Saturday, January 22, 2011

Tidemill says no


Deptford Says No to Tidemill Academy reports that governors at Tidemill Primary School have withdrawn their application to the Department for Education to become one of the Government's new primary academy schools.

The move follows an extensive campaign against the proposals by Deptford Says No! They have demonstrated outside the school, supported a legal challenge by a Tidemill parent and their posters are everywhere to be seen in the area. They also made a video which doubles up as an excellent documentation of the community around Deptford High Street today:


The decision by the Governors to withdraw the application seems to have been prompted by a reconsideration of the financial benefits to the school. Academies will receive their funding directly from the Government rather than via the local Council, and their budgets will increase. But they will then have to pay themselves for all the services that the Local Authority provides. So it's a moot point how much better off they would end up - never mind the fact that any increase in funding to academies would be at the expense of other schools (since the overall budget is not growing, an increase to academies could only reduce the budget share for the rest).

The Tidemill controversy has highlighted one of the many contradictions of government policy - the rhetoric is all about localism and the community owning its schools but in reality a handful of governors can vote through a drastic proposal whatever the community actually wants. Schools who expressed an interest last summer in becoming academies were put under enormous government pressure to apply as quickly as possible, with constant phonecalls from DfE officials. In the case of Tidemill the proposal was rushed through with meaningful consultation seemingly an after thought.
We don't have to attribute bad faith to those governors and staff who supported the bid. With an uncertain future for education funding, some schools are making the leap of faith that becoming an academy will give them more security. Some schools may benefit in the short term from this, others will fail, but the real issue is the broader picture. Apart from the negative impact on other local schools, academies are also paving the way for a break up of the comprehensive education system. The Government's aim is clearly for education to become a market in which individual schools compete with each other as businesses, with an increasing role for the private sector.

2 comments:

  1. To help fight back against the banks, please tweet and retweet the following:

    ***************************
    Hit back at the banks: BANK RUN on Revenge Wednesday, 26 Jan 2011. Info at: tinyurl.com/bankrun2011 PLEASE FORWARD THIS
    ***************************



    BANK RUN ON REVENGE WEDNESDAY, 26 JAN
    =====================================

    On Wednesday 26 January 2011, thousands of people in the UK will try to cause a bank run by withdrawing money from their bank accounts, in person, at high street bank branches.

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    Please print the following, complete the details, and hand it to your bank around 1pm on 26 Jan 2011.

    **********************************
    NAME: __________________________
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    ________________________________
    ACCOUNT NUMBER: ___________________
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    NAME OF BANK:_____________________

    To: the Branch Manager
    Dear Sir,
    I wish to withdraw ____________ pounds from my account in cash, immediately.
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    __________________ (signed)
    **********************************

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  2. Lewisham People before profit, have organised the largest local mass demo with over 100 groups taking part from 11am on Saturday 19th Feb, a mass march will leave Lewisham Town Hall at 1pm.Go to the website for full update, this demo needs all of us to stand together and oppose Con-Dem amd Labour Lewisham Cuts.. This will be huge./

    ReplyDelete