Schools

On Thursday 30th July Ben Bradshaw's (secretary of State at the Department of Culture Media and Sport) secretary called Hands Off Lewisham Bridge with "a very important message"; that the English Heritage Grade II listing awarded to Lewisham Bridge Primary School remains in place. This is a great victory for the campaign as it means that Lewisham Council must return the children and staff to the school in September as council officer Chris Threlfall promised. We expect the return to school should not subject to any delay that will cause staff and parents further disruption. For example we...

Despite a 100% vote for strike action with a very high turnout of NUT members at St Pauls Way (STPW) school last term, the union failed to pull the teachers out in a bid to fight against compulsory redundancies. Instead, the union negotiators persuaded the school management and the Local Education Authority (LEA) to agree to push back the date by which compulsory redundancies would have to happen until after January next year. Teachers at the school felt that this was just delaying the inevitable and saw the threat of the redundancies as an attack on the union rather than just a restructure...

The parents and activists who have been occupying the roof of Lewisham Bridge primary school for nine weeks to prevent its closure were told the bailiffs would arrive to evict them at 10.30am on Wednesday 24 June. However, they had other plans. The morning saw a big police presence at the school, including a helicopter buzzing overhead for intimidation. But the hundred people who gathered to resist the eviction mean the police and bailiffs were unable to act. The bailiffs entered the school, but made no attempt to gain access to the roof. The police left around 12.30pm, with most of the...

From the Hands Off Lewisham Bridge campaign An eviction notice has been served on the occupation at Lewisham Bridge. Bailiffs are arriving at 10.30 on Wednesday morning. Hands Off Lewisham Bridge are asking for your support in resisting the eviction. We need as many people as possible to stay overnight on Tuesday. If you can't stay overnight then please come down as early as possible on Wednesday morning to support the occupation. We want to let Lewisham Council know that they are evicting people who have been peacefully protesting over the destruction of community education at our school...

On Monday 1 June, the first day back after half-term, hundreds of students at Parkview School in Barrow-in-Furness walked out of their school hall to stage a protest on the school sports fields. The head teacher, who had previously licensed students expressing opposition to the school being closed to make way for an Academy, told the Year 7 to 10 students in assembly that the protest must not go ahead. But, as year 10 student Megan Rose said, “They tried to talk us down to stop us from protesting. If we didn’t come out it would have shown we had lost, but we are going to win”. Phil Solloway...

Parents at Charlotte Turner School, Benbow Street, Greenwich, SE8 3DH, have occupied their school to oppose its planned closure in September by the council. They released this statement on 7 May: “Following a false consultation parents at Charlotte Turner have occupied their school. We have protested outside the town hall, put questions at a cabinet and council meeting but we were fobbed off. 297 parents replied to a consultation on the council’s plan. 296 were against and only 1 parent in agreement. Yet the council have decided to listen to the 1 not the 296 and plan to close the school in...

Today (23 April) I visited the occupation of Lewisham Bridge Primary School by parents protesting against its closure. Parents and teachers are occupying the roof of this primary school threatened with closure, in order for the building to be demolished and replaced with a privately run mega-school accomodating 3-16 year olds. The decision to close Lewisham Bridge was made some time ago without consultation with parents who today expressed their anger at that the decision to give up on Lewisham Bridge was made at a meeting they were unaware of, yet their lack of attendance has been used as...

Glasgow school closures; Unison health conference; Trinity Mirror journalists' dispute; London Overground workers win 22% pay rise. GLASGOW SCHOOLS : On 23 April a meeting of Glasgow City Council will vote on whether to go ahead with a sweeping programme of closures of primary schools and nurseries throughout the city. The original proposals envisaged the closure of 13 primary schools and 11 nurseries, attended by some 2,000 children. The Council, especially the Labour Group, have been on the defensive ever since. This is because their arguments in favour of closure do not stack up. One...

The occupation by parents of the Wyndford Primary School and St. Gregory’s Primary School in Glasgow which began on Friday 3 April is part of a Glasgow-wide campaign (Save Our Schools) triggered by proposals for a city-wide cull of primary schools and nurseries. In January a meeting of the Glasgow City Council Executive Committee agreed in principle to shut down 13 primary schools and 12 nurseries, attended in total by more than 2,000 children. Later a full meeting of the City Council endorsed the proposals. In previous rounds the Council has defended school closures on the basis that old...

The occupation of the Wyndford Primary School and St. Gregory’s Primary School in Glasgow which began on Friday 3 April is part of a Glasgow-wide campaign (Save Our Schools) triggered by proposals for a city-wide cull of primary schools and nurseries. In January a meeting of the Glasgow City Council Executive Committee agreed in principle to shut down 13 primary schools and 12 nurseries, attended in total by more than 2,000 children. Later a full meeting of the City Council endorsed the proposals. In previous rounds of school closures the City Council has defended closures on the basis that...