May Day March in Croydon

11am Saturday 30 April - Croydon May Day march and celebration
To celebrate May Day this year Croydon Trades Union Council will be holding its annual march and celebration on Saturday 30 April.

We will be assembling at 11am Sat 30 April at Elmwood Road, West Croydon to march through the town centre to Ruskin House where we will have speakers and music from 1pm.

The march this year will support our ongoing campaign again the cuts to local jobs and services and demonstrating that there is an alternative.
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Tags croydon, greenparty

Video of London Demo: Israeli attack on Gaza flotilla

Members Croydon Green Party marched with 20,000 other demonstrators on Saturday (5th June) in protest against the Israeli attack on the Gaza Flotilla.

The Green Party has called upon the UK Government, and the EU, to apply
pressure to lift the ongoing blockade of Gaza, which makes essential humanitarian aid for the population of Gaza virtually impossible to deliver.

After the march, Croydon Green Party member Gordon Ross said:

“I condemn the attack on the flotilla. Israel has no justification in attacking a humanitarian flotilla in international waters.”



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Tags croydon, greenparty

Letter to the Croydon Advertiser re Haling Manor 'consultation' meeting

Dear Editor,

I feel compelled to write to your paper having attended the Haling Manor sham consultation meeting, for its conversion to Harris Academy Purley.

Once the slide show presentation narrated by the Chief Executive of Harris Federation was over, a procession of parents, students and concerned individuals took turns to slam the proposal. In fact, a number were at pains to point out that the deal was already done because the position for headmaster is already being advertised.

Pupils and parents bombarded the panel with facts and experiences that indicate why Haling Manor is rated in the top 3 per cent in the country when taking into account the numbers of pupils on free school meals, special educational needs and English not spoken as a first language.

By the end of the evening the Harris contingent and representatives from the council looked beleaguered and isolated. Unbelievablely, Mr Moynihan, the Harris Chief Executive, asserts in your article that the meeting "went very well!". Dave Hill, the Director of Children’s services, struggled to keep the frustration of so many under control.

The most memorable moment for me occurred when a Haling Manor pupil stood up and asked why Lord Harris (Harris Carpets), who was keen to point out how wealthy he had become with just one GCSE, couldn’t just give the school £1 million pound if he wanted to improve the school; was it because of his ego that he needed to take it over and emblazon the front of the school with his name? It bears all the hallmarks of a chainstore retailer looking for suitable premises.

Earlier the Harris and council representatives stated that Haling Manor was a good school and the headmaster was great. The whole thing is nonsense.

Labour councillors attempting to represent the objecting voices are dismissed by the Conservatives as being opportunistic because Labour Minsters, Jim Knight and Ed Balls, agree with the Tory proposals.

The only lifeline left for the council must be to hold a fair ballot on the decision. One was offered to parents in Sheffield when similar disgust was vented at the council.

Yours sincerely

Shasha Khan
Croydon Green Party


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Tags croydon, greenparty

Important letter which didn't get published on school closures

Dear Editor,

The Secondary Schools Review is a glaring reminder of how undemocratic central government and local government can be.

If you consider the academisation of schools in Croydon, both Labour and the Conservatives are in favour of handing over schools to unaccountable private businesses and faith groups. Despite overwhelming opposition during the informal consultation, scrutiny committee meeting and emergency full council meeting, the voices of parents, teachers and pupils are simply not being heard.

Any attempts by Labour to represent the objecting voices are dismissed by the Conservatives as being opportunistic because Labour Minsters, Jim Knight and Ed Balls, agree with the proposals, wholeheartedly. This demonstrates how the absence of a principled opposition is jamming the effectiveness of the council.

The statutory consultation runs from 27th February to 9th April. However, it was only Friday 13th March that the meeting dates were formerly announced! We should have an opposition that can take the Conservative council to task over this mockery of a consultation.

Unbelievably, in other areas of the country, it is Labour who is putting forward proposals to close schools and reopen them as academies, resulting in Conservative oppositions’ objecting to the proposals!

In the foreseeable future there will be more instances in Croydon where those affected will come to realise how their valid views can be dismissed. The building of an incinerator could be the next issue fitting this pattern and it could be a community near you that it will affect.

As long as there is the width of a cigarette paper between the two main parties, it is up to local communities to rally around an issue to form the genuine opposition. Please go along to the consultation meetings listed below:

Thursday 2 April: Ashburton Infant School and Junior School – 5pm-6.30pm
Tuesday 31 March: Haling Manor High School – 5.30pm -7pm
Thursday 2 April: Ashburton Community School – 7.15pm – 8.45pm

Yours sincerely

Shasha Khan
Croydon Green Party

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Tags croydon, greenparty

Meeting with Haling manor Student Council

A few days ago I had the privilege of discussing Croydon council's secondary education proposals with Haling Manor’s Student Council.

I went along with fellow Croydon SOS colleague Jane Eades. She was much more familiar with the surroundings being a retired teacher. As for me, it was slightly unusual to be around pupils in a school during opening hours.

I’ve attended meetings and hustings in schools but never when pupils are about. They were quietly going about there business to and from lessons.

The picture the council portrays of this school is one of unruly behaviour BUT nothing could be further from this notion. There genuinely seemed to be mutual respect between pupils and teachers.

The question and answer session with the Student Council went really well. There were two representatives from each year and the questions asked were intelligent and deliberated. It will be an absolute travesty if this school with an intake of 30 per cent who are refugees and asylum seekers is forced to close and reopen as Harris Academy South Croydon (or something similar). And it is the pupils at the school who will be the ones most affected by the changes so it is absolutely right that they fully understand what is going on.

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Tags croydon, greenparty