The Con Dems claim they talk of offering choice, accountability, transparency, efficiency and raising of standards.In fact, what they really mean are cuts to education and taking away local control of local services by local people.
In recent reports, many of the so-called academy schools that have been established have in fact not raised standards above that of the previous schools they replaced. Nor have they delivered accountability, as the school is taken over by a private company in most cases who then attempt to run it as a private business. Local democracy, local accountability and local control then goes out of the window.
It was the flagship of New Labour, thanks to Mandelson and Lord Adonis, under Gordon Brown's Private Public Partnership initiatives, that lead to taxpayers money funding so-called philanphropists to take over our schools. Ofcourse the money they saved in lower corporation tax and various tax dodges enabled them to afford this "generosity in the first place.
In pushing the "Big Society" agenda the consultation meeting concerning Portslade Community College has just been announced.
Sham of consultation
for immediate release Tuesday 18 January 2011
Proposed Portslade Academy – public consultation meeting
Plans to create a Portslade Community Academy to replace Portslade Community College will be the subject of a public meeting at the community college’s Oasis Centre on Tuesday 25 January at 7.30pm.
The Academy proposal has now been given the green light by the government, which has promised a £12m investment in the proposed Academy to create a new sixth form centre at the Chalky Road site and refurbish current buildings.
Brighton & Hove is one of only four local authorities in the country to have been selected by central government as a pilot scheme to develop a faster and more efficient form of procurement process for construction projects.
The new procurement process would be used to deliver the proposed new sixth form centre, and would contribute to a relaunched secondary school building programme across the country.
The public meeting forms part of a final round of public consultation on the Academy proposal. The consultation period finishes on January 31, and Brighton & Hove City Council’s cabinet will consider the feedback from the consultation before making a decision on the Academy proposal at a meeting on February 17.
Senior officials from the council and from the Aldridge Foundation – who are the lead sponsor of the Academy proposal – will be on hand at the public meeting to answer questions and explain how they feel the local community would benefit from the proposed Academy.
The council’s cabinet member for children and young people, Councillor Vanessa Brown, said: “The money promised towards the proposed Academy is down to our successful track record in delivering projects in partnership, on time and to budget. I’m very pleased that we are one of the very few areas to have been recognised by the government in this way.”
The Aldridge Foundation has made it clear that they want the college’s current headteacher, Stuart McLaughlin, to be the principal of the proposed new academy.
The council put forward an expression of interest in a Portslade Community Academy to the government because it was seen as the best way to improve standards and increase the amount of government money available.
Community challenge and oppose.
The local community of parents, teachers, trade unionists, community and users groups and many others in the local area are not fooled by these false promises and have been campaigning against the academy proposal.
The local community have been clearly saying since day 1, " KEEP PORTSLADE ACADEMY-FREE" and they intend to.
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