Governors' Meeting Last Night

Coombe Road School parent governors, amongst many others, returned disappointed from their meeting with the Gil Sweetenham, Assistant Director for Schools and Chair of the SAR Working Group, as they felt that their concerns had not been heard. One of them simply remarked, "We are not happy people."

Two of the school governors waited with their hands raised throughout the discussion session to ask their question, but were never given an opportunity to do so. One of our governors, Natalie Channon, asked for another meeting, but was refused.

Sue Smith, one of the four parent representatives on the Working Group was present and sat at the front with Gil Sweetenham. After Gil's overview of about 30 minutes, and during the discussion session afterwards that lasted about 45 minutes Sue Smith was allowed speak at length in response to several questions. She has been a vociferous supporter of change from the outset and comes from one of the wards, Regency, that will benefit from the new proposals.

Why was she the only parent representative from the Working Group there? It seems that the Working Group parent reps were asked if they could attend the day before, and the others could not attend as they had commitments elsewhere. Fair enough, but then should she have been allowed to attend either if this was the case, especially when she already has a track record of bias for the proposals?

Tracey-Ann Ross of Schools4Communities was present and had been given permission to be there by Gil Sweetenham as she had an invitation from one of the governors at her junior school. She asked one question, but was not involved in discussion beyond that. She certainly did not get a chance to stand up and talk for the length of time that Sue Smith did.

ACTION

If you are unhappy with this meeting and feel it was biased send letters to the members of the CF&S Committee, to Gil Sweetenham, and to the Argus.

You can find details of who and how to contact people on this blog article:

Who To Contact And How

Technorati Tags: Meetings, News, SAR, Secondary Admissions Review

A Successful Demo That Made News

About 50 parents from Coombe Road, Bevendean and St Martin's attended the protest on Saturday in Bartholomew Square.

The whole event was a big success, with Anne receiving a petition of about 3200 signatures from across Brighton which she has passed on to Gil Sweetehnam and the Working Group. She intends to speak about the petition and on behalf of anti-proposal protesters at the Children, Families and Schools' Commmittee on 29th January.

Many children came with brightly painted banners and big smiles to make their views heard, which they did very clearly throughout as they shouted, "We want choice!" and, "Think again" amongst other slogans.

Cate Miller spoke after the petition handover, calling out areas that had parents at the demonstration. These included: Portslade, Coombe Road, Bevendean, Moulsecoomb, Balfour, Surrenden, Westdene, Withdean, Preston Park and Prestonville. She made it clear that Schools4Communities demands are not unreasonable as she stated that change was needed, but not at any price. The cost to the children's education across large swathes of the city is too great. She also said that parents want proper consultation. There were cheers throughout.

The bad weather held off. As someone I know remarked, "God shines on the righteous!" Believer or not, this blog is obviously not in support of the proposals as they stand. What we want is not impossible to achieve: proposals that are set out reasonably; that are arrived at in a transparent process that makes data and evidence available for all to see and that are also informed by proper consultation with parents.

The protest achieved excellent publicity from the Argus and South Today. You can see the reports here:

South Today: Parents Protest In Catchment Row

Argus: Outrage Over Schools Plan

There has also been a report today about children that were missing from the original data used in the Varndean/Stringer dual catchment.

Argus: 66 "Lost" Children Fuel School Admission Row

NOTICE: FAMILY PROTEST AGAINST SAR THIS SATURDAY in CITY CENTRE!

There will be a peaceful family protest against the SAR this coming Saturday 6th January 2007 between 1-2pm in Bartholomew Square in the city centre, during which a petition of nearly 3000 signatures will be handed to Councillor Anne Meadows.

There are many reasons why we are unhappy with these proposals, but first and foremost we in Coombe Road have an issue with the lack of choice parents will have under the new system. Children from our area have historically gone to many of Brighton's secondary schools and will now find themselves tied to Falmer only. One school does not suit all and parents want the right to be able to apply to schools that they think are best for their children, even if their child is not guaranteed a place at them.

We believe that Coombe Road loses out badly under the new proposals. But we have also lost out during the process of consultation as we did not become aware of the Secondary Admissions Review and the proposed changes until late November. We have just discovered that parents at Bevendean Junior School received no information through the school until a couple of days before the Christmas holiday!

We are hoping that other Councillors will attend and will witness the strength of parents' feeling on this and perhaps even talk to us there.

Parents from all over the city who are concerned about the proposals are invited to attend.

Parents from the Coombe Road area will have a banner and placard making session on Friday after school, 3pm onwards, at Coombe Road School.

If you want to come and help please do. Try to get hold of a cardboard box or two from the local grocers shop or Asdas. If you want to make a banner, you can probably get a cheap sheet from Roseby's and some 1inch baton to attach it to at B&Q. You may also need a good solid stapler. Bear in mind that you will have to transport these to the demo on Saturday yourselves, but a banner to represent each area would be great.
Good luck and see you there!

Technorati Tags: Notice, Petition, Protest, Demo, SAR, Secondary Admissions Review

Notice: Coombe Road School Action Group Meeting this Wednesday

There is a Coombe Road (CR) School Action Group Meeting on Wednesday 3rd January in the School Hall starting at 7pm.

