Protestors from the Anti Academies Alliance had gathered to highlight the real reason for the Academies Show – so that over 100 companies could promote their businesses. Such regulars on the educational landscape as Coca Cola Enterprises Ltd were vying for business with Virgin, fresh from privatising parts of the NHS. Private School company Lilac Sky Schools were offering ‘outstanding education solutions’ while DVS Property Specialists were offering to help you ‘achieving best value’ in disposing of public sector properties. Hillierhopkins LLP, chartered accountants and tax advisers announced “our passion is your prosperity”.

The main sponsor of the Academies Show were insurance company Zurich Municipal. The slogan on their bags is ‘Academy Insurance, make the most of your new found freedom’. Since Insurance charges to schools that have become academies have doubled and trebled, it is clear that the insurance companies are making the most of the freedoms academies bring.

For those of us who think schools should be run for the pupils not the profits the academies show was a depressing experience. We came away more determined to resist Gove’s project of academies, forced academies and ‘free’ schools. Let’s make sure we stand up for the education system our children deserve.

Click here for more information about the campaign in Downhills

The parents at Downhills are continuing their brilliant campaign to stop their school becoming an academy. You can follow them on facebook and their website is www.savedownhills.org

Please rush messages of support to the strike:

Haringey NUT – secretary@haringey.nut.org.uk
Phil Brett NUT rep at Downhills - philbrett@msn.com

The meeting was chaired by President of Birmingham NUT, Gay Hatton, who spoke about the threat to state education from the academies programme. Parents and community heard from four speakers.

Academies do no better than other schools

Richard Hatcher, Professor of Education at Birmingham City University and joint chair of Alliance Against Birmingham Academies, explained how the most recent data shows that academies do no better than other schools. He pointed out that all 3 schools are improving and that one of the schools is above the DfE’s floor target of 60%. Forcing academy status on these schools will disrupt that progress. Richard explained how becoming an academy means a school will no longer belong to, or be accountable to the local community.

Decisions are being made behind closed doors

Sarah Barton from the Ask Parents First  campaign said that it is wrong that decisions are being made behind closed doors with parents not being informed or consulted. She urged parents to demand open and democratic consultation for all schools facing academy conversion.

School communities can fight this with unity and courage

Jeremy Paige NUT representative for Bournville School, which recently turned down academy status after a hard fought campaign by parents and staff, talked of the need for unity and courage and stressed the importance of parents and school staff working together to give each other the courage to stand up and fight for their school.

Headteachers are afraid to speak out

NUT Midlands Regional Secretary Kit Armstrong explained how staff and headteachers were afraid to speak out, not just for themselves, but for fear of what may happen to their schools. She stressed the need for a wider coordinated campaign.

The meeting was then opened to questions from the floor.

Labour Councillor Brett O’Reilly condemned forced academies and called for open and democratic consultation

Newly elected Labour councillor for Northfield Brett O’Reilly spoke to condemn the policy of forcing schools to become academies and supported calls for an open, democratic process. He pledged to write to all heads and governors at schools in the Northfield ward requesting that they respect this, and he said he would ask other Labour councillors to do the same.

Parents knew nothing about academy plans until this meeting

There followed general questions and discussion. Parents were appalled to discover that academy status had been on the cards at some of their schools for as long as 6 months, and yet they had known nothing about it until this meeting. Parents from one school reported that as a result of this meeting being announced, the Headteacher was arranging an open meeting for parents. Groups of parents from Northfield Manor, West Heath and Primrose Hill Primary Schools then got together to plan how they could begin their own parent campaigns.

Petitions to Birmingham City Council and Michael Gove were signed by parents

Parents signed two petitions. The first calling on Birmingham City Council to support schools staying within the local family of schools and to help them fight plans to hand them over to private sponsors and away from the communities they serve. The second called for the Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove to meet with the parents of Birmingham to discuss his plans to make our community schools into academies and to listen to our concerns. You can sign both petitions online here

Teachers at 15 Birmingham primaries are currently balloting against being forced to become academies.

