Palestinian Hanan Al Hroub beats Preston Manor's Colin Hegarty to Global Teacher Prize

Preston Manor School will be disappointed that maths teacher Colin Hegarty narrowly missed out on the £1m Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize. Commiserations to Colin after all his great work but the prize has gone to a very deserving winner.

Hanan Al Hroub, a teacher from Palestine, won the prize amid much public rejoicing in Palestine. Her story is inspiring.

Hanan grew up in the Palestinian refugee camp, Bethlehem, where she was regularly exposed to acts of violence. She went into primary education after her children were left deeply traumatised by a shooting incident they witnessed on their way home from school. 

Her experiences in meetings and consultations to discuss her children’s behaviour, development and academic performance in the years that followed led Hanan to try to help others who, having grown up in similar circumstances, require special handling at school.

We just want peace; we want our children to enjoy their childhoods in peace.

 With so many troubled children in the region, Palestinian classrooms can be tense environments. Hanan embraces the slogan ‘No to Violence’ and uses a specialist approach she developed herself, detailed in her book, ‘We Play and Learn’. She focuses on developing trusting, respectful, honest and affectionate relationships with her students and emphasises the importance of literacy. 

She encourages her students to work together, pays close attention to individual needs and rewards positive behaviour. Her approach has led to a decline in violent behaviour in schools where this is usually a frequent occurrence; she has inspired her colleagues to review the way they teach, their classroom management strategies and the sanctions they use.

 

Hanan has shared her perspective at conferences, meetings and teacher training seminars. She hopes that, with education, her people can reclaim their homeland.

• Grew up in a Palestinian refugee camp; motivated to teach by her experiences as a mother of children traumatised by a shooting incident
• Offers specialist care to pupils exposed to violence
• Focuses on providing a safe space in the classroom and pays attention to individual needs
• Has shared her approach at Ministry conferences and teacher training seminars

Ark Academy plan 6th Form building on Repton remnant

Bird's eye view of the area 

Rectangle marks the new building and red the trees to be removed (black dash is a tree protection boundary)

Ark Academy, Wembley, is applying for planning permission to build a Sixth Building on a site at the corner of Bridge Road and Forty Lane, that was retained when the original planning permission was given for the new school.

The site is thought to retain a rare portion of some of Repton's original landscape planting for the Page family at Wembley Park in the 1790s.  LINK

As well as the heritage argument campaigners also argued that this was a potential habitat for bats, hedgehogs and other animals as well as a patch of green in an area rapidly being concretised.

The Planning Application argues that most of the trees to be removed are due to their condition, rather than to make way for the building and that removal has been kept to the minimum. Some moving and replanting  of trees is proposed as well as new planting.

The application contains all sorts of ideas about the educational use of the protected area of trees and shrubs that will be left. However,  as someone who lives nearby and walks past almost daily, I have never seen it being used by pupils since the school opened in 2008 and the woodland looks quite neglected, with tin cans that have been tossed over the fence tangled in the undergrowth.

Habitat preservation and enhancement would be welcome but that should have been done anyway,

Preston Manor School is also seeking new build in order to expand its Sixth Form. The two schools are in competition with Preston Manor following the Ark by building a primary school on site and thus becoming an all-through school. It also converted to academy status. Ark plans to open its Sixth Form in September 2015 and is currently recruiting students.

The full plans can be seen HERE  The application will be decided no earlier than February 10th. Planning Officer  victoria.mcdonagh@brent.gov.uk

Vulnerable children may be shipped out of Brent for schooling as Council closes Primary PRU at 3 week's notice

As the Scrutiny Committee discussed setting up a Task Group to investigate how the Pupil Premium, ear-marked funds for disadvantaged children, are used in Brent schools last night, they were leafleted by staff who care passionately for an arguably even more disadvantaged group who are about to be shipped out of the borough.

The Primary Pupil Referral Unit currently housed at Ashley Gardens is for children excluded from mainstream school.  The classrooms were previously used as temporary accommodation for the primary unit of Preston Manor All-through School.

The Primary Unit came about after the Key Stage 2 (7-11 year olds)  PRU in Stonebridge was closed down at the end of Spring Term 2014 as no longer necessary. Within weeks, there were already 6 excluded children at Key Stage 1 (5-7 year olds) and Key Stage 2 in need of education. The Ashley Gardens facility was set up for them and high quality, experienced staff were recruited on the understanding that the unit would continue through the current academic year.

Brent's Primary EBD(Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties) school, Vernon House, closed some time ago and a new school opened in its place for chidlren on the autistic spectrum.

The authority has said that the classrooms are needed for children without a school place, despite Preston Park Primary having expanded, the new primary school at Preston Manor and a four form entry primary school being built at Wembley High.

