Month: May 2017

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The NTA Secretary has received this message from the Campaign Against School Cuts.

Dear Peter

People like you have been up and down the streets delivering our School Cuts campaign leaflets. The activity has been so popular that we’ve designed a new leaflet and ordered 500,000 copies. Will you order a few and help us deliver them please?

Sign up now to take part in our final push to stop school cuts.

We’ve put together a new system that will allow you to order leaflets, indicate if you are willing to be part of a team and identify a local “point-person” to organise leaflet sessions before the General Election on June 8.

Click here to order some leaflets and join a neighbourhood team.

You have made this campaign remarkable and it continues to attract an enormous amount of coverage. You really have put school funding high on the agenda for voters. Let’s keep the momentum going and make one last call to #vote4education.

Thank you for your time and passion.

Yours sincerely,
Andrew

Andrew Baisley
http://schoolcuts.nationbuilder.com/

Please contact the NTA Secretary for more information.

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There will be a meeting of the NTA London School Cuts Working Party on Wednesday 31st May 2017 at East Ham Town Hall. 10.30am to 12.00pm.

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This bank holiday weekend NTA members leafletted in  East Ham and Stratford. The public was very receptive; from grandparents worried about their grandchildren’s schools to students interested in finding out what budget cuts meant! We encouraged everyone to use the website and made it clear the union welcomed parents on board to oppose cuts.

 

The NTA offers its thanks to the members who participated in this event.

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Our colleague Alex Kenny of East London NUT sent us the following message:

Dear colleagues,
We held a very successful Big School Assembly against education yesterday, which brought together a large number of parents, school staff and local councillors.
I just wanted to share a video we’ve made of Riazul, a student from Bow School, singing his own composition, “Mrs May Don’t Take Our Money Away”.

It’s a charming performance during which he had the crowd eating out of his hand, just see the reaction at the end – it shows the strength of our campaign to inspire this in one of our students.
Please feel free to share this on websites or social media, or show it at any events you may be organising – Riazul would be thrilled if you did.
I’ve also attached a lyric sheet!
Best wishes,
Alex Kenny

Newham Teachers’ Association would like to thank Riazul for permission to use his composition and film. Congratulations to Riazul for a great performance.

Riazul’s lyric sheet
Download [▼]

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Stephen Timms, Labour Parliamentary Candidate for East Ham, sent a message to the Campaign Against School Cuts Meeting at Essex Primary School on 24/05/2017. Newham Teachers’ Association wishes to thank Stephen for his support.

Message:

Peter

I am very sorry that – because of the suspension of campaign activity following the atrocity in Manchester on Monday night – I am not now able to speak at the meeting this afternoon.

I have taken a very close interest in the school funding debate, in particular as a member of the House of Commons Education Select Committee until last September. The Government announced its newest version of the national school funding formula last December.

There has been a concerted effort by the so-called F40 group of local authorities – the 40 local authorities with the lowest school funding per pupil, most of them Conservative-controlled – to increase their funding. That is fair enough, and the way to achieve it would be to increase the overall schools budget. But many in the F40 group have barely tried to hide their view that the way it should be done is by taking funding away from London. Continue reading Stephen Timms: Message to Campaign Against School Cuts Meeting 24/05/2017

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Umesh Desai [local councillor and member of the GLA] sent the following message to the Campaign Against School Cuts Meeting held at Essex Primary School on 24/05/2017. Newham Teachers’ Association wishes to thank Councillor Desai for his support.

Message:

Dear Peter.

I hope you are well.

I write further to my text message and would be grateful if you can convey my apologies for non-attendance at your meeting this evening.

I share concerns about how the newest version of the national schools funding formula announced last December affects London. Analysis by the Education Policy Institute published in March shows that all the local authority areas having the biggest losses from the formula- a 2.8% cut- are in London and which will have a drastic effect on its schools. The formula cuts Newham’s school funding by 2.6%. In contrast, areas like Somerset will gain by some 5.1%. This can’t be right! Continue reading Councillor Desai’s Message to Campaign Against School Cuts Meeting 24/05/2017

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Campaign Against School Funding Cuts Meeting 24th May 2017

About 30 people attended the meeting held at Essex Primary. This included teachers, governors, parents, TAs, 2 head teachers and NTA officers. Many present indicated that they would like to be further involved.

The meeting was first addressed by Louise Regan, NUT president who spoke about the problems schools were facing: new costs year on year with increased pension contributions; the apprenticeship levy; the increase in buy back services from LAs as they become squeezed. The cuts would impact by reducing curriculum choice – something that is already happening – arts subjects likely to be the first to go, the very subjects that often get students to school. Support staff would be reduced and class sizes increased leading to further increase in workload for teachers. She had heard of one head teacher who had run a marathon to raise money for school essentials! Her message was clear – tell everyone you know, leaflet your road, talk to your neighbours. Continue reading Report from Campaign Against School Cuts 24/05/2017