Click here to download the Birmingham No To Forced Academies newspaper

Applications must be submitted by 12 noon on Thursday 17^th May with CV and covering letter by email to office@antiacademies.org.uk. Candidates who are called for interview will be notified by 6pm on Thursday 17th May and need to be available for interview in London on Friday 18^th May from 10am.

Click here to download the job description

Students holding home-made placards shouted defiance as the Governors arrived ready to rubber stamp proposals put on the table by some who are known to be acting on behalf of wealthy and influential backers.

The lobby followed a large combined union meeting earlier in the week where school workers unanimously voted to boycott a meeting with the Chair of Governors to discuss Academy status.

The school had returned to local authority control several years ago, much to the wishes and benefit of the local community, staff and pupils. It is a successful school where learning is celebrated and prized. Now it seems a cabal of local businessmen and their supporters have their sights on grabbing the school to enhance their own interests.

The Governors meeting room was barracked by students calling for their school not to be sold off.  This spectacular response to Governor machinations ensured the vote by them to go to an Academy was shelved.

Now further union meetings are planned and a community/union strategy is emerging to resist Academy proposals.

Barry Conway

Today it has been announced that 15 Birmingham primary schools are being balloted by the NUT and NASUWT for joint action against being forced to become an academy.

This morning we began distributing the new Anti Academies Alliance newspaper – “Save Birmingham Schools, No to Forced Academies” to parents and staff at the schools Gove is targetting.

Together parents and staff can stop Gove’s drive to force our schools to become unaccountable Academies.

These schools are currently run by the Council. It means that the schools are democratically accountable to us and if the Councillors neglect our schools we can vote them out. Michael Gove wants to hand them over to unelected academy chains, many run by businessmen in the same way they run their businesses.

Despite the claims by the government and the media academies are not ‘proven to succeed’. The most recent GCSE results show that 27% have seen their results decline or remain the same.

Many academies have relied on NVQs and other exams which have been considered to be equivalent to several GCSEs to improve the position in the league tables. The government have now abolished these equivalents and academies have seen some dramatic falls. The ARK academy in Birmingham, St Albans, fell from 67% to 22% when equivalents were removed.

Henry Stewart, a school governor in Hackney, has gone through the figures and has a devastating critique of academies in this video.

We need to defend our schools and prevent them being turned into academies. All of our schools should be run for the local community in the interests of local children, not run by a Chief Executive on a Fat Cat salary from some office in Surrey or London.

Many of the schools that Michael Gove wants to seize are in areas with high unemployment and poverty. Our children don’t have the benefits that the millionaires in the government can give their children. But this doesn’t mean our schools are failing or underperforming.

We all want the best for our children and want them to get the best education they can. Of course some of our schools need improving. To do this they need investment. They need more teachers and teaching assistants. Their governors and headteachers need help in improving their schools. But how does Michael Gove describing some of our schools, and kids, as failing and threatening to sack headteachers, governors and staff really help?

In London, parents, staff and Governors in Downhills School are standing up to the bully boy tactics of Michael Gove. We can do the same.

In Birmingham parents and staff at Bournville school successfully prevent their school from becoming an academy.

We need many more campaigns like those seen at Downhills and Bournville. Now teachers in many of the schools that Gove is threatening are preparing to stand together to defend their schools. Parents and staff across Birmingham need to unite to save our local schools. Our schools and children are too important to leave in the hands of unelected, fat-cat privateers. Join the campaign to keep it that way!

The Anti Academies Alliance is producing a newspaper to distribute at the schools. If you are a parent or staff member at the school, or are able to help distribute newspapers and leaflets at a primary school in Birmingham, please contact the AAA on office@antiacademies.org.uk or 07528 201 697.

There is a public meeting opposing the forced academies in Northfield: Northfield Baptist Church, 789 Bristol Road South, Northfield, Birmingham – Thursday 10th May at 6pm

Click here to download the PDF of the Birmingham Anti Academies newspaper

Henry has done devastating work on academy performance.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.