Glasgow Save our Schools Campaign

Outrage as Glasgow city council claims reducing class sizes would be ‘irresponsible’ Glasgow City Council has said that reducing class sizes in Scottish schools is an "irresponsible" policy, provoking widespread condemnation and incredulity.

The city's largest teaching union, the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), said the council's statement showed "contempt" for its teachers and warned it could lead to a breakdown in co-operation over the controversial schools closure programme. The SNP government said Glasgow's position was "outrageous" and in blatant denial of academic evidence.The Labour-led council's stance is also counter to the official position
of the Scottish Labour Party on the issue, as it supports a reduction in class sizes.

The row comes after Councillor Jonathan Findlay, executive member for education, explained the city's policy.

He told the Sunday Herald: "In Glasgow we are not intending to cut class sizes, not only because it would cost millions upon millions of pounds to do so, but because it is an irresponsible policy.

"Our own independent education commission has provided us with compelling evidence that cutting classes to 18 will do nothing to further the literacy and numeracy skills of our young children."

He highlighted the council's alternative system of "nurture classes" for children in early-years primary classes who need the most help. He estimated the cost of introducing class sizes of 18 into the city would be £47 million, equivalent to six new primary schools.

Previously the council said its refusal to seek to reduce class sizes was due to financial constraints. Now, though, it appears to be openly hostile to the policy as a matter of principle.

The Scottish government wants to reduce class sizes to 18 for the first three years of primary school. It argues that smaller classes mean better teaching, more personalised learning and more attention paid to children with individual needs. Progress has been slow, however. Figures in February revealed that only 18% of primary-one to primary-three classes in Scotland were meeting the target. In Glasgow the average class size for the first three years of primary is 21.

A senior SNP source said the Scottish government was angry at Glasgow City Council's position and branded the comments "a disgrace", accusing councillors of openly playing politics with education. He said: "Glasgow has finally let the cat out of the bag. Their opposition to the government's education policies has nothing to do with finance and everything to do with politics. They are allowing their hostility to the SNP to damage the educational prospects of the children of Glasgow."

Willie Hart, secretary of the Glasgow branch of the EIS, which represents 80% of Glasgow's teachers, challenged the council to speak to any teacher in the city about reducing class sizes.

He said the "overwhelming majority" think it is a good idea. "If that is the position - as blunt as that, saying it is irresponsible - it will be extremely difficult for us to have a good working relationship. It is flying in the face of the views of almost all active professionals who deliver the service. It shows contempt for their staff. It is highly disappointing. And I hope the government steps in and says it is unacceptable.

"If the council is saying, We don't care about reducing class sizes,' that will prejudice our approach to their school closure programme." EIS has so far not made an issue over the council's proposals to close 25 primary and nursery schools.

Scottish Labour confirmed it is in favour of reducing class sizes nationally, potentially putting it at loggerheads with the city council. Education spokeswoman Rhona Brankin MSP, however, said Glasgow City Council had to make its own choices and accused the government of making demands without providing any funding.

The Scottish Parent Teacher Council supports Glasgow's stance, however. Judith Gillespie, its development manager, said: "A smaller class policy has on the whole the biggest disruptive effect on schools that are doing well and have full classes. What you have to do with these schools to force classes down to 18 is not to spend money on teachers but on classrooms."

10:54pm Saturday 4th April 2009
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Parents lock themselves in schools in protest over proposed closures

Rally backing for school sit-in BBC

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Where are the threatend schools Here

Nursery News:
School closures consultation...":
There never was a consultation, Want proof? Look here:
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Protest at Glasgow council school closure plans

3 February 2009: Large angry meetings have been held across Glasgow in protest at the Council’s plans to close 13 primary and 12 nursery schools to save £3.7m the same sum as they plan to give to local property developers “affected by the recession”.
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Comment from Burgh Angel:
hi ...well GCC at it's 'selling the family silver ' again: ELDER park PRIMARY SCHOOL IN linthouse has been flogged for only 265k...absolutely no communtiy consultation about what to do with the building when the school closes in Dec 09, no, GCC have just sold it, and now QUARRIERS WANT TO DEMOLISH THIS MUCH LOVED LOCAL LANDMARK - THE LOCAL COMMUNITY ARE LOOKING FOR SUPPORT, PUBLIC MEETING OCT 23RD AT 6.15PM, IN THE SCHOL ON ST KENNETH DRIVE IN LINTHOUSE....GCC ARE SAYING NO OTHER SUITABLE SITES, DESPITE GOVAN HAVING 68 BROWNFIELD SITES...TWO OF WHICH ARE VIRTUALLY ADJACENT TO THE SCHOOL...GCC LINE SO FAR IS 'WE'VE SOLD IT, NOT OUR PROB'..THERE IS MASSIVE LOCAL OPPOSITION TO THE LOSS OF OUR HERITAGE, WHEN WILL THIS COUNCIL START UNDERSTANDING IT IS THERE TO SERVE ITS PEOPLE !!!
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Hi everyone
If you haven't had a chance yet to communicate your objections to the new superschool to the planning department, try to do so soon, before the end of this week, as we were given the rather vague instruction that we would 'a few weeks' to put comments in after the application
If possible it's best for letters of objection to differ from each other - i'm attaching the letter heather and i put together and of which we've been getting multiple copies signed. this might be useful as a resource for points to make, or you could do a slightly different version of it, or indeed just sign this one if you're pushed for time to put anything together yourslef. it would also be great if you could get a few signed by others (and individualised if possible ...)

letters of objection should be sent to:

