Tag Archives: haringey-schools

Funding for Haringey's schools

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Aha! Now the fight to get fair funding for Haringey schoolchildren is getting the support of teaching unions in Haringey. Everyone in Haringey recognises the injustice of us having to pay inner London teacher salaries but only receiving outer London per pupil funding. The differential is stark. Our kids get £1,183 less than children in Camden, Hackney or Islington.

I was able to raise this issue again on the floor of the House last Thursday. One day we will get it through to the Government that this is just not fair. Our schools are struggling terribly with their budgets – and if ‘every child matters’ how come our children don’t matter as much as them next door?

Rhodes Avenue Primary School consultation

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From the consultation on expanding Rhodes Avenue School, Haringey Council says:

“The first stage of consultation on a possible expansion of Rhodes Avenue Primary School in Alexandra ward to three forms of entry (90 reception places) ended on the 28 November 2008 …

“The Council has considered the views of the respondents, and balanced those views with the need to increase the supply of school places in the area.

“The Council has decided to go ahead with the publication of the statutory notices.

“The Statutory Notices will be published on Friday 24th April 2009. Statutory Notices will be published outside the school gates and in the local papers.

“This will start the formal consultation process and will last for four weeks. The process will end on Friday the 22nd May 2009. All interested parties are invited to write in and make their views know to the Acting Head of Place Planning, 48 Station Road, Wood Green N22 7TY by this date.”

So if you want to respond to the ‘statutory’ consultation – then go to http://www.haringey.gov.uk/rhodesconsultation for more information – and by all means post up your comments on this blog too.

Making the case for fair funding for Haringey's schools

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I’ve been wondering at what point the unfair funding our Haringey children get compared to neighbouring boroughs (i.e. £1000+ per head less!) would force our schools into impossible positions. It’s happening now.

I visited St Michael’s in Highgate because – despite the miracles they have worked with their meagre budget – the coming year is posing a real problem. If the shortfall from unfair funding was made up – they would be able to deliver the schools service that parents expect and children deserve. I don’t know how they have manged up to now. Seems to me, in Haringey, you find that the LEA puts its discretionary funding to those schools who run out of money, so schools who do perform don’t get their fair share.

Anyway – I am going to arrange a meeting with Haringey – for myself, the Head and the Chair of Governors – to plead the case.

I will also write back to the Minister for Schools, Jim Knight, who has just responded to my request that we have a representative on the Review Board looking at school funding to start in 2011. That is where what Gordon Brown called an ‘anomaly’ when I questioned him at PMQs is meant to be ironed out.

But they can’t guarantee that it will be equalised (i.e. that Haringey will get the same as neighbours). And now they won’t allow a rep from Haringey to make sure our voice is heard. Jim assures me that they are well aware of Haringey’s plight. They bloody well should be – as I have screamed it at them on every occasion. Even Haringey Council have lumberingly and lately joined in my call for fair funding.

But awareness that we are being ripped off of £1,000 per pupil is not the same as giving us the money. And give it us before 2011. We need it now!

Figures reveal increase in primary school places problem

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The crisis of primary school places in Haringey took further turn for the worse this week after it emerged that 142 children across the borough have not received their first, second, third or fourth choice for the next school year. Figures revealed by the Liberal Democrats show that compared to 2006, 58 more children in Haringey will not have places at their preferred primary school this year – an increase of 70% in three years.

Cllr Gail Engert, Liberal Democrat Children, Schools and Families spokesperson, comments:

“These new figures show that the problem for local families is only getting worse. One hundred and forty-two families this year will have to send their children to a school that is not any of their choices.

“Labour have continuingly been behind the game, waiting too long to recognise that families are struggling to get their children into local schools and now we have the evidence to show that their dithering has created a further problem.

“In Alexandra ward, only now are we seeing action from Haringey Council when this was needed two or more years ago.”

Lynne Featherstone MP, adds:

“The hardship and distress caused to families is huge and unacceptable. It seems ridiculous that we have the same story from Haringey Council every year – not enough places and more families unable to send their children to their preferred schools.”

Liberal Democrats welcome school place expansion

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News that Haringey Council will seek to provide more school places in Alexandra ward from 2011 has been welcomed by local Liberal Democrats.

The recommendation to be made at this week’s Council Cabinet meeting proposes to carry out a formal consultation to expand Rhodes Avenue Primary School to three-form entry. This will be good news for local families who have been beset with problems since 2007, when Liberal Democrats launched their campaign to combat the school place black hole.

Cllr Gail Engert, Liberal Democrat Children, Schools and Families spokesperson, comments:

“I am very glad that Haringey Council has decided to act on this longstanding issue and taken note of our campaign to help families in Alexandra ward who have really struggled to get their children local school places in the last two years.

“I hope as many parents as possible will respond to the consultation.”

Lynne Featherstone MP adds:

“The recommendation to finally address the school places issue is very welcome. For too long a school places black hole in Alexandra ward made parents lives a misery. Hopefully this will mark an end to this shortfall.”

Pressures on local school places

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So – interesting. Just listening to one of the new reports saying that due to people taking their kids out of private school, secondary schools are experiencing an influx.

