Battle to save Hackney Downs school 22nd December 1995, 12:00am Tes Editorial (Photograph) - Last supper: a legal battle to save Hackney Downs school was underway last week as teachers served Christmas lunch to pupils on what was probably the ill-fated east London school's final day. It was an historic victory. Just the heroic cops and robbers stuff that Hackney Police Station wants us to applaud. However, the ILEA have yet to take a stand on the well-known racist nature of the police or against their access to schools for educational purposes. YouTube Encyclopedic 1/4 Views: 1 770 876 33 591 360 As the last long-serving teacher and headmaster of Hackney Downs School, John Kemp saw its successful transition from grammar to comprehensive school and then fought a losing battle to hold. By early May 1000 people had been arrested as a result of demonstrations organised by the Roach Family Support Committee, including James Roach (Colins father) who was arrested in March but acquitted in May. on the third Thursday in January, in the spring school census data collection return. Only later did they contact his mother. The school had 600 boys with a sixth-form entry by the early 1970s. The brutality of the police, which is felt daily by black residents of London, frequently spills over into the schools. Despite long-standing inequalities, trends since the war have shown improvement - in numbers staying on, in exam passes, in literacy and other areas. The school was not complacent. The list People educated at Hackney Downs Schoolincludes The list consists of 39 members. The ILEA have produced a new policy document which instructs schools not to divulge pupils personal records to the police without a court order. If you can't yet jog 5km, but would like to be able to, then sign up for our free Beginner Training Sessions . Our outstanding curriculum is built around 'The City Experience' which . It seems that they organised at least one social event as well as political work: Hackney Peoples Press #36 September 1978 The clip is taken from a longer Thames Television documentary which you can see here: The number of pupil places the establishment can accommodate. In a country that is the top of the league of European countries for the size of its prison population and the severity of its sentencing that is a very partisan view indeed. A vanload of police arrived in full riot gear to arrest the child. First of all, the police are not disinterested parties. Subscribe for just 1 per month for the next 3 months to get unlimited access to all Tes magazine content. As a consequence of taking such a stand, teachers themselves have been subjected to police attention. I have just spent three years working on a book with the last head and deputy of Hackney Downs School which closed at the end of 1995, pilloried by the then government, its education association and sections of the media as the worst school in Britain. Essentially, the report re-iterates much of the original Hackney Directorate closure proposals of October 1994. They said these behaviour patterns were beyond the remit of sustained and reasonable efforts of the staff. several new policies aimed at dealing with racial harassment have not been implemented Our policy was reaffirmed again after the release of the racist crime figures last March by the Metropolitan Police. from the schools, pupils and their characteristics statistical release published each summer. Travelling by rail from central London: Our nearest overground station, Turkey Street, is a 10-minute walk from the school and stops at Seven Sisters, Stoke Newington, and Hackney Downs on the way to Liverpool Street. It was closed by the Government in 1995. Secondary Science Teacher . It was established in 1876 and closed in 1995. English playwright, actor and theatre director, Community school in Lower Clapton, Greater London, United States Army personnel of World War II, People with acquired American citizenship, L'cole Internationale de Thtre Jacques Lecoq alumni, English people of Romanian-Jewish descent, 20th-century English dramatists and playwrights, Best British Screenplay BAFTA Award winners, Professional Darts Corporation Hall of Fame, Professional Darts Corporation founding players, I'm a CelebrityGet Me Out of Here! A number of schools NUTs have adopted the policy and effectively stopped the police coming into their schools on all but legal matters. It is difficult not to conclude that they took the opportunity to settle scores with a local teacher who they knew to take the side of deportees. The closure was not sympathetic euthanasia but premeditated murder by the Government with an instrument of its own creation . This is most instructive. Learn how your comment data is processed. When Mossbourne Community Academy opened its doors in 2004, it was a new kind of school. and assault by the police. Pupils or their parents are able to claim free school meals if they Teacher strikes: Will there be more walkouts in the summer? school in the United Kingdom. Alternative non-racist agencies exist in all these areas if schools want outsiders to develop these and other areas of the curriculum. They are the least suitable outside agency to be in regular contact with young people. This shows us that where we organise we can stop these activities. The Grocers' Company School, later known as Hackney Downs Grammar School, was established as a middle-class day school for boys in 1876. They found that 70% of West Indians in vehicles were stopped and searched without sufficient reason, compared with 49% of whites and 29% of Asians. As many children have experienced the more worrying aspects of Police activity either directly or via elder brothers and sisters*. Background material relating to a book about the closure of Hackney Downs School entitled 'Hackney Downs: the school that dared to fight' by Maureen O'Connor, Sally Tomlinson, Elizabeth Hales and Jeff Davies. Terms such as monkeys, spooks and coons were widespread both in private conversation and on police radio. This establishment closed on 21 December 1995. Published by Hackney Teachers Association (NUT) 23 Walford Road, London N16 Hackney School Kids Against The Nazis was formed shortly after the ANL's Carnival Against The Nazis in Victoria Park on April 30th 1978. I should warn readers that the text and images below include some examples of the polices racist language and racist behaviour. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. This collection is not catalogued. Mornington Chasers is a friendly running club based in Kentish Town, North London. These, together with Government insistence that the problem is not large classes but poor teaching, are a travesty of the real situation. No other had such disproportionately high numbers of children with special needs, educational and behavioural problems and second language needs. victims were treated with suspicion This field does not show pupils who actually received free school meals but Shop-keepers were warned by police to be on their guard against pickpockets; local residents were told burglaries and muggings were up. This field does not show pupils who actually received free school meals `Hackney Downs, the School that Dared to Fight', by Maureen O'Connor, Elizabeth Hales, Jeff Davies and Sally Tomlinson, is published by Cassell, price pounds 12.99 More about Hackney Hackney . They realised that if the police could not get into the schools then they would have to get the schools to come to them. It was always a boys school. Underachievement is undeniable. Cushioning of staff numbers would have subsided as pupil numbers rose. The head of department, Mervyn Hinds, left soon after in controversial circumstances and the Hackney Black Parents and Teachers' Group, of which both teachers were members, leafleted parents. The police policy towards schools and schoolchildren is part of a wider approach known as multi-agency policing. So, in the light of this, what is the attitude of the authorities, both in the Department of Education and Science, and in the Inner London Education Authority, to the question of police in schools? Or register to get 2 articles free per month. Tell that to secondary schools in neighbouring boroughs where Michael Barber claims there are 7,000 surplus places. National Rail services are also a 10-minute walk and stop at Tottenham Hale and Hackney Downs before finishing at Liverpool Street. The Policy Studies Institute Research states that one third of all stops made by police were illegal because there was no reasonable suspicion for stopping suspects. If you would. Abstract. This caused considerable hostility on the part of a pupil who came from that part of town. This is an insult to the vast majority of parents, the governors, teachers, the two local MPs, the wider community (2,500 signatures collected) and the council who wanted to keep the school open. Then PC Mark Fridham and the other officers decided to risk life and limb by climbing onto the roof, which could not, if they had reflected, bear their weight. We say that if the Police will not take on their own racism Hackney teachers should have nothing to do with them. However, it is essential information for the department to be able to uniquely identify an individual and in a small number of cases conduct checks to confirm their suitability for this important and influential role. Over the past year we have witnessed Hackney police undertake a massive public relations exercise to facilitate this approach. They began to throw stones. I am very pleased to be able to republish here. The teachers also had another reason for not supporting the police they had become aware of the distrust and suspicion which many black children and their families felt for the police. This field shows whether a pupil's family have claimed eligibility for free school meals as reported in While they were there they made such abusive comments as This is what to expect from the animal farm.. Sadly the end of last year was a sad time with the news that three former teachers of the school had passed away: Basil Dowling, English (see page 3); Ione Hoskins, Commerce and Irene Munn (56-65 . Last year the senior Inspector for Race Relations for the Metropolitan Police Force had to resign because he made what he referred to as a slip of the tongue and referred to black people at an annual police conference as nig nogs. The school was labelled a failure and since failure is unacceptable, it must close. HACKNEY TEACHERS ASSOCIATION NUT 23rd July 1982. This might sound fine on the face of it. The police remain their own judge and jury they are not accountable. Hackney Downs had neither this time nor the much needed capital investment. Home-beat officers drop in at school during break-time for a chat with pupils or teachers. Betty Knight was awarded nearly 70,000 in | 67 comments on LinkedIn Maria Rooney on LinkedIn: Black teacher accused of 'playing the race card' awarded 70k compensation | 67 comments found that racial prejudice was pervasive and that the Met was preoccupied with ethnic differences. Many work against the odds but they are unlikely ever to achieve the results of those with more favoured catchment areas until children come to them with the same advantage of emotional stability, facility with language and encouragement from home. Our secondary school is oversubscribed, with a waiting list for every year group. We can pinpoint some particular matters for concern; Given the present situtation in Hackney, with police behaving in an openly racist fashion, teachers who do not challenge their presence in school are put in the position of being seen by the students as colluding with the police. The report commented that,`there can be few other groups in which it is normal, automatic and habitual to refer to black people as coons and niggers and so on. Despite Michael Barbers professed concern for the pupils his recommendation to close at Christmas shows little understanding for pupils in the final few months before GCSEs when they need continuity of teachers, exam boards, and environment. The early 1990s were a more troubled period. It notes that on the protest march following the Deptford fire racist comments abounded: some described the march as hundreds of rampaging niggers. Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Police Out of School Hackney Teachers Association,1985, A peoples account of the Hackney anti-poll tax demonstration on March 8th1990, Police Out of School, 1985 | The Radical History of Hackney, 1985 TV news report: Police charm offensive in Hackney | The Radical History of Hackney, When Hackney (almost) defunded the Police | The Radical History of Hackney, Ten years of the radical history of Hackney | The Radical History of Hackney, Today in London policing history, 1983: Colin Roach dies in Stoke Newington Police Station | past tense, Exclusive: More London children speak out about horrific police strip searches | SRI LANKA.
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