Brent school to close for 5 more strike days over ‘draconian’ order to make it an academy

A north London primary school is set to close for a further five days in the next two weeks after staff agreed to strike against government plans to turn it into an academy. The decision came after the school was deemed “inadequate” by the education watchdog, but staff, parents and local politicians are fighting what they say is a “draconian” measure.

A recent Ofsted report highlighted “marked deterioration” at Byron Court in Wembley after its rating dropped from “outstanding” in 2012 to “inadequate” following inspections on November 28 and 29 last year. This triggered an automatic response from the Department for Education (DfE), with the school being forced to come under the control of an academy, the Harris Trust, to tackle the problems.

After a series of protests outside the school – involving staff, parents, students and politicians – those staff who are part of the National Education Union (NEU) have now opted to strike in an effort to stop the process, which would could be implemented as early as September of this year.

READ MORE: London’s ‘best pub’ dating back 500 years, where they go the extra mile to maintain an ‘excellent’ team

Having already picketed outside the school last week (May 17), the union has announced five more days of strike action – meaning the school will be forced to close for those days. The strikes will take place tomorrow (May 21) and Wednesday (May 22), as well as from June 4 to June 6.

A statement from the NEU called the Ofsted inspection “intimidating” and claimed staff were left “fearing for their mental health and future”. It added: “Many of these long-serving staff have served the school community throughout the pandemic and face uncertainty over their jobs, pay and conditions as they face the trust’s takeover of multi- hostile academic Harris”.

Brent NEU secretary Jenny Cooper said: “We are not going to stop this fight anytime soon because there is too much at stake here and we know we have the support of the community. Gillian Keegan (MP and Secretary of State for Education) knows what she can do: order a re-inspection and suspend the academy order; that might settle our dispute.”

The strike action is likely to cause significant disruption to pupils and parents, particularly as it coincides with the SAT exams for Year 6s. The NEU noted that it was specifically targeting the DfE and not Brent Council – which has publicly supported the demands for the process to academisation to stop and the school to be re-inspected after putting in place “extended support” to ensure the problems were addressed.

Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Schools, Cllr Gwen Grahl, called the DfE’s decision “draconian” and wrote to the department and the Secretary of State to oppose the plan. This is a noteworthy intervention as the council is bound to comply with and facilitate the order. Addressing a recent Cabinet meeting (April 8), Cllr Grahl even said the council “cannot oppose or even delay” the process.

Cllr Grahl told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “Allowing the school more time to make improvements and giving Byron Court the opportunity to re-inspect before proceeding with the academisation proposals is likely to resolve the current industrial dispute and provide reassurance to families and families. school staff during a tumultuous time for all.

She added: “Byron Court is a much-loved community school and academisation remains deeply unpopular with families and staff. The local authority quickly resorted to forced academisation. (…) It is clear that compulsory schooling legislation targets communities and removes valuable local authority oversight.”

All parties continue to lobby Ms Keegan to get the academy order revoked, while Cllr Grahl has requested a meeting with Minister for Schooling and Student Finance Baroness Diana Barran to discuss the situation further. According to the DfE, 7 out of 10 schools that became academies due to poor performance in inspections while being maintained by local authorities now have an Ofsted rating of ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’.

A spokesperson told LDRS: “Strike action is damaging to student learning and disruptive to parents. Children’s education has always been our priority and it should be in classrooms where it belongs.”

They added: “As with any school that receives an overall inadequate judgment, Byron Court Primary School will become an academy and be transferred to a strong trust – with a strong track record of ensuring pupils receive the most high standard of education”.

Don’t miss the biggest stories from around town: Sign up to MyLondon’s The 12 HERE for the biggest 12 stories every day