Issue - meetings
Deputations (if any)
Meeting: 18/11/2024 - Council (Item 6.)
Deputations (if any)
To hear any deputations requested by members of the public in accordance with Standing Order 32.
Members are asked to note that at the time of agenda publication there are no deputation(s) due to be presented at the meeting.
Additional documents:
Meeting: 19/09/2024 - Council (Item 7)
Deputations (if any)
To hear any deputations requested by members of the public in accordance with Standing Order 32.
Members are asked to note that there are no deputation(s) due to be presented at the meeting.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
The Mayor advised that no requests had been received for the presentation of any deputations at the meeting.
Meeting: 08/07/2024 - Council (Item 7)
Deputations (if any)
To hear any deputations requested by members of the public in accordance with Standing Order 32.
Members are asked to note that the following deputation(s) are due to be received at the meeting:
6.1 Provision of parent voice and representation within community schools and school communications (deputation to be made by Save Byron Court Campaign Group)
(Agenda republished to include details of the above deputation on 3 July 2024)
Additional documents:
Minutes:
The Mayor advised that he had accepted the request for a deputation to be presented at the meeting. The request had been received from the Save Byron Court Campaign Group (represented by Tanisha Phoenix & Vina Vekria at the meeting) and related to school communication and the provision of parent representation within community schools.
Unless otherwise indicated by members, the Mayor advised that he intended to allow up to five minutes for presentation of the deputation before then allowing the relevant Lead Cabinet Member up to two minutes to respond.
As no objections were raised on the approach outlined, the Mayor moved on to welcome the deputation.
Save Byron Court Campaign Group – Parent representation within Community Schools.
In thanking the Mayor for the opportunity to address the meeting Vina Vekria & Tanisha Phoenix advised they were presenting the deputation on behalf of the Save Byron Court, campaign who had been established as a collective effort by parents, community members and school staff (who had also been taking strike action in support) to oppose the Government’s forced academisation of Byron Court Primary School by Harris Federation representing.
Referring to the campaign undertaken to date, it was felt this had highlighted many issues including chronic underfunding, a punitive inspection regime, a national rush to privatise education despite widespread opposition and no opportunity for school improvements to be made along with what was felt to be a worrying lack of transparency and impartiality in terms of decision making regarding the future of Byron Court Primary School.
In recognising and acknowledging the support of the campaign by Barry Gardiner (as local MP), Councillor Grahl (as the Council’s Cabinet member for Children, Young People and Schools) amongst other politicians the Campaign Group now hoped the new Labour government would be willing to intervene in order to protect the school and provide a renewed commitment to community schools as a whole.
Addressing the meeting, Vina Vekria advised that one of the issues identified, in relation to Byron Court Primary School had involved membership of the School’s Governing Body, which for the current academic year had only included one parent governor representative compared to five in previous years. This followed a reduction in their number without, it was claimed, consultation with the parent community. The Campaign Group had highlighted this as an important issue, given the need for successful Governing Bodies to act as custodians for the school with the necessary links to parents and the wider community. Whilst recognising the challenges in attracting volunteers, the importance in being able to attract good quality individuals to support the role of the Governing Body outside of the school community was highlighted as necessary to provide a broad range of skills and experience. As such the Campaign Group were calling on the Council to undertake a review of school governing bodies across the borough to ensure that the voices of parents were sufficiently represented and to encourage a more diverse range of experience and knowledge.
Following on, Tanisha Phoenix then ... view the full minutes text for item 7