Here’s what he wrote: -

Dear Kirsty,

Heena Modi and I share an interest in wishing for Harrow to be free of red rubber band litter, and she has copied me in on her emails to you.

Over the last week I have gathered 60g (2oz) of red rubber band litter at the junction of Alton Ave., Stanmore with The Highway. Alton Ave. is a small suburban cul de sac – I picked up my sample in 2 pickings. In no way can these have been dropped accidentally – they have obviously been discarded deliberately.

I have been in separate contact with Royal Mail in the past and was disappointed at the outcome, which led me to publicise my contacts in Harrow Agenda 21 “In Contact” – this article is given below. We are also supporting Keep Britain Tidy’s campaign – can I refer you to www.keepbritaintidy.org/News/Default.aspx?newsID=309 ?

Regards

Mick Oliver

Chair, HA21 Waste & Recycling Group

Royal Mail rubber band litter

In less responsible times a cross-country run could take the form of a paper-chase, when a leader scattered paper as he ran, and everyone else followed his trail. These days have gone – almost! Now you can follow your postman by following the trail of red rubber bands he scatters.

The Waste and Recycling group find this objectionable for the following reasons:

We are aware of the Waste hierarchy Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and fully support it. This is a hierarchy, in order of merit. All products have to be manufactured, which uses both energy and the raw materials the product is made from. By reusing items we avoid using energy and raw materials – sustainability, for our benefit and future generations.

It is litter, which is already a big enough problem.

Fast food litter is a larger problem, but fast food litter is left by the fast food companies’ customers – rubber band litter is left by Royal Mail’s employees as they carry out their normal duties, a situation Royal Mail have a chance of controlling.

Litter is an offence, and single items of litter like cigarette ends, Wotsits and pastry from a sausage roll have resulted in prosecutions, with fines between £50 and £80 – Royal Mail are not considering this possibility.

You can often find as many as 10 rubber bands discarded in the same place (where the postman parks his car?). Single rubber bands could be dropped by accident – 10 in one place can only be discarded deliberately.

Harrow’s practice with autumn leaf fall is to compost it – this becomes more difficult if it is contaminated.

We have been in correspondence with Royal Mail. Royal Mail are an organisation with green credentials – their Christmas mailing to all their customers had 4 separate statements on green issues, and they have a Director responsible for Sustainability. We were disappointed with their replies, which did not address the fundamental issue on sustainability, and which we found unconvincing for the following reasons. They:

• promised that they would alert their local delivery office, to minimise the bands they dropped in the Chair’s street (fool the agitator and keep him quiet, never mind the wider issue of nationwide waste and litter)
• stated that the bands were made from natural rubber (using a buzz word that they hoped we would welcome, hence would keep us quiet. Whether rubber bands are made from natural or synthetic rubber, they are compounded with many other materials – rubber items are pretty artificial, whichever rubber is used.)
• stated that the bands are biodegradable (using another buzz word in the hope that this would satisfy us. Rubber items in the air and sunlight could deteriorate by embrittling and losing their elasticity – they will remain around as litter, and this photochemical action can hardly be described as “biodegradable”. We are surrounded by long-lasting rubber items such as tyres and erasers – surely Royal Mail are aware of these and that their claim is fatuous?)

Our correspondence with Royal Mail is now closed, but we thought it would interest readers of “In Contact”.

Check out these photos of rubber bands all over just one road in Harrow.

Check out a video about bands in Pinner here.

Any thoughts anyone?

The Cabinet? What’s that I hear some of you ask. Click here to find out who is in the Harrow Council’s Cabinet. For further information about them click here.

So Harrow Council has a Cabinet. They lobby MP’s for us, consult residents about changes, meet the public to discuss how they can support us with the council and so on.

On June 10th there was a Q and A time with the Cabinet. We could submit questions in advance or raise them during the event. I’ve not been to anything like this before, nor did I know that these events occur every four months. I’ll definitely be at the next one! It was really good!

Here are some questions and answers that I made notes about.

Q. Why has there been an increase in council tax?

A. Although Harrow has pockets of deprivation, it is considered to be an affluent borough. Thus the government gives fewer grants and the sum of money given is not the same as that given to other boroughs. Harrow makes up for this shortfall through council taxes.