Most of the Ashley Gardens children will be placed at the Family School London, in Kings Cross. This is a free school being opened by the Anna Freud Centre, with home to school transport provided for each child.

On Thursday of last week Ashley Gardens staff were told that the Unit would close by the end of this month.

Staff have major concerns about the closure decision and the way it is being implemented. This is what they said:

1. The time scale for closure is extremely rushed and risks causing unnecessary distress to children and their families.

These are amongst the most vulnerable and emotionally challenged children within our education system. Three weeks does not give us proper time to prepare them for this major change. we have an excellent team who have worked very hard to build up relationships of trust with the children and their families and the children are now settled and beginning to thrive in the unit.

We are concerned that this hasty decision, driven it seems more by the borough's need for our accommodation than by the needs of the children, will cause unnecessary emotional trauma to children who have already had more than their fair share.

2. There has been no consultation on this decision with the staff of the unit, including the Teacher-In-Charge, nor more senior staff within the Inclusion Service, and no individual case-by-case review to assess whether the provision at the Anna Freud Family School is appropriate for all the children who will be placed there.

3. We understand the longer term policy is to provide support for chidlren at risk of exclusion with the Brent School's Partnership, with the aim of preventing exclusions. This provision is still not in place. Where will any excluded chidlren be taught and supported in the meantime? This is exactly the situation that led to the formation of the unit at Ashley Gardens.

4. What about children who are excluded in spite of all the best efforts of the new provision? The Family School has only 4 places available this year in each key stage, and 4 more available next year and demand could come from anywhere across London.

The Ashley Gardens staff make a strong and professional case which clearly has the interests of vulnerable chidlren at its heart.

Brent Council's commitment to social inclusion means that there should be proper consultation with teachers, parents and professional agencies in such a situation, and at the very least a thorough Equalities Impact Assessment should be carried out.

None of this has happened and until it does, and the resulting report has been discussed and adopted by Cabinet, the closure should be suspended.

I would add a further concern about children being bussed out of the borough. They are already excluded from mainstream schools and will be further excluded by being educated far away from their home community.

Will breathing be allowed in Birbalsingh's primary school?

The editor cut my reference to"almost 'no breathing'  allowed"  in the letter published on April 10th  in the Kilburn Times (see below) about Katharine Birbalsingh's Michaela Free School. Maybe she was not familiar with Michael Rosen's wonderful poem.

I was trying to make a point about Birbalsingh's strictures on 'installing (sic) impeccable behaviour', children sitting in rows, traditional education and her rejection of any idea that teachers facilitated learning. She has a model of 'private education' which is very old fashioned and out of touch with the real private schools that I come across.

The comments were about her secondary school, which is yet to open, but this week she was on the front page of the Kilburn Times trying to gather support for her bid to open a primary school to feed into Michaela and again, getting the word right this time, of her determination to 'instil impeccable behaviour in pupils while offering a non nonsense approach to learning which will deliver a private standard of education'.

Birbalsingh was quoted as saying, 'We need to show the Department for Education that our primary school will be as popular as our secondary school'. In fact Michaela has been struggling to fill its Year 7 and resorted to advertising in local chicken shops. Its public meetings for potential parents were very poorly attended. As reported here some parents allocated the school by the Council have turned down the offer. Nationally 70% of free school have unfilled places after being open for two years.

As a former primary teacher I shiver at the thought of her 'strict' educational philosophy being imposed on primary aged children.

Birbalsingh says she is seeking parents 'with a professional background' to get involved in her bid. I hope that before doing so they thoroughly research Katharine Birbalsingh's controversial professional background. This includes losing her deputy headteacher job when she used photographs of children at her then school to castigate the comprehensive school system at a Tory Party fringe meetiing and her free school bid being opposed by two other London boroughs.

In the Wembley Ploan space has been earmarked for a new primary school  close to Arena House and North End Road in the Wembley Regeneration area on land which is currently occupied by small industrial and commercial units. Originally this would have been a local authority primary school funded by Section 106 funds as a result of Quintain's redevelopment of the area and the new housing planned.

Meanwhile plans have been approved for a new four form entry primary unit in the grounds of Wembley High School, a new primary unit has opened at Preston Manor High School and additional classes provided  at Preston Park Primary and Park Lane Primary. Ark Academy across the road from Arena House includes a primary department.

Gove's disciple starts consulting on her 'elite traditional' free school

Arena House where 'elite' education will take place

 The Michaela Community Secondary Free School has embarked on a 'consultation' regarding its intention to open at Arena House, opposite Wembley Park Station. 

The person behind the application is Katharine Birbalsingh who was lauded at the Tory Party conference after attacking comprehensive education. Controversially she showed slides of her pupils as part of her attack.

She has used this appearance as a platform to put forward some decidedly odd ideas on the curriculum and is hoping that Michael Gove will follow up his enthusiasm for her right-wing ideas with plenty of tax payers' money for her new school - money that could have been used to support other schools in the borough.

