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Published: 22 July, 2010
by TOM FOOT

SCHOOLCHILDREN were among protesters expressing their anger at Education Secretary Michael Gove’s decision to take away funding from Camden’s schools outside the Houses of Parliament on Monday.

The campaigners warned that the borough’s schools are facing up to a future locked in the past after plans to give every child the chance to learn in buildings fit for the 21st century were scrapped by the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government’s cuts. 

They say that from Maria Fidelis in the south of Camden to William Ellis in the north, tens of thousands of children will be taught in cramped and dilapidated conditions for generations to come –  unless the cuts announced earlier this month are reversed.

The lobby of Parliament was organised after Mr Gove axed improvement schemes at 13 Camden schools, whipping away £170million of funding in the process. 

Fury is now mounting among teachers, parents and politicians who are united against the “total annihilation” of funding previously promised by Labour under its Building Schools for the Future programme.

A delegation from Acland Burghley School in Tufnell Park joined representatives from Hampstead and Haverstock at the protest.

Michael Shew, headteacher at Acland Burghley, who is stepping down this summer to work for Camden Council’s education department, said: “My issue is that despite all this coalition rhetoric about speaking and listening to headteachers and governors about its free schools and academies, I have to find out my school has lost its funding by looking on a website. That was how I learned our project had been scrapped – and I can tell you it was a moment of real anger. Our school is, through its success, already incredibly crammed. We are over-subscribed. But all our plans to expand have been kicked into touch.”

Acland Burghley was supposed to be “substantially rebuilt” within the next four years with £17m previously earmarked for it at Whitehall.

Its plans included:

• Building a new theatre and film complex for art and media pupils.
• Building state of the art e-classrooms and a new music block.
• Building a new sports and performing arts facilities that could be used by the local community.

Parliament Hill School, Camden School for Girls and two pupil referral units have also been stripped of their BSF funding without warning.

Projects at South Camden Community School and the UCL Academy – the £30m independent school planned for Swiss Cottage – are under review.

Camden is among the areas worst-affected by Mr Gove’s axe. In neighbouring Islington, schools had already embarked on the improvements and contracts signed before the government could break them.

Mr Shew said: “Parents will start to look at Islington and once you get that they will drift away. And you know what happens when parents drift away.”

Governors at Hampstead School in Westbere Road, West Hampstead, are coming to terms with missing out on £23m. 

Vice chair of governors Alix Coole said the school had endured problems with unsafe bathrooms, leaking roofs, a malfunctioning boiler and ageing science labs.

Later on Monday, Labour MPs Frank Dobson and Glenda Jackson spoke to campaigners in Westminster Methodist Central Hall, ahead of a national rally with union leaders and shadow education secretary Ed Balls.

Ms Jackson said: “When Gove was an­nouncing all this he was fiddling through a little book on his lap – he had no idea which schools were taken off the list and why. I am tempted to say he has no idea what is going on. He has dragged the Department of Education down to his level of dysfunctionality – he has taken that dysfunctionality to the level of doctorate.”

Labour party members believe money will be diverted to Mr Gove’s Free School programme – an idea partly based on getting parents to set up their own schools.

Ms Jackson said: “This policy is about privatising state education. The result will be a return to grammar schools – not comprehensive schools. It is absolutely monstrous. I remember what schools were like under the Tories. There was plaster on the walls being held up by pupils’ art work. Finding a computer was the holy grail. We are going back to the bad old days of the deserving and undeserving poor. 

“This affects everyone and we must consistently fight and not rest on our laurels.”

Mr Dobson said the Conservatives had begun to “shrivel-up” when Ms Jackson speaks in the Commons. 

He said: “What we know is that there are a lot of teachers doing a brilliant job in buildings that are a disgrace. BSF was too bureaucratic – nevertheless all schools in Camden were pegged for a total rebuild.”

Mr Dobson added: “I can tell you there is no such thing as a free lunch, and there’s no such thing as a free school either. Someone has to pay the price for free schools and that is going to be the children of Camden. The coalition government has no mandate for this slash and burn policy.”

Parents campaigner Fiona Millar, a governor at William Ellis, said: “We accept there needs to be a change in the process – if someone said to us we had 18 months to get the process right then we would be all right with that. 

“I want Frank Dobson and Glenda Jackson to fight for the principle of all schools in Camden getting the money they were promised.”

Outside the lobby, Camden’s Labour council leader Nash Ali, who joined the protest along with his colleagues from the Town Hall, said: “I don’t think the government has thought this through properly. It means we will be stuck with second-rate schools in Camden.”

Andrew Baisley, secretary of Camden NUT, said: “We are going to carry on lobbying Mr Gove and reminding him at every opportunity so that he does not forget Camden schools.”

Conservative leader Cllr Andrew Mennear, who did not join the demonstration on Monday, said he was bitterly disappointed for Camden’s education officials who had worked “deep into their weekends” on BSF.

He added: “The real battle is for the plans that weren’t cancelled. I think it’s incredibly sad and I am hugely disappointed after four years work on Camden’s BSF programme. 

“We faced enormous pressure from judicial reviews – and none of that made it easy. But we delivered our BSF on schedule and on budget and we were one of the only departments to do that.

“It’s all about how you think most constructive way to protest – I don’t believe that kind of demonstration was the most effective way. It’s like the Grand Old Duke of York marching up to the top hill and they are going to have to come back down again. I understand people wanting to protest. 

“But we have to decide our number one priority is making sure the schemes that are under review get the go ahead. That can only be done by making proper representations to the Secretary of State. I have been in touch with his office.”

‘Costs will go through roof’ – Kinnock’s warning

LORD Kinnock has warned the government it will be building up an expensive bill for every year it fails to invest in Camden’s schools.

The former Labour leader (pictured) said costs to fix 13 schools that have seen government funding withdrawn would grow.

He was speaking as he unveiled the rebuilt Holloway School, just over the borough boundary in Islington, on Friday.

Unlike Camden, Islington’s schools have benefited from the nationwide Building Schools for the Future programme because construction work was signed off earlier.

Lord Kinnock, who lives in Tufnell Park, claimed that while Labour had committed to rebuilding every school that needed it, the Conservatives wanted to restrict the number of good buildings to the few.

He said: “What this is about is putting a limit on supply of the best schools – in order to enhance their value. The Tories are treating our children’s education as if it was fur coats, or fancy cars. What we say is that education gets more valuable the more people who have it.

“Anyone with any common sense can see that the only way we can achieve real serenity and fulfilment is if everyone gets the same chance. If opportunity and equality are confined to the few then everyone suffers.”

Lord Kinnock, a coal miner’s son who became a shadow education secretary and then led the Labour party in opposition for nine years, was at the official launch of the new-look school on Hilldrop Road, Islington, which has had £19 million spent on it.

It has a new building, a Ben Kinsella peace garden, named after the 16-year-old knife murder victim who went to Holloway, and state of the art music and computer facilities.

Lord Kinnock said: “The stupidity of the funding cut in Camden is that the work will have to be done in 10, 12 or 30 years’ time, when it will be much more expensive. It is with deep sorrow that children will continue to be taught in buildings that are more than 100 years old.”