!!!JUDICIAL REVIEW UPDATE (15/08/12)!!! PRESS RELEASE HERE
SAVE DOWNHILLS CAMPAIGN
WHO ARE WE?
We’re a group of parents, staff, ex-governors and local people who’ve come together to save Downhills School, our much loved community school in Tottenham, North London, from being forced to become an academy. We’ve been accused by Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Education of being ‘Trots’ and ‘enemies of promise.’ We are not. We’re just ordinary, caring parents who want the very best for our children’s education and future. And we want to be listened to, to have a voice.
WHY DO WE NEED A CAMPAIGN?
Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Education wants our school to become an academy. He wants only one ‘sponsor’ – the Harris Federation, led by Lord Harris who also owns Carpetright – to run our school. Lord Harris has donated millions of pounds to the Tory party and is a great friend of David Cameron. But the Harris Federation has virtually no experience of running primary schools! It has no connections with Tottenham or North London.
Our school governors didn’t agree with Mr Gove’s plans, so in January this year he ordered Ofsted to inspect Downhills School at the earliest possible date. It was put into Special Measures and our hard-working governing body sacked on 15 March, despite a ballot by governors showing that 91% OF PARENTS DIDN’T WANT AN ACADEMY.
THE BIGGER PICTURE
We don’t believe the academy agenda is about improving schools. It’s really about privatisation, handing over our community schools, that are paid for with tax payers’ money, to businesses that call themselves ‘charities’. That are not accountable to the people they serve. This is wrong! And many other schools up and down the country are affected. Go to The Bigger Picture section to find out more.
PARENTS ACT NOW!
A five-member Interim Executive Board has replaced our governing body. Two Harris executives are on it. It’s their job to run the school for now and to ask us whether we want an academy; whether we want Harris to be our ‘sponsor’. How can this possibly be fair? Our school has been called a ‘failing’ school, but we know that it’s not – see the Why we love Downhills section to find out why.
Quote of the week, taken from an interview with Michael Wilshaw, Head of Ofsted, in the ‘Big Interview’, PTA-UK magazine:
“People know whether a school is improving or not. It might have gone through difficult times, it might still be in a category, it might still be in special measures, but parents will know if a school is improving. Better leadership, better governance – parents are the first to know about this. So they are an excellent sounding board for what a school is like.”
Downhills School parents – SAY NO TO ACADEMY, NO TO HARRIS!
Supporters everywhere – go to Support Us to find out how you can
help, donate to the campaign and contact us.
PLEASE HELP US SAVE DOWNHILLS!
Great site guys!
Well done you parents of Downhills’ school-kids. Don’t let the government force privatisation on you. The consequences of allowing profiteers to get control of education budgets, and that is what they are really after, will lead to deterioration of standards in the long term, regardless of the fact that they will do some cherry picking to make it look good in the short term.
Thanks, Tom. You’re right of course and we all know what this is really about.
And thanks very much for your generous donation, Tom!
Keep up the good work. You’re an inspiration.
I support you fully – you must fight on
Just found your site via Twitter. Keep fighting, you have lots of support so stand your ground!
Well done Downhills School – parents know better than politicians when it comes to children’s education. Don’t give up!