All Coombe Road and St Martin's parents are welcome. Please come and join the action against the Secondary Admissions Review if you haven't already.

You can bring your copies of the petition to hand in at the meeting.

We will also be planning CR School's part in the Saturday 6th January public handover of the complete petition in front of the media and, hopefully, some members of the Council. We want them to see how many of us are unhappy with the proposed changes to admissions and perhaps listen to some of our concerns.

The petition, started by CR School, has gone Brighton-wide. The petition handover itself has been organized by Schools4Communities:

http://www.schools4communities.co.uk

The Coombe Road and St Martin's parents have done extremely well and collected a large number of signatures from across Moulsecoomb, Bevendean and Coldean, so well done! And keep it up, as you can hand them in to the Coombe Road School Office as late as the morning of Thursday 4th January.

Look forward to seeing you at the meeting.

Technorati Tags: Meetings, News, Notice, SAR

Sign the Petition Online - It's Not Too Late

If you haven't signed the petition yet, you can still do it online at the COHORTS website!

And if you have, but know people who might like to, forward the following website address to them:

www.cohorts.co.uk

Those of you who are knocking on doors, keep up the good work!

Technorati Tags: News, Petition, Secondary Admissions Review, puppy, SAR

Notice: Green Party meeting to discuss Academy

The Green Party are holding a meeting downstairs in the Terrace Bar & Grill on Marine Parade on 9th January from 7.15-9pm, donations welcome, and the proposed Falmer Academy is on the agenda.

Alex Knutson, a member of Unison, the union that many of the city's council workers belong to, is to talk about concerns that Unison have over the proposed Academy.

While the Green Party have supported the SAR proposals for fixed catchments, they are very concerned about the Academy. Take a look at this article, published on the Green Party website on 2nd October 2006:

Tangled web of Falmer Academy: Greens call for clarity over school deal

Meanwhile the BHCC website for schools provided the following information for local teachers and schools employees:

BHCC continuation of 14th October 2005 newsflash

and the Council produced a press release on November 5th 2005:

Brighton & Hove Council Press Release

If you want to know more about what the Academy means for Moulsecoomb and Bevendean's children, it might be worth attending this meeting.

Technorati Tags: Falmer Academy, Green Party

News: Letters in the Argus

Well done to all those parents who have managed to get their views published in the Argus over the last few weeks.


1. Mark Bannister of Withdean Crescent who writes in support of FSM banding (Friday 29th December)

2. Sam Type wrote the following letter, which was published on 23rd December (letters published between 23-26th December are not available online)

Dear Paul,

As a parent living in the BN1 9 postcode, I am astounded by the proposed changes to secondary school catchment areas, like Kevin Legan (23rd November). Have the council completely lost sight of their own goals of inclusiveness and fairness?

Along with many others in this less-affluent area of Brighton, I am placed in the ‘dual’ catchment area for the two worst performing schools in Brighton and Hove (according to OFSTED) – Patcham High and Falmer. In fact, as a result of successful petitioning by parents, it seems even Patcham High will not be available to my son because we don’t live in Patcham.

Why have the proposals failed us?

The first failing appears to have been the selection of the Working Group. No one seems able to explain how the group of parents was chosen. They were supposed to represent us all. I wasn’t asked, nor were any other parents from Coombe Road. There were no representatives from Coldean, Moulscoomb, Coombe Road, Bevendean, Hollingdean or Hollingbury and, not-surprisingly, those areas will suffer the most from the proposed scheme.

The parents who were chosen live in Queen’s Park, Hanover and Hove Park. All areas that have now been included within the proposed catchment areas for the best-performing schools (according to OFSTED) – Dorothy Stringer and Varndean.

I am not suggesting that those parents connived to be chosen and then sat down and came up with a proposal aimed solely at benefiting their own children, but without an equal voice given to parents representing all areas of our City, how can the Working Group have been expected to fully understand all our needs?

If the group is supposed to be truly inclusive, then why were only the affluent areas of the City represented?

Having failed so miserably to chose a truly comprehensive group, I supposed it should not be a surprise that the resulting scheme is also not 'comprehensive'.

It seems that the proposed catchment areas have been drawn along lines of affluence in our City. Most evident, perhaps, in the crooked line that marks delineation between Kemp Town and Whitehawk – only the residents of Kemp Town can send their children to Dorothy Stringer and Varndean.

The average house-prices for the catchment areas (taken from the Land Registry figures for July 2006) is an interesting point of reference. The average house-price for the Dorothy Stringer/Varndean catchment area is £225,026. At almost £20,000 less, the average for Falmer/Patcham is £205,876.

So it seems that £20,000 is the cost of better education for Children in Brighton and Hove. Nice if you can afford it.

We are told the consultation process is still going, at least until 12th January 2007. But the people who decide which proposal goes forward is exactly the same Working Group who made the proposals in the first place.

And the response of the Working Group to our concerns?

Sam Type
Coombe Road parent

3. Mr A Craggs on the school admissions lottery
4. Sue Dawson, Canfield Road, Brighton

Further letters to come. I am waiting for a copy of the paper so that I can type them out.

Technorati Tags: Argus, Letters, News