Michaela promise an 'elite traditional' education and there will be a longer extended day with activities including 'competitive' sport, Mandarin, business and financial skills.There will be an emphasis on discipline. I hope Michaela and Ark Academy do not get into a who can be toughest war.

Free schools receive disproportionate funding and it is clear that Arena House will need a lot of costly work before it is fit for purpose. There will be 840 pupils and anyone who knows the building will realise that there is very little space that could be used as a playground. Its position right up against a noisy railway line and adjacent to a busy road is not exactly ideal either.

Emails advertising the consultation have been sent to local schools and consultation meetings will be held at Chalkhill Community Centre, Barnhill Road on Tuesday 26th March (3-5pm) and Thursday 4th April (6-8pm).

If the school does open its 840 pupils will join those of Ark Academy, which is not yet operating at capacity,  the1,000 students who will attend the Brent Town Hall  independent French secondary school,  pupils from the Preston Manor All-through school and children from Chalkhill Primary School in one small area of Wembley.

The consultation brochure can be found HERE

Brent's headaches as it tries to expand secondary school places

Brent Council is faced with increasing demand for secondary school places as the increase in primary numbers moves through the system. Unfortunately, although charged with an overall responsibility to provide school places, to a large extent it exercises 'responsibility without power' as so many Brent secondary schools have become academies or are voluntarily aided and sources of finance are not directly under the Council's control.

An extensive study has led to a report going before the Executive on January 14th which recommends expansion in some schools (subject to governing body approval) and the use of the Gwenneth Rickus Building (Centre for Staff Development) in Brentfield Road as a six forms of entry secondary school. This building which was formerly part of Sladebrook High School, is next to the Swaminarayan Independent School, and is now surplus to requirements with the facility moving to the Civic Centre in the summer.

Adding to the complexity is the fact that three secondary schools, due to parental preference, are currently operating below capacity. These are Copland, following the financial mismanagement allegations; Crest Academy Boys and Newman College. The report states that the first priority is to bring these schools up to scratch so that all their places are used.

Wembley High is ruled out of expansion because it is proposed to make this an all-through school providing places for primary as well as secondary children in line with Ark and Preston Manor. The governing body of Preston Manor have recently decided to become a Cooperative Academy although this is likely to be strongly contested by education unions. The Copland and Alperton expansions are subject to rebuilds under the government's Priority School Buildings Programme.

If this wasn't enough Gove's reforms have thrown another wild card into the game with the report stating that there are three secondary  free school proposals:

In the event that government’s grant application for 2013-14 and following years is inadequate to meet the Council’s entire demand for funding new provision, we are considering the following options:

 Free Schools: The Executive noted that the demand for new school places cannot be met only through the expansion of existing schools due to the limited availability of funding; the Council is required to promote additional ways of creating school places by pursuing the current government agenda on free schools and academies. The latest round of free school applications is being considered by the Department for Education (DfE) in the new year with an opening date of September 2014. Given that the Council is not looking to open a new secondary school at this date, it has not collaborated with any potential providers at this point. There are likely applications submitted for Brent, however. These include:

• an independent school group looking to open an 11 to 18 school in Wembley – of approximately 4 forms of entry, planning to provide Year 10 places immediately as well as Year 7.

• a parent led school in Cricklewood to address perceived lack of choice for parents in that area (6FE).

4.5 In addition an already approved free school has been looking to acquire a site in Brent and open a 6FE secondary school in September 2013.

4.6 All three of the above have said in discussion that they would aim to meet the Partnership Criteria agreed by the Executive in August 2012 but it is clear that two of them would be likely to use the freedoms available to free schools in respect of staffing and the curriculum

Note that although the Council says it has not 'collaborated with any potential providers' they appear, as oen would expect,  to have had discussions with them. The council cannot really take these into account in its present planning as decision making is with the DfE and even when some free school applications have been approved they have failed to materialise.

Clearly the arguments made against academies and free schools on the grounds that they undermine the local authority's  capacity to make clear and rational plans to meet pupil demand gain traction based on these difficulties.  Most of the proposals are given a Medium Risk category in the report with the Gwenneth Rickus proposal deemed High Risk because of potential planning issues.

The Kingsbury High proposal would result in an extremely large school with 435 pupils in each year group based on a class size of 30.