Also because the government perceives Harrow to be an affluent borough; 30p in every £1 gained from rents is used to support other councils nationally. This scheme is led and carried out by the government.

Q. Why are we seeing an increase in council taxes without an improvement in service provision?

A. Reviews and CPA assessments show that Harrow has improved. Harrow is classed as the 6th best borough in London. However, as with anything, you recall from experience and that defines and can blinker one’s view. The leader explained that perception is lagging behind the existing changes. Hopefully, residents will begin to ‘see’ the improvement soon.

Q. How do you expect perception to change when at grass root level, residents experience things like their valuables being removed from a padlocked shed that they use because the council authorised it? This very specific example refers to cases where residents have called the council asking about their right to a shed. Some lease/tenancy agreements state that the resident should have a shed. The sheds are not numbers and the council have no log showing which sheds are in use or who uses them. Thus some members of staff have advised residents to claim a shed, remove the padlock and the items in the shed and put their own lock on the door.

A. This is not condoned by the council. The councillor Barry Macleod-Cullinane was made aware of this a week or so ago. He has asked Paul Najsarek to respond to him about this.

Q. What are we doing to improve Harrow Weald for young people?

A. To name a few things a media centre with a link to community radio will be opened in the Wealdstone Centre very soon. Additionally, the Healthy Living Cafe in Wealdstone is not economically viable as it does not generate in income. However, it is important and necessary. The council has been subsidising it to prevent it’s closure.

Q. Is it true that if 1 road in a consultation area has controlled parking, then all the roads will end up with it?

A. No. Susan Hall explained that consultation documents are really important and it is the way for the Cabinet to know what residents want. However, very few people respond to them. If it is appropriate to have controlled parking in one street but it would not be suitable for the whole area; the scheme will not be extended.

Q. What is Harrow doing about residents who are parking in front of their house if there’s no crossover/dropped curb?

A. Many people have begun to drive over the curb to park on their front garden. The council will request that the residents apply for a crossover. If they do not, bollards will be erected to prevent them parking there.

Q. Is this not costly?

A. Yes but it is cheaper than repairing the pavements due to damage caused by people driving over them. It is also a means to protect the public from injuring themselves as they walk on this unsettled paving.

Q. What are we doing to see more greenery in Harrow?

A. The council are happy to plant flowers around Harrow. The costly part in terms of finances stems from flowering them. The environmental cost of having a vehicle drive around Harrow to water the plants needs to be avoided too. This can be done if we adopt a bed. Harrow will plant the flowers but they need us to water them. Please contact Susan Hall if you’re interested.

Q. Why has there been an increase in rent?

A.  Rent was increased by 6% BUT due to falling inflation, it was deemed too high. Councils requested the government to review their decision about rents but they took too long. The government capped the percentage increase at 3% AFTER most councils had sent their bills out. Thus the increase in rent will not be as high but councils are now paying for re-billing and so on. These costs will need to be recovered somewhere.

The next Q and A session will be on November 5th 2009. Venue to be confirmed.

The following information has been provided by Dave McKeon from Harrow Council

Compost is easy to make and provides one of the best quality soil conditioners that you can put on your garden and it’s free! It’s a great way to make use of your garden and kitchen waste such as fruit and vegetable peelings.

What to compost

• Shredded paper and torn card

• Rabbit/guinea pig bedding

• Dead cut flowers

• Soft hedge clippings

• Fallen leaves

• Grass cuttings

• Weeds (avoid persistent weeds and weeds in seed)

• Old plants

• Fruit and Vegetable Waste

Japanese knotweed must not be composted – please contact the council for advice.

Brown Bins in School

Items that can be placed in the brown bin for composting are:-

• Fruit waste

• Vegetable waste

• Tea bags

Definitely no cooked food, meat and bones

For more Information take a look at The London Borough of Harrow Website

Here’s  chance to find out what you need to know!

Question time event -

The council’s next Question Time event will be held on June 10th at Nower Hill High School in Pinner at 7pm.

This is an important opportunity for residents to question the Cabinet on its policies and plans.

Residents are able to come along and ask any question on the night, but it would also be helpful if they sent them in advance so that a full reply can be prepared.

Questions should be emailed to: questiontime@harrow.gov.uk or posted to Harrow Question Time, PO Box 2, Civic Centre, Harrow HA1 2UH.