Only last Friday I asked our senior education officer at Haringey what preparations they were making in case this happened. He said that there was some capacity – and that the new school being built in Haringey Heartlands would also come on stream in due course. But there is a birthrate increase of great proportion coming along too – so although the first pressures from that will be on primary schools which have been expanding capacity like billy-o here – the extra capacity at secondary will also in due course be taken up to a great extent.

Anyway – he didn’t seem to think that this would be a problem as the last thing that people do in a recession if they can possibly avoid it is take their children out of their education at private school. But the report on the TV news said different – which is why I raised it as an issue.

So I hope Haringey LEA (local education authority) will keep a close watch on this – as many children in Haringey are sent to private schools – and extra pressures on school places end up impacting everyone, private or not.

I did ask what figures Haringey had for children who live in Haringey but who do not go to state school here. Apparently Haringey have no figures available on this! Last time I got any sort of figure was years ago – and it was that 40% go out of borough or to private schools.

So – don’t know if the figure is still in that league – but imagine the pressures if a large proportion of those wanted or needed to go to our schools. Boy scouts motto – be prepared! Or at least find out the figures and keep a close watch!

Winning fairer funding for Haringey's schools

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Headed yesterday to the Youth Summit – except when I arrived they said it was the ‘Schools Forum’ not the ‘Youth Summit’. Assuming (wrongly) that my diary had simply got the wrong title – I found I had missed the pleniary session and so selected one of six workshops to sidle into and listen.

Sometimes you do have to think that fate steps in and plays her hand. I chose a session on school funding where a civil servant from the ministry was facilitating. Stephen Kingdom is, in fact, the Deputy Director in charge of School Funding and chairs the DSG (Direct School Grant) Review Group. This workshop was looking at possible changes to the DSG from 2011.

Of all the workshops in all the world – I had to walk into his. Play it again Stephen! What am I talking about? I am talking about my ‘fair funding’ for Haringey School campaign: our local schools are taken as inner London in respect of costs such as teachers’ wages – but then taken as ‘outer London’ in respect of Government funding. As outer schools get less funding than inner, it means we in Haringey get the worst of both worlds – higher costs, lower income. The funding gap works out at £1,000 per child per year – and it’s getting worse, as that’s up from £736 in the previous funding round.

It is completely and utterly unfair. So when I discovered this a while back I got a question at Prime Minister’s Questions where I was able to ask Gordon Brown directly about what he was going to do about this dreadful situation and he agreed it was an ‘anomaly’ and would be looked at.

Subsequently I had a meeting with Jim Knight – the school’s minister – who said that there was going to be a review. And – guess what – this workshop that I had ended up in was part of the consultation around the review!

I put my hand up nearly at the end to ask about this funding issue. Stephen said that it was my meeting/letter to Jim Knight that had raised the issue at a timely moment and therefore this particular issue was now included in the review. I pressed him again – but he said that he couldn’t say whether the differential issue would be resolved in the review or not.

Luckily I have another idea that will help him, Jim and the Government. This is so important to Haringey children – that I am now going to write to Jim to ask that a Haringey representative be appointed to the Review Board. That way at least we will know that the issue will be properly kept at the forefront of any changes to the DSG!

Then as I was leaving – I asked again about the Youth Summit and the reception lady said “oh yes, it’s in room G8”. So I found that after all!

Local coach crash victims get right to apply to local school

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Andrew Smith, Caroline Macaulay, Delilah Macaulay-Smith and Lynne FeatherstoneHurrah! Bureaucracy at Haringey Council triumphed over – for one local family.

The Macaulays had to move into temporary accommodation in Finchley after a coach crash demolished large parts of their home. They wanted to apply to send their child to a local school but no, said Haringey, you’re not living locally.

After months of correspondence, Haringey Council finally saw sense – and agreed that yes, if you have been forced out of your home to live somewhere else whilst it is rebuilt, then you can still apply for a local school. So – hurrah!

Full story in the news release on my website.

Why I'm so proud of the children at Nightingale School

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Went to Nightingale School to talk to them about the wonderful project they have taken up – Schools for Africa. This is a charity set up by Sally Keeble (the Labour MP I went to South Africa with last year), who has done lots of work on AIDS. The charity basically gets children here to fill boxes to send to Africa for children there who have nothing. It’s not clothes or shoes or money – it’s boxes for Christmas that will have things like colouring books, crayon, pencils, some toiletries and make up and some toys.

I wrote to all the schools in Haringey asking if they would like to join this project – and Nightingale stepped forward. I suspect as the years go by more will join in.

Anyway – on Monday a group of the children came up to Parliament so I showed them around and they then joined children from all over the country who are doing ‘Schools for Africa’ and heard from speakers from the World Food Organisation to Levi Roots (of Reggae, Reggae Sauce fame) telling them about the poverty and AIDS and all that is needed in Africa.

And today I went to the school assembly to tell them about the project, how it would work and who the boxes (24) will go to at Christmas. The particular cause that the Nightingale children will be supporting is AIDS orphans who are in orphanages set up by surviving women with AIDS. There are so many of these orphans – something like 650,000 who simply cannot survive and look after their siblings on their own.

Can’t think of a better way to put a smile on children’s faces – both there and here – than by this really brilliant project. Really proud of the Nightingale children!