FOI disclosures re academies hits the headlines.

My letter to the Croydon Guardian caught the editors attention. They decided to run a story on the £2m spent on academisation. CROYDON COUNCIL'S RESPONSE NO COMMENT!!!!!!!!!!!

Link to story online.

Original letter:

Dear Editor,

Disclosures under the Freedom Information Act have left many of us in Croydon Save Our Schools stunned. Over £2,000,000 of tax payers’ money has been spent by the Department of Children Schools and Families (DCSF) to change Haling Manor and Ashburton high schools into academies. Extraordinarily, these are just interim costs and we are still waiting for Croydon Council’s costs.

Much of the £2,000,000 has been spent on the feasibility of the proposal, legal and consultative related tasks plus management fees. It appears that the process of academisation is lucrative racket.

It’s awful to think that this money could have been spent on classroom support assistants, extra learning mentors, Saturday homework clubs and the like. The council’s mantra was that that these schools were failing. Closer inspection showed that this assessment was questionable. In particular, Haling Manor was deemed “outstanding” in several areas by Ofsted.

Given that a far higher proportion of the pupils who went to these schools had special education needs, this money would have gone a long way in giving the necessary support to pupils. This is maybe why a Price Waterhouse Coopers report initiated by the government concluded that, “there is insufficient evidence to make a definitive judgement about academies as a model for school improvement”. Everyone knows that a good headmaster coupled with selected investment is the key.

There has always been a feeling that the driver behind the Academies programme is the privatisation of community schools at whatever cost. What is more galling is that both Oasis and Harris – the respective sponsors – are not obliged to pump any of their own money in as they already control other schools.

Most worryingly of all is the fact that both Labour and the Conservatives are pushing this programme of academies. This makes it open season in Croydon because thanks to an undemocratic electoral system those two parties make up the whole council.

Yours sincerely

Shasha Khan

Croydon Green Party

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Climate Camp footage

Went to Blackheath on Friday 28.08.09 to experience my first Climate Camp. I guess not holding it at a specific protest location gives the event an outdoor conference air about it. Full marks everyone involved.


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Energy saving light bulbs

Link to online version
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News of cost of Oasis Academy appears in the papers

Following the press release being sent, the Croydon Advertiser tells readers just how much has been spent on academisation so far in Croydon. This does not include Croydon councils' own costs.
Croydon Save Our Schools are still waiting for that figure.

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OVER £1MILLION SPENT TO CHANGE STATUS OF ASHBURTON TO AN ACADEMY

04.08.09

Press Release immediate:

OVER £1MILLION SPENT TO CHANGE STATUS OF ASHBURTON TO AN ACADEMY.

Croydon Save Our Schools have obtained under the Freedom of Information Act the interim costs of changing the Ashburton schools into an academy. (1). These include the feasibility of the proposal, legal and consultative related tasks plus project management fees. The bill presently stands at £1,058,899.

This follows the earlier revelation that the bill for changing Haling Manor’s status to Academy is presently running at £981,666. The true cost may well exceed this figure.

Commenting on this latest disclosure, Shasha Khan (2) said:

“Tax payers need to be aware that over £2million of DCSF (3) money has already been spent on changing the status of these schools and we’re still waiting for Croydon Council’s own expenditure. There has always been a feeling that the driver behind the Academies programme is the privatisation of community schools at whatever cost.

“It’s awful to think that this money could have been spent on classroom support assistants, extra learning mentors, Saturday homework clubs and the like. The councils’ mantra was that that these schools were failing but little consideration was given to the pupils that went to these schools with special education needs. £1 million would have gone a long way in giving the necessary support.”


Ends

1) A copy of the disclosure letter is available on request.
2) Shasha Khan is a co founder of Croydon Save Our Schools and Green Party Parliamentary candidate for Croydon North
3) Department of Children, Schools and Families. This money doesn’t even consider DSCF staff costs.


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Tags croydon, greenparty

Croydon Greens in the letters pages

Labour's Tony Newman is forced to condemn Labour MEP's.

Director General of British Plastic Federation has a pop.



Response to Peter Davis letter

27.07.09


Dear Sir

Peter Davis thinks that the Green Party is misleading readers when it warns local people about the risks of incineration. To qualify his assumption, he reels off some emission percentages. I could easily counter his argument with a set of telling statistics but I am aware that the public is becoming tired of data being spun to demonstrate one’s case. Instead, I would prefer to investigate the figures he presents.
Mr Davis states that Energy from Waste (EfW) incineration, just like the domestic heating, iron and steel industries, releases dioxins into the air but in lower quantities. I am pleased that Mr Davis recognises EfW releases harmful emissions. Just this month, a representative from the EfW industry, who was touting business for his own company, told the GLA Environment Committee that his plant was a closed system with no emissions! The fact is there are always harmful emissions. If they do not escape into the air, they take the form of a toxic sludge which if not sealed correctly leaks into the water table.
It is also absurd to compare incinerators with smelting works because the government is not planning to roll out a new generation of steel plants in residential areas. Not only that, his rationale is that existing pollution makes new pollution acceptable. The government is already facing prosecution and serious fines for exceeding safe air pollution levels.
However, the most revealing part of his letter is that Mr Davis is the Director-General of the British Plastics Federation (BPF) - a body that would relish a new generation of privately run incinerators that lock councils in to providing high waste streams for up to 35 years. It would mean that that the plastics industry would not be required to reduce the variety of plastics it produces, including chlorinated plastic and other forms that cannot be recycled or safely disposed. Furthermore, it secures the produce, consume and dispose approach that members of the BPF arguably favour to maintain profits as opposed to a zero waste strategy, which will undoubtedly slash margins.
The Green Party is all about the health of people before profits. What we are seeing thanks to our revelations are stakeholders and the other political parties running for cover as the desired outcome of the South London Waste Plan unfolds.

Yours sincerely


Shasha Khan
Croydon Green Party

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Tags croydon, greenparty

The Hokey Cokey

24.07.09
Dear Editor,

I wonder if other readers of your paper are as confused as I am regarding the issue of the incinerator. Over the passed couple of weeks, Tory councillors Fisher and Thomas have been treating us to a version of the ‘hokey cokey’ that ordinarily would have me in stitches, but given the enormity of the issue I don’t know whether to laugh or to cry.
First one says that its not an incinerator, and then the other says, “Nothing is ruled in and nothing is ruled out”. Then Cllr Fisher says he will, “not allow an incinerator in this town”, inferring that Sutton, Kingston and Merton – the other boroughs in the South London Waste Partnership – would welcome the billion pound incinerator, only to be trumped by Cllr Thomas who then states, “I am pretty sure there won’t be one in Kingston, Merton or Sutton either.”
Wow! Unless he is planning on securing the services of illusionist David Blaine, how is he going to make the estimated 7.5 million tonnes of waste disappear??
Thus far, the pronouncements from Croydon Council do not instill much confidence. There needs to be clarity and honesty on this issue and we are getting neither.
Yours sincerely

Shasha Khan
Croydon Green Party


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Tags croydon, greenparty

Addiscombe Carnival video

Where else would you find the Green Party sandwiched between an estate agents' company car and convoy of Hells Angels?




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