hackney downs school teachers

A letter from T.Hurley of the Hackney Police Monitoring Group to the Hackney Gazette describes the incident: At approximately 9pm many Hackney residents will have witnessed a helicopter flying over their rooftops, spinning round in circles and making a hell of a noise. We have also shown that there is no educational value at all to be had from a police presence in schools. by 14 vol. Michael Barber claims there was no alternative to closure (The school that had to die, TES, November 17). Hackney Downs was founded as the Grocers Company School in 1876. The Police have shown no such willingness even after the Policy Studies Institute Report clearly documented systematic racist and sexist behaviour and remarks throughout the Metropolitan Police. In the light of what we have noted before about the racism of the police and their irregular methods of questioning minors, the attitude of the schools inspectorate is stupid and uninformed. "Grocers" was an imposing Gothic building . It was established in 1876 and closed in 1995. When the teacher intervened the police became abusive towards him, arrested him, took him down to the station and charged him with assault. National Rail services are also a 10-minute walk and stop at Tottenham Hale and Hackney Downs before finishing at Liverpool Street. Copyright 2023 Tes Global Ltd is registered in England (Company No 02017289) with its registered office at Building 3, It voted to become comprehensive in 1969,[clarification needed] and in September it became a comprehensive school. The opinion of the press is unsurprising given its relationship with the Government but claiming the support of the silent majority is a classic desperate last resort. . The lack of information available to parents about those occasions when the police are routinely in schools. For live arrivals, status information, route maps and timetables. Please contact IOE Archives for further information. It is a slur on teachers and educational reformers to say that failure has been tolerated since the mid-19th century. It has been replaced by the Mossbourne Community Academy. Content Scope and content/abstract: The intimidating atmosphere that police can produce in a school, both for children and staff. It is my opinion that they themselves would be better off living in their native lands so send them packing, carpet bags, funky music, curries, all their relatives and stereo transistor radios. One example is police getting in touch with the parents of children who expressed hostile attitudes during a police presentation in school. the level of harassment against Bengalis in Tower Hamlets is increasing This field is not editable by establishment users as it is populated by the DfE using the underlying data The pamphlet reproduced below explains why. school in the United Kingdom. Indeed one of the inspectors written reports commends the teaching and learning as being of a high standard in three of the four subjects inspected. While they were there they made such abusive comments as This is what to expect from the animal farm.. The March follow-up inspections recognised improvements. A previous post on this blog looked at some responses to this publication in Police Review and by a Hackney MP in Parliament. The closure was not sympathetic euthanasia but premeditated murder by the Government with an instrument of its own creation . several new policies aimed at dealing with racial harassment have not been implemented Hackney Downs: The School That Dared to Fight [O'Connor, Maureen, Tomlinson, Sally, Hales, Elizabeth, Davies, Jeff] on Amazon.com. teachers; also industrial class of 10 G. . What horrendous crime had this boy committed to justify it? The EA also hired three HMIs. Nationwide, more than a hundred schools got fewer A-C passes than Hackney Downs. Recently, an article appeared in the Hackney Gazette blaming a mini-crime wave on the break up of schools for half term. They realised that if the police could not get into the schools then they would have to get the schools to come to them. Such events have typified police behaviour for years. The immediate cause of this was the murder of a teacher, Blair Peach, by the police while he was on an anti-racist demonstration. Hackney 70 - 100 per day HORIZON TEACHERS A great opportunity has opened for an enthusiastic Teaching Assistant to join a values and ethics focused school in the Camden area. I will not forget that he was murdered by an unnamed policeman who may still be a member of the Police force.. They also laid on displays by the Police Cadet Adventure Training Unit, the First Aid section and organised a game for visiting school children to play Sherlock Holmes in a specially constructed Serious Crime scene. The information requested says nothing in itself about a person's suitability to govern. However, the report makes no attempt to distinguish between the educative and policing tasks of the police we saw how this same problem came up in the Hillingdon Report and the Inspectors are not in the slightest concerned about the potential difficulties; for example, they say at one point: Police forces generally attach considerable importance to the advantages to be gained through unofficial contact with schools. In one notorious incident in March 1981 the police responded to a hoax 999 call from a North London School in Archway by arriving with five police cars, a helicopter and a dog van and meting racial abuse and violence on black children. On its transfer to the London County Council in 1906 the school was renamed Hackney Downs School (formerly the Grocers' Company's School). It was initially a boys grammar school but became a comprehensive school in September 1974. The causes of baby-battering are complex and an important part of teaching on the subject should presumably be directed at offering help to students who might find themselves in stressful situations with young children in future lives and who would need help. AboutPressCopyrightContact. Excellent classroom teacher, or potential to be one, with the ability to reflect on lessons and continually improve their own practice Effective and systematic behaviour management, with clear. He arrived at the school in 1945 when theatrical studies were not yet a part of the school syllabus . It has been replaced by the Mossbourne Community Academy. No child missed any schooling because of the campaign and teachers continued teaching and marking, despite the uncertainty provoked by the closure threat. The various branches of the Hackney police force mounted displays: Mounted Branch, Dog Section, River Police, CID/Fingerprints branches, Traffic Patrol and so on. One vivid part of the Hillingdon report describes police officers giving their views on baby-battering, which they strongly connected with single parent families and dirty neighbourhoods. We were also alarmed at the time at the increasingly para-military nature of the Police and in particular the activities of the Special Patrol Group. the annual spring school census. We all want higher standards for our children, no one more than the ex-Hackney Downs teachers I have met, most of whom have moved on to successful careers elsewhere. It will enable schools and the department to identify more quickly and accurately individuals who are involved in governance, and who govern in more than one context. The report says there can be few other groups in which its normal, automatic and habitual to refer to black people as coons, nigger and so on.. 01-226 0580, Pingback: Police Out of School, 1985 | The Radical History of Hackney, Pingback: 1985 TV news report: Police charm offensive in Hackney | The Radical History of Hackney, Pingback: When Hackney (almost) defunded the Police | The Radical History of Hackney, Pingback: Ten years of the radical history of Hackney | The Radical History of Hackney, Pingback: Today in London policing history, 1983: Colin Roach dies in Stoke Newington Police Station | past tense, Pingback: Exclusive: More London children speak out about horrific police strip searches | SRI LANKA. Hackney Downs has received overwhelming support from parents since October 1994. Location: Enfield - easily accessible from central, north and east London, as well as surrounding areas. It was established in 1876 and closed in 1995. But rather than help it along, the EA killed it off. A further factor cited as essential for turning a school around is a close working relationship between school and parents. It is now time to spread the case for no police in schools and make it part of each schools anti-racist policy. Terms such as monkeys, spooks and coons were widespread both in private conversation and on personal radio. 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 welcome runners of all levels, from beginners to competitive racers. A youth appeared on the rooftop. Nor will they mention the work of the Immigration Unit, the Special Control [presumably Patrol? 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. The site of the old school is now occupied by Mossbourne Community Academy, founded by Sir Clive Bourne, which opened in 2004. We oppose the Police promoting their image of themselves to children in schools. It notes that on the protest march following the Deptford fire racist comments abounded: some described the march as hundreds of rampaging niggers. 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? We have over 65,000