Mr dale development and regeneration service
229 george street glasgow g11qu

Heather and I will be setiing up a stall at hillhead subway at lunctime on thursday (around 1-2) to publicise the campaign and get some more letters signed. our stall last week was really successful and was good evidence that people still want to get involved and fight the plans at this stage. do come along on thursday if you can make it lets get some ideas together of future actions -let me know of any inspiration you have

cheers
Anthea

Comment

I presume the class size issue still holds. Also, I get the impression that the cost of c. £12 million is a lot greater than the original proposal. Could someone let me know if this is correct. This could be another grounds - the fact that the costs seem to be increasing and that it would be more cost effective to repair existing schools, as well as what parents want. Marion

Comment

I'm a parent of 4 children and I DON'T want the old
school repaired. I want the new school built.
The current Hillhead primary is not fit for purpose. It
has 2 of the smallest most desolate playgrounds I've
ever seen; children can't see out of the windows,
its over 5 levels, there is no room big enough to
accomodate all of the children, the dining hall is
positively depressing....need I go on. Which
schools do your kids go to?......
F. R.



Dear Mrs R.

My children went to Hillhead Primary and say that it is the teachers who matter. The boy said that boys want to play football and need a hard surface for that.When we acquired a piece of ground for a further play area the council promptly sold it off for over-development.

What we are extremely concerned about is that they plan to build this school next to a heavily polluted and busy junction.Pollutants from deisel engines damage the development of young children's lungs, yet the council is refusing to do any air quality tests on site. It is the SITE to which we object. Perhaps you could lobby for air quality monitoring?

We are also worried about safe routes to school. Going through Kelvingrove or along Kelvin Way is not safe for children when there are not many people about, or when it is dusk.Not all children are accompanied to and from school, or ferried in cars.

There are other reasons why this particular site is not considered suitable, e.g. the extra traffic generated on a small road above the Kelvin which is unable to take the weight. We have had no satisfactory response to questions relating to this.

The site was selected by the education officers before councillors were informed or before people who know the area were informed.The community council was effectively excluded from all consultations and local residents who originally favoured the general proposal have not had satisfactory answers to their questions.

It is also not permitted to take any land within the curtilage of an A listed landscape.Kelvingrove and its 'depot' are such a listed landscape. There are other sites which are not part of the listed landscape and should have been explored.

I think parents should be asking their councillors what other sites were available and why they were not explored. I would not send my children to a school on the site in Gibson Street if I had any choice in the matter..
Jean Charsley secretary Hillhead Community Council




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Hi everyone
Just a note to remind you to keep the pressure on our newly elected council over the issue of school closures and to update you on the steering group's communication with them. None of the building has begun yet, and last time we checked planning had not yet been applied for.You will I'm sure have been following on the news that attempts have been made to apply the same types of cuts in other parts of the country, with, perhaps disappointingly if not surprisingly, different parties at the helm. It would seem that there is a tendency among some parties to act differently depending on whether they are in opposition or not ... It has been great to see, however, that pressure from parents, school students and local residents in Edinburgh has seen the Edinburgh process stopped in its tracks for now (see link below).

http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=1637&id=1483442007

You'll remember me writing shortly after the election to say that I contacted, on behalf of the steering group, all the new local councillors for the areas affected by Glasgow proposals J and K, as well as all members of the new Education Committee, to request that they move to re-open the issue in the council as a matter of urgency given the lack of representation we had seen previously. I'm sure many of you did the same. Although I had some communication with Phil Greene (SNP) and Christopher Mason (Lib Dem), they did not take any action that I know of and I have not heard from them in a while.

Martha Wardrop (Green councillor for Hillhead) responded a while ago and Heather Anderson and I recently arranged a meeting with her. It is good to hear that Martha is keen to re-open the issue and has been looking into the history of the objections etc in some detail. She is keen to speak with campaigners to gather further information. You can get in touch with her via the Council's website.

So, send a few emails, make a few phone calls and keep an eye on what's going on elsewhere - school closures have become a national issue.

All the best

Anthea
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Hi All

Come and protest against overcrowded schools on this Wednesday 21st March at 3pm at Dowanhill Primary!

All schools are affected: the figures don't add up for the new Notre Dame (see below) so children who'll be going to that school will be getting a raw deal; and any question hanging over the new Notre Dame also raises questions over the centalisation plans for the whole west end.

So everyone please read on and get involved - 17 months on the fight is not over - we can't let the council away with shortchanging their city's children.

Several months ago the campaign steering group pointed out to the council that their figures for the capacity of the Dowanhill building (337) and the projected roll of the new Notre Dame Primary (434) didn't add up. Several media sources including the Herald picked this up and challenged the council on it.

We finally heard back from the council that in actual fact their plans are based on not the 'working capacity' of Dowanhill (i.e. the number fo children the building could hold at present), but the 'planning capacity' (i.e. the number of children it could potentially hold if it were remodelled) which is 560. I'm sure you'll agree the difference between the figures is quite astounding and doesn't look good for children's education.

The 'planning capacity' involves, at the council's own admission, returning the building to as close to its original configuration as possible. It is worth remembering that Dowanhill was built in the 1890s - real forward thinking by our education planners then ...

There will be more, smaller classrooms. This will mean class sizes at the legal limit and much less room per child for both learning and social interaction than exists in the building as it is at present.

Due to the building having been 'C' listed, they don't have the option of a new build (and even if they did playground space would undoubtedly be sacrificed).

There is plenty here to continue to challenge the council on. So please join in on Wednesday and let them see how scandalous you think their plans are.

I'm attaching a leaflet advertising Wednesday's protest - please distribute it at the school gates and among your friends and neighbours.

See you on Wednesday with placards and banners! The plan is to illustrate overcrowded schooling with the aid of Heather's children's tent!


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Systemic banking education Yep learning tried and tested schooling from our friends across the pond
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