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Parents in Lewisham Occupy School Roof in protest at closure!

Melinda said:
Doesnt the borough need a variety of schools though?
Click to expand...

It does - but this move decreases the variety.

If one school is run by an organisation known for teaching high acheivers, who refuse to have a traveller's unit or an SEN unit, then the other schools will have to take the rest of the kids with SEN - and the Travellers' kids will have less choice too. It is possible to have a high acheiving school that also has an SEN unit - there are quite a few kids with SEN who are also gifted and talented at some (or all) subjects.

Making kids travel further to school is also not defensible in any way.

Edit: just read the Facebook link. How on Earth has the council justified closing the school mid-year and spending some of the school day bussing kids to a temporary? I really don't understand that at all. All the kids are going to learn from that is that they don't matter at all.
 
Report of how things are going:

Today Sunday 26th April is the fourth day of our occupation of the roof at Lewisham Bridge Primary School.

Parents and school supporters are protesting against the council’s decision to replace our local primary school with a 3-16 years old school that will be run by a private company Leathersellers.

This week the council started to bus the school’s children over a mile and a half to the Mornington Centre in New Cross, to force the abandonment of the present site in preparation for its demolition.

On Thursday a group of parents decided to occupy the school’s roof top, to send a message to the Lewisham Council and in particular Sir Steve Bullock, that we want the school re-opened now. That the children to return to their classes at Lewisham Bridge immediately and that this scheme is abandoned.

Since then there has been a great respoanse from parents and local people and former students. Over 200 signatures have been collected in a petition. There has been a continuous flood of people visiting the protest on the roof. On Friday 6 workers from Visteon Enfield including Kevin Nolan and Piers Hood visited to tell a group of at least 100 parents and supporters about their own experiences. Children have drawn their own posters demanding “Save Our School”.

Over the weekend we have been discussing next steps. We have been in contact with occupying parents in Glasgow. The local Socialist Party councillors have visited. In particular what we need now is for the local Lewisham NUT to mobilise their support behind the campaign. We want local Lewisham NUT reps and officials to join the protest and to discuss taking action in our support. Anyone is welcome to come down and help out. Don’t be shy
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am reading about this now, but just saw this that made me awwww!

James Says:
October 3, 2008 at 7:19 pm

COME ON I AM IN LEWISHAM BRIDGE PRIMRAY SCHOOL AND I WANT IT SO SATY IM IN YR 5 AND AND I DONT WANT TEENS COMING OVER AND BULLYING ALL OF US SO THERE LEAVE OUR SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

:)
 
scifisam said:
It does - but this move decreases the variety.

If one school is run by an organisation known for teaching high acheivers, who refuse to have a traveller's unit or an SEN unit, then the other schools will have to take the rest of the kids with SEN - and the Travellers' kids will have less choice too. It is possible to have a high acheiving school that also has an SEN unit - there are quite a few kids with SEN who are also gifted and talented at some (or all) subjects.

Making kids travel further to school is also not defensible in any way.

Edit: just read the Facebook link. How on Earth has the council justified closing the school mid-year and spending some of the school day bussing kids to a temporary? I really don't understand that at all. All the kids are going to learn from that is that they don't matter at all.
Click to expand...
Thanks for this post.

Im with you on the mechanics of how this fiasco has been handled. Its shocking that bussing kids to school off site is seen as a solution, no matter how temporary. Its incredibly disruptive.

Im also very much with you on an inclusive approach to SEN, also because of the school's location extra language support might be necessary.

But ultimately its a matter of balance; its essential for Lewisham kids to think they are capable of achieving. How often do we see kids who have done well through primary education (and Lewisham has some excellent primary schools) become bored, distracted and disinterested in classes come year 8? So many kids know no one expects anything of them and they accept it.

Ideally it would be Lewisham Council providing the school- but they have shown over and over in a number of local schools that they simply cant.
They are letting children down- making then feel as if 5 A-C GCSEs, being proficient in a language or in science is something way beyond them.

Thats not good enough for anyone's kid.
 
Privatisation could be the final nail in the coffin for Neo Labour. The annoying thing is while the likes of Miliband and Mandelson will fuck off to high paid jobs elsewhere, the few with principles will find themselves left with a party that is bankrupt thru no fault of their own
 
From the facebook site:
"Join the march to say Hands off Lewisham Bridge"
Host: Hands Off Lewisham Bridge Primary School
Start Time: 09 May at 12:00
End Time: 09 May at 14:00
Where: Cornmill Gardens
 
dennisr said:
From the facebook site:
"Join the march to say Hands off Lewisham Bridge"
Host: Hands Off Lewisham Bridge Primary School
Start Time: 09 May at 12:00
End Time: 09 May at 14:00
Where: Cornmill Gardens
Click to expand...

Went to this. There was a good turnout :)

Here's a shot of the rally by Lewisham Clocktower:

3518184600_2733bd3d92.jpg
 
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.

Lewisham Council still don't have planning permission for their new
school. Lewisham Council still haven't told us why the decant had to
take place at Easter, when children were taking SATs and banding
tests. Lewisham Council still haven't told us why they are prepared to
wash their hands of the responsibility of educating our children.

If Lewisham Bridge Primary School is given to Leathersellers we
parents will have no say in the governance of our school. Staff will
be employed by Leathersellers who will set their own terms and
conditions taking those teachers out of a collective national teaching
body.

This is privatisation! This is bringing the market into our kids'
education, where the only motivation is profit and the only measure is
league tables and headcount. Competition will be the name of the game.
Trusts and academies will compete for those children they believe to
be desirable and leave those whom they don't on the scrapheap. Why
have Prendergast rejected the Travellers Education Service that used
to be based at the school? Why have Prendergast rejected the proposal
to establish a SEN unit at the new school?

A consultation process has already started for a trust led by
Goldsmiths University which will govern 3 schools: Addey & Stanhope,
Deptford Green and Crossways. It is a process that has exactly the
same goal. To take our schools out of the public sector and hand them
over to the private sector.

We cannot let them get away with this. We can fight this together and
we can win!

Come down to Lewisham Bridge Primary School and let the bailiffs know
that we're not going easily.

Hands Off Lewisham Bridge

07946 541 331
 
West_Ham_Wham said:
Some more background:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8116147.stm

Also just had the latest report. The police turned up in four vans and a SWAT type van!!!! There were about 20 protestors on the roof and about 30-40 more in front of the school (including many parents). After a stand off the police and bailiffs have left. Round 1 to Hands Off Lewisham Bridge!

Radio interview from this morning here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod...ow_with_Joanne_Good_and_Paul_Ross_24_06_2009/
Click to expand...

nice one :)
 
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