Summary of the proposals:

School	Status	Current Forms of Entry	Proposed Addition Forms of Entry	Delivery of additional forms of entry
Alperton	Academy	7.3	1	2017/18-2019/20 (PFI)
Ark	Academy	6	0
Capital City	Academy	6.5	0
Claremont	Academy	8.4	0
Convent Jesus and Mary	VA Academy	6	0
Copland	Foundation	8	1	2017/18-2019/20 (PFI)
JFS	VA	10	0
Kingsbury	Academy	10.5	4.5	2015/16-2016/17
Newman Catholic	VA Trust	5	0
Preston Manor	Foundation Trust (pending Academy)	8.4	0
Queens Park	Academy	6.7	2	2014/15
St Gregory’s RC	VA	5.9	0
The Crest Boys	Academy	4	1	September 2014
The Crest Girls	Academy	5	1	September 2014
Wembley High	Academy (proposed All-Through)	7	0
Gwenneth Rickus Building	Possible satellite of existing school	0	6	2015/16-2016/17

Wembley Lycée confirmed by Frenck UK Councillor

Olivier Cadic, UK Councillor for the Assembly of French Citizens abroad, has announced on his blog LINK the acquisition of a Wembley property for the education of French children in London,

I announce the acquisition by the French Education Property Trust (FEPT) site in Brent (near Wembley) to construct the third French secondary school in London! This is a great step forward.  The school is expected to reach its initial goal of creating 1,500 additional places in teaching French in London by the start of 2015. Those involved in the planned  school, who helped make this long-awaited progress, deserve the gratitude of our community.

This does not confirm that the site is Brent Town Hall but the passage in the Executive Report I quoted in an earlier blog and the lack of any alternative sites of a similar size in Wembley seems to indicate that it is the Town Hall.

Planning permission will still have to be sought.  If successful it will mean that there are three large schools in fairly close proximity:  the  Lycée, Ark Academy (4-19 year olds) and Preston Manor All-Through School (4-19 year olds).

Preston Manor moves towards Trust status

Preston Manor All-Through School has launched its bid to become a Cooperative Trust with a public notice (below) in local newspapers. At the same time Alperton Hugh School is moving to convert to a Cooperative Academy.

The distinction is important, the former remains locally authority funded with national conditions of service for staff, the latter follows the government's privatisation route. The concern of many, including myself, is that Trust status is only a transitional step to full Academy status.  We will need considerable reassurances from Preston Manor that this is ruled out as an option.

The counter-argument is that Trust status, in a period when Michael Gove is using various methods to try and get all schools to convert to academies (including forcing schools such as Downshill in Harringey) that a Trust gives some kind of protection.

The Preston Manor Co-operative Learning Trust Statutory Notice

Notice is hereby given in accordance with section 19(3) of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 that: the governing body of Preston Manor School intends to make a prescribed alteration to Preston Manor School which is a Foundation School located at Preston Manor School, Carlton Avenue East, Wembley, HA9 8NA

The proposed alteration is to: Together with one or more of the proposed partners to acquire a trust established otherwise than under the School Standards and Framework Act 1998.

The proposed name of the Trust will be The Preston Manor Co-operative Learning Trust and the proposed implementation date is 31st July 2012

The Trust does not already act as a foundation for any foundation or voluntary school.

The proposed members of the trust are:

§ Co-operative College (1 Trustee)

§ The Local Authority (Brent Council) (1 Trustee)

§ The College of North West London (1 Trustee)

§ Wembley Schools Cluster (1 Trustee)

§ Woodfield Special School (1 Trustee)

§ Preston Manor School (2 Trustees)

§ Trust Forum or Council (2 Trustees)

In addition, learners at the school, parents, staff, members of the local community and local community organisations will be able to become members of the Trust. The Trust will have a Stakeholder Forum composed of members, which will be able to appoint some of the Trust’s trustees. As the Trust develops the Trust will welcome other schools joining the Trust.

The rationale for acquiring the Trust, the contribution it will make, and the direction it will provide to the schools can be summarised as follows:

Our desire to be at the heart of our community leads us to seek new challenges and opportunities to help children fulfil their potential. As an all-through school, we build relationships with local families in our Lower School through to our Sixth Form. 

Formally embracing Co-operative Values would reinforce our emphasis on placing responsibilities before rights; this has been embodied in the school motto, Munus Prae Jure, since 1938.

We believe that acquiring Co-operative Trust status will help us to further develop our community and social dimensions and to make this school even better. The proposed Trust, supported by a range of partners and stakeholders who are united behind our vision, will enable the school to benefit from their skills to enhance learning. We hope to not only transform the life chances of every pupil that passes through our own school, but to have lasting positive impact on the wider community as well.

This notice is an extract from the complete proposal.

Copies of the full proposals can be obtained from www.pmanor.brent.sch.uk or from the school by writing to the Governing Body (address above) or e-mail consult@pmanor.brent.sch.uk

Within four weeks from the date of publication of this proposal any person may object to or make comments on the proposals by sending them to the school at consult@pmanor.brent.sch.uk or in writing to the Governing Body of the school (address above). 

Signed:

Ms Christine Collins

Chair of the Governing Body

Dated: June 14^th 2012