No rest in fees fight

Published: 9th December, 2010
by JAMIE WELHAM

CAMDEN Town pupils last night (Wednesday) bedded down in sleeping bags for an unprecedented occupation of school buildings in protest at government plans to raise university tuition fees.

Around 70 sixth-formers at Camden School for Girls defied staff by staying on the premises overnight to demonstrate against the trebling of fees. They plan to be at Westminster when MPs vote on the proposals today (Thursday), which will also affect support grants for sixth-formers.

Members of staff, including headteacher Elizabeth Kitcatt, were forced to remain at the school while pupils held strategy meetings, made banners and ate food passed over the gates by wellwishers. 

Speaking through the railings, one pupil said: “We are not going. This is not fun and games for us nor is it an attack on the school. It’s about our education. We have to fight for it.”

Similar plans for round-the-clock action at Acland Burghley School were averted by teachers when pupils said staff agreed to meet their demands shortly after 6pm.

Students at both schools plan to walk out of lessons for the second time this morning, before marching on Parliament to show their anger with the Coalition. 

As the New Journal went to press late last night, 12 teachers at Camden School for Girls had agreed to stay on the site after pleading with pupils to abandon their protest.

Our exclusive pictures show the scene late in the evening, with pupils crowded into a barricaded room and preparing sleeping bags.

Pupils said teachers had been arguing that they could not allow children on the site without adult supervision overnight.

Earlier in the day, headteacher at Acland Burghley in Tufnell Park, Jo Armitage, took the unusual decision of closing the school at lunchtime, sending younger students home after fears a protest could get out of hand. 

The move led to a stand-off, with around 100 pupils, many of them seen carrying sleeping bags, being locked outside the school gates, before fellow students from the La Swap sixth form were allowed back on to the site to protest. 

Ms Armitage said: “We decided to close the school because the protest had been publicised on Facebook and we were very worried that other people would try to get into the school. We let parents know, and now we have allowed La Swap to use the Assembly Hall until 6pm. I have told them they have to go at 6pm. I’m pretty sure they will do.”

But at Camden School for Girls, pupils, supported by students from UCL who supplied food and gave legal advice over the 24 hour action, held firm.

They made banners, ran drama workshops and prepared for the day of action march by acting out potential worst-case scenarios with police.

Throughout the day, both groups at what pupils were calling “teach-ins”, because they continued to go to lessons, were visited by students from SOAS and UCL universities in a show of solidarity. At the same time, university students held a sit-down protest at Euston station.

At Camden School for Girls, one of the top-rated schools in London and where Sarah Brown, wife of former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and actress Emma Thompson are among the alumni, pupils sent negotiating teams to speak to the headteacher, deputy head and head of sixth form. They wanted guarantees that students would not be penalised as well as calling on the school to make a statement condemning the coalition government’s plans.

Education chiefs and headteachers denied blocking similar protests at other schools in Camden, despite visits by university students being cancelled at Haverstock School and South Camden.

Erhan Korkmen, a sixth from pupil at Acland Burghley, said: “I am disappointed that the school decided to shut us out. This is a peaceful protest. We intended to stay the night to show the strength of feeling against the tuition fees rise.”

Around 60 students from other Le Swap schools – William Ellis and Parliament Hill – took part in the occupation at Acland Burghley but they remained open as usual. 

Speaking through the railings, Tasha Bell, a pupil at Camden School for Girls, said: “We only told staff about the sit-in this morning. We wrote to them. 

“I think they feel a bit betrayed that we went behind their backs, but it is important to make the point that this is not an attack on the school and we have been talking with staff throughout the day. A lot of the staff actually support us. We’re doing it here because is symbolises our education and that is what is at stake tomorrow.

“We hope the school will see our anger and join us in sending a message of resistance to the government.”

Another pupil, Fatima Rahim, said: “This is not about us thinking it’s fun to spend a night in school. It is about our education and getting  our voice heard. 

“Hopefully some of the teachers will volunteer to stay over with us. We’ve got every angle covered, and I can’t think of any way they can get us out. They can’t get the police and they can’t get an injunction. Our parents are 100 per cent behind us.”

John Dowd, headteacher at Haver­stock School in Chalk Farm, said: “We have not banned any protests. Students have been canvassing outside the school at break times, and that’s fine. 

“A group from SOAS asked if they could come in to see some of the pupils and I agreed to that too.”

Protests are taking place today and there will be a lobby of parliament ahead of the vote in the Commons.

Camden School for Girls declined to comment. 

Tuition fees look set to rise to a maximum of £9,000 a year from the present level of £3,290 from 2012.