Brixton College is under threat
Please come to the rally to save Brixton College
This Thursday 1st May from 3pm at Windrush Square in Brixton, opposite the Town Hall, by the Ritzy Cinema
African Drummers Welcome
From 6pm, there will be a march down to Karibu Centre on Gresham Road, where UCU and Unison will be holding a solidarity strike rally - hot food served and art activities for children.
Whilst in the midst of the economic crisis, the need for a local further education college in Brixton is greater today than at any point in its history. The current college building on the Brixton site was established in the 1960s – to serve the local multicultural population. Today, a significant proportion of that population are unemployed or under-employed. Statistical evidence shows that Black people are more likely to be unemployed than other ethnic groups in the borough – with up to 70% of young Black men unemployed. The benefits cap and the cost of living are particularly impacting on many local residents. People need a high quality further education establishment where they can enhance their qualifications and build on their skills.
So why has two thirds of the site been sold off? Why has Education Secretary Michael Gove granted a portion of the site to a free school with an apparent Catholic ethos – Trinity Academy? After all, even the Catholic diocese is opposed to the school.
A group of middle class parents from Clapham have worked together to establish this free school to meet their needs. So what are their needs? Why could their needs not be met with the current provision of secondary school places in Lambeth? There are after all two highly successful schools recognized by the Catholic diocese already in existence in Lambeth. Ofsted has judged La Retraite School Outstanding, and Bishop Thomas Grant School has been judged as Good with Outstanding features – with leadership judged Outstanding. So exactly what is it about these two schools that does not sit well with the group of middle class parents from Clapham? Maybe the clue lies with their appointed Chair of Governors of the Trinity Academy, Dennis Sewell – and the political aspect of free schools.
Free schools are essentially independent schools that are funded by central government. They can establish their own curriculum, their own admissions policy and appoint unqualified teachers. Concerning issues have already been raised about the quality of education some established free schools are offering. They are not accountable to the local authority they are situated in. In fact, Lambeth Local Authority was not consulted about the planned establishment of Trinity Academy, and apparently knew nothing until it was granted part of the Brixton College site.
Dennis Sewell, the Chair of Governors, is a journalist known for his right winged views. In one of his Spectator articles, he spoke of the British missionaries who went out into the colonies “converting the heathen”. In the same article, he spoke of the people engaged in the disturbances in Tottenham in the Summer 2011 following the death of Mark Duggan by the police as being comparable to “the thieving Chiboque tribe beyond the Zambezi” which clearly demonstrates a dated racist colonialist view of Black people; and a right winged bigoted narrow minded lack of ability to analyse reasons for civil unrest. His ultra capitalist ideology is made plain in another article in which he states, “We need the filthy rich to feel right at home here” – regardless, of course, of the economic dire straits many ordinary families are finding themselves in.
With regard to the free school, Sewell has said, “The Trinity School will use innovation in the curriculum to appeal to people who want a particular type of teaching and I don’t think it will be competition with a school down the road”. I think that is telling in itself. Why exactly will it not be in competition with a local school? Probably because Trinity School’s website gives us a clear picture of the people it plans to appeal to – the white middle class.
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