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Upfront

 

Wales wins stay on primary banding

NUT members in Wales are celebrating after their campaign against primary school banding saw Welsh Assembly Education Minister Leighton Andrews announce a two year postponement of the system.

Primary school banding, due to come into effect this year, will now not take place until 2014. While the campaign to oppose the system will continue, the postponement, brought about in part due to the case made by NUT Wales members, will allow discussion on the system’s flaws.

The Minister’s decision will be welcomed by NUT teachers across Wales who have worked hard to highlight the problems a primary school banding system would create.

NUT Wales Secretary David Evans commented: “This is excellent news for teachers. There has been a great deal of difficulty in finding a system that would work for the primary sector and Leighton Andrews should be praised for taking the action that he has.

“We continue to oppose any form of primary banding, but, if it is to be introduced, the Minister has at least now given interested parties the opportunity to address the problems.”

 

The right to say no

International children’s charity Plan UK has produced an animated film and learning plan, The Right to Say No, that tackles the problem of early and forced marriage. This is the first national education resource on the issue.

The film is based on the true story of a 16 year old British girl whose family tried to force her into marriage. In 2011, the government’s Forced Marriage Unit dealt with 1,735 cases.

Hornsey School for Girls in Haringey, London, is the first school to trial the resource. NUT member Michelle Lambert, head of citizenship, said: “Learning about forced marriage is important – in terms of safeguarding students and making staff aware… There have been cases where girls have left our school – maybe for good reasons – but now with more awareness I’m encouraged to look into such cases.”

Find the resource at www.plan-uk.org/the-right. To take a vow against forced marriage visit www.plan-uk.org.

 

No forced academy

The staff at Montgomery primary school in a multicultural inner city area of Birmingham, together with parents and the wider community, are opposing the school’s conversion to an academy.

NUT, GMB and NASUWT members took two days’ strike action in December and January with lively protests at picket lines.

 The community campaign is growing. Parents are outraged that the governors haven’t consulted before taking this decision.

A petition signed by 700 parents has been handed to governors. Over 100 people came to a public meeting on 26 January to hear NUT Deputy General Secretary Kevin Courtney, Birmingham MP Roger Godsiff and NUT anti-academies activist Rick Hatcher.

Roger King, NUT division secretary and Executive member, said the leadership were claiming they had to become an academy because they were on Michael Gove’s forced academy list. The NUT has never been shown any evidence of this.


 

On the road

The first BTec in driving and driver education was launched at Nailsea School, North Somerset, in February. It includes 30 hours of practical learning in a car, and in-class lessons to prepare for the driving theory test and to learn about car maintenance, insurance, and the effects and consequences of drink-driving and excessive speed.

NUT division secretary Jon Reddiford explained the benefits these classes had in encouraging integration and bonding among year 12 students, saying: “This is the only subject where all the pupils do the same course no matter what other subjects they’re doing or at what level. The school has also seen a sharp rise in its retention figures into sixth form generally.”

If you want to learn more about the course, contact Jon at Nailsea School on 01275 852251.

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