PARENTS MEET TO DEMAND ANSWERS OVER PRIVATISATION ATTEMPT ON LOCAL SCHOOLS IN RUGBY

(Part of the audience at the packed meeting)

(Lorna Dunleavy Speaking - Sorry for poor quality of picture)

80 parents and members of the local community gathered together last monday (15th Oct) in a packed meeting to ask questions and demand answers about the proposed transfer of Newbold Riverside and Oakfield Primary School as an Academy to REAch2, a private company based nearly 100 miles in London - with the school building and land being given to this controversial company on a 125 years lease.

One of the organisers of the meeting, Lorna Dunleavy, a local parent from Newbold talked at the meeting about the lack of meaningful consultation with local parents and the local community by the school authorities and her opposition to the poorly thought out and risky idea of academies. Especially the poor choice of REAch2 who have come in for a great deal of criticism from the Teachers Unions and educational groups for the way they run schools.

Lorna said the Governors of both schools must involve the parents and the local community in planning the future of the schools and be open and transparent in the way they deal with the parents concerns.

Parents at the meeting, really for the first time were able to get a clear perspective on the pro's and cons of the move to become an academy and were also reminded that come November they will lose any right to have a say over day to day issues and the way the schools are run - including local people being removed as Governors.

Alasdair Smith from the Anti Academies Alliance explained the undemocratic nature of the move to academies and that it was part of the CONDEM Government attempt to privatise education in the same way they are attempting in the NHS.

The need for parents to attend the TUC demonstration against the cutis on the 20^th October was raised by speakers from the platform and from the floor – Rugby Green Party members also leafleted the meeting with details of the protest.

(Alasdair Smith from the Anti Academies Alliance)

(Tony Souter from the National Union of Teachers)

Tony Souter and Anne Jones from the local NUT explained the threat to teaching standards and the aim to bring in untrained teaching staff in the school and asked parents to join with teachers in saying NO to academies.

NO MICHEAL GOVE - NO MARK PAWSEY! 

BOTH ARE TOO BUSY TO ENGAGE ANXIOUS PARENTS

Michael Gove the Education Minster was invited to the meeting as it would be him and his Department in London who local parents amazingly would need to contact if their was a problem at the school that could not be resolved by the new company and not Warwickshire County Council Education Department as is the case now. 

Michael Gove is also putting pressure on local Governors to go down this route of privatisation and parents thought it only fair if Gove explains himself in person – but he refused.

Rugby MP, Mark Pawsey (Tory) also did not attend to explain in person, why his Government thinks it such a good idea for primary schools in Rugby to be run by a private company in London.

(Lorna Dunleavy explains the situation to Will Duckworth)

Unlike Gove and Pawsey, Will Duckworth (Deputy Leader of the Green Party and former teacher) attended the meeting  (during a visit to Rugby to meet local members) and met Lorna Dunleavy earlier at her home to discuss the issues and how best he and Green Party can help at a local and national level with the fight to defend the two schools.

PARENTS DEMAND MEETING WITH GOVERNORS

Parents made a clear demand at the meeting for the Governors to meet with them as a representative group to discuss their concerns and for the Governors to explain their actions - this was after parents were told they would only be seen individually by the Acting Head Teacher at Newbold Riverside.

 STOP PRESS

PARENTS PRESSURE WORKS! 

It has been decided that the meeting with parents and governors will take place as originally planned at 7pm. Monday 22nd Oct at Newbold Riverside Primary. I urge all parents that are concerned to attend this meeting so that they can ask any questions regarding academy conversion. If you are unable to make the meeting then please contact Julie, Zoe or me with any points you would like us to raise. We have reached a crutial stage in our campaign. This is the biggest change in state education since the 1940's. We have a duty our children and to future generations of children to do everything in our power to resist the change. Keep the pressure on!

From  http://www.facebook.com/rugbyparentsagainstacademies 

WHY SHOULD A PRIMARY SCHOOL IN NEWBOLD IN RUGBY BE OWNED BY A PRIVATE COMPANY IN LONDON? - COME TO THE PUBLIC MEETING ON MONDAY 15TH OCTOBER AT 7.30PM

Newbold Riverside & Oakfield Primary School Parents Against Academies invite ALL

 to our Public Meeting, Monday 15th October, Oakfield Club, 32 Bilton Road at 7.30pm.

Micheal Gove MP - Minster for Education invited!

As well as NUT, Anti Academies Alliance and  Warwickshire County Council representative

Rugby Green Party members have actively been supporting parents at Newbold Riverside Primary School school in their fight against the plans for a private company based in London called REAch2 to come in and take over their village school on a 125 year lease.

Parents (led by ex Green Candidate Lorna Dunleavy) have been kept in the dark about the plans for their school to become an 'Academy' and even worse a link with the  controversial REAch2 London based private company.

REAch2 have come under fire from educationalists, teachers unions and according to the Anti Academies Alliance have plans to remove local community Governors from schools, paying massive salaries to head teachers to do their bidding at the same time as using poorly paid and untrained teaching staff and removing monitoring from many aspects of basic standards we expect in the education provision in our schools including financial accountability.

One of the biggest concerns for local parents and the local community is that the lease of the school, the building and large amount of land at Newbold Riverside would go to REAch2 for 125 years and that only the Secretary of State for Education - currently the awful Micheal Gove could remove this company,  but only with 7 years notice we understand.

While New Labour thought up the idea of Academy Schools (Which unfortunately is no surprise) the CONDEM Government and Micheal Gove has grasp the nettle fully and seen a chance to promote the ideology of privatisation - where by the interests of big business out strips the needs of students, parents, teachers and the local community.

REAch2 have also cast their sights on the newly rebuild school called Oakfield Primary in Rugby and parents at Newbold  Riverside have been trying to ensure that parents and teachers at Oakfield  are fully aware of the proposals and not just the partial information that has been provided so far.

Rugby Green Party applauds  local parents for not taking the threat to their school lightly and demanding answers to their concerns.

We support the call by parents to both Governing Boards to step away from the abyss and reject the ill informed  choice of giving the schools to REAch2 in November and instead postponed any decisions to  allow proper detailed discussions with parents that fully investigate the risks of taking this move and also the need to become an academy.

by Roy Sandison (Old boy Newbold (Riverside) Middle school)