Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Coleraine Park Primary School - Harris Forced "Academy" - now on BBC London News
Please watch this news item on the BBC and make your own judgement.
When you do so, please bear in mind the wider context. Including the plans to hand more of our schools over to the Harris Federation.
But above all the experiences of the young children in this school. Not just the children who appear to have been manhandled, but other children in nearby classrooms who would have heard this going on. And the trust and confidence of the parents and the wider community.
Tags for Forum Posts: Coleraine Park School, Harris Federation, Ofsted, Police - community relationships, forced academy, restraining children
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Philip on
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There is a catch 22 here. The local authority is given the responsibility but has no effective powers of intervention. That is, it can be blamed, but cannot prevent the incidents from occurring.
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Permalink Reply by Seema Chandwani on
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Yes. I spoke to someone in another borough and they said they are watching this case closely with Harris Tottenham. It is unchartered waters.
How great for the kids hey!
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Permalink Reply by Justin Hinchcliffe on
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It's outrageous you are seeking to make political capital out of this, Alan. As has been noted on this thread, teachers can - and do - restrain children from time to time. The question here is, "did they follow procedures"? I can't say, either way, though it looks a little excessive (from what I could see). Who were the people doing it in the clip? Teachers? If so, they were probably there when the school was part of the so-called "LA family". And, should they be relieved of their duties, they may well be later represented by your friends in the Haringey NUT. Or does the local NUT not represent Academy teachers?
I'm a governor of the next-door school, where, as you will know, we have a provision for autism. A few months back, staff took some of these children for a swim at Tottenham Green Leisure Centre. I think they walked there? Anyway, although the visit was judged to be a big success, a couple of kids had to be restrained for their own safety. Any passer-by could be forgiven for calling the police. Don't be quick to judge. We're not in command of the facts-- that's why everyone, including the school, should be open to an investigation.
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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Mr Hinchcliffe, when I received information and was sure there were some serious concerns at Coleraine Park School, I passed it on quickly to:
- Haringey Chief Executive;
- Haringey Assistant Director of Children's Services;
- Cllr Ann Waters the "Cabinet" member for Children's Services;
- OFSTED;
- My two fellow ward councillors;
- David Lammy MP. David had previously been told about these concerns and had asked for an OFSTED inspection.
Had I not taken these steps - especially (1) (2) and (3), I think you could have some justified grounds for criticising me – for inaction.
Like you I am not an expert on the current rules/guidance for restraining primary age children. In the past I have worked with autistic children, but to my knowledge, nobody has suggested this applied to children in the video.
But you're right that I didn't know the context and wasn't certain. How could I be? But that's also what I said to the Education AD who I spoke to briefly. I also know about the criticism of Haringey by a High Court judge for over-reaction in the case of AB & CD; having carefully read the Court's judgement and spoken to a friend of the family.
However, I am also aware of the need to err on the side of caution. Not to make a judgement but to raise an alert. So people who have the experience and power to do so can make a proper investigation. That's why I called OFSTED. And at their request, put my concerns in an email the same day.
You may not know that many years ago I worked as a social worker in another borough - including some serious child safeguarding cases. At one time I also did some "desk" research, for a senior academic, into residential care where there had been Public Inquiries into poor practice. As I recall - it was a long time ago - in every case people later asked why somebody had not raised the alarm before things went seriously wrong. In every case it turned out that someone had. Perhaps a family member. Or a member of staff. Mostly they were not listened to.
In one case, action was taken only because a young student – possibly risking her own future career - refused to leave the offices of a Director of Social Services until that Director met and listened to her.
Why hadn't more people in these various residential places blown the whistle? Mostly because they joined a team in a workplace where existing practices were seen as normal and acceptable. Part of the culture.
"Don't be quick to judge", you write. "We're not in command of the facts". I agree. Yet you also assume that the people shown in the clip: "were probably there when the school was part of the so-called 'LA family'." Why assume anything at all?
The issue of calling the police was nothing to do with swimming pools or other outside trips. I cannot believe that you do not understand the potential sensitivity of calling uniformed police officers into a primary school in Tottenham. From the facts I have been given this was on more than one occasion. To what purpose? To restrain a small child? Obviously this was not needed and would have been entirely inappropriate. To charge them with a crime? Absurd.
Or to reinforce a school's behaviour policy? I was a governor and chair of Governors of a Tottenham primary school for many years and I would have been appalled if that had been the practice.
The outrageous behaviour by an outsider here is not my response. It is OFSTED's delay in carrying out a No Notice inspection.
(Tottenham Hale ward councillor)
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It sounds like Cllr Stanton has done the right thing. Safeguarding is something I take very seriously. As such, I have asked my own school to remind me what our own policy is with regards to restraining children (I am assured it is only done only as a last resort and that clear guidelines exist as to what staff can or can't do). I will study those guidelines in more detail later today.
The problem, I had (and have) with what you wrote is this: "....please bear in mind the wider context. Including the plans to hand more of our schools over to the Harris Federation." - that's just a cheap and needless jibe because you have an ideological dislike of schools having more of their own freedoms - e.g. hiring, firing and matters relating to the curriculum (this does not mean they're totally unanswerable to the LA, OFSTED and other agencies). OFSTED, don't forget, is an independent body. Schools and politicians should *not* see them as some right-wing-enemy. Next you'll be telling me that the Queen Mother's still alive and living on planet Venus.
As for the teachers in the clip, I said that they were "probably" there (look up the word in a dictionary), given that there wasn't a mass exodus (fact!) after the school became an academy.
And I had told you of an example, from my own school, of how it was necessary to restrain some children with autism after a trip to the local swimming pool and that it would have been easy for an unsuspecting member of the public to have assumed some sort of assault was being carried out. It wasn't. They had to be restrained for their own good. But others wouldn't has seen it like that, would they? Do you 'get me' now?
I note you do not say anything about the Haringey NUT and how, given a view has been expressed by one of their leaders, they would now be unable to represent those teachers should they later need representation. Great!
Justin
(written in a hurry - apologies for any grammatical or spelling errors)
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"OFSTED, don't forget, is an independent body. Schools and politicians should *not* see them as some right-wing-enemy."
The Times Educational Supplement has reported that:
"Ofsted has come under fire after it emerged this week that a lead inspector working for the watchdog is responsible for running two academies which have been placed in special measures."
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Permalink Reply by 1cbvox2m11gjw on
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Awful! the parents and governers have alot more to worry about such as the new headteachers history!
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OFSTED finally arrived (midweek) to inspect Coleraine Park School, Tottenham after the BBC TV film which showed distressed small boys getting pulled/dragged down school corridors. And after requests to OFSTED by Haringey Children's Services, by David Lammy MP, and from me (as one of the ward councillors).
Does anyone believe that the same delay would have happened if a similar situation had arisen at a Haringey Community School instead of in a Harris Academy? Oddly enough, today I got an email from OFSTED telling me that they were not going to visit. So left-hand not washing right-hand.
Meanwhile, just down the road at Tottenham Green, we've had the comprehensive failure of E-Act at Hartsbrook Free School. Apparently this school is going to be "re-brokered". (I.e. given away to another academy chain.) What's the betting on the Harris Federation being allowed to add it to its mini privatised education authority?
Claire Kober, of course, is still enthusiastic about Harris and has persuaded the Labour Group to include this in the Manifesto. If they or Cllr Kober lived in Tottenham and had primary school age children I wonder how many of them would be entrusting their kids to Harris.
(Alan Stanton - Tottenham Hale ward councillor . Click on the screenshot below to enlarge it.)
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After I first saw this post of HOL, I asked a couple of teacher friends/colleagues to view the footage. I genuinely had no idea whether the restraining was reasonable or not. Each and every one of these friends colleagues, all in the state sector, including a chair of governors (and a former Lab councillor), assured me that it was reasonable. One Head even told me that it was probably taken by a former employee with a political axe to grind. Don't shoot the messenger.
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Justin
I wonder when you'll break your silence over whether you agree with your party's policy of handing over public schools, paid for by the tax payer to private companies, many of them with close links, political and financial to the Conservative Party. Gosh, you wouldn't ignore this question again would you? Clearly your new hero is Ed Milibean.
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Mr Hinchcliffe, neither of us know the context in which this happened. Which is what I wrote here previously. I thought you shared this view; and my caution over what is and isn't reasonable and permitted physical restraint on primary school children.
I don't know and have never met the person or persons who shot the video(s). Nor have I seen the original video files - before they were edited into a version which I saw and which I shared with Haringey senior staff, and David Lammy.
I have not spoken to the BBC reporter, but as you would expect, I'm told the BBC insisted on seeing the original unedited video files.
You've tell us that you sought the views of a couple of "teacher friends/colleagues ... including a chair of governors and a former Labour councillor" and that they are all confident that what happened was reasonable restraint. If you would like to put me in touch with them I'd be interested to hear directly from these people how they reached such a firm and unequivocal opinion.
I'd also be interested to hear directly from the headteacher you spoke to, and to ask them what they meant by the comment that the video "was probably taken by a former employee with a political axe to grind. Don't shoot the messenger". Does this headteacher know and agree that their view on the BBC London news item has been shared by you on a public website?
As I said, I've not met the person or people who shot the video. I don't know anything about their political views; or their views on academies. My own impression is that they are (one or more) whistle blowers raising their serious concerns about the treatment of children.
I realise there's a danger of idealising whistle blowers. It does not and cannot mean someone is automatically right. But in my comment above I explained one situation why whistle blowers - or more generally people who raise concerns while things are going on - shouldn't be dismissed and ignored. They may be wrong. Or far far too late, we may find out they were right.
(Tottenham Hale ward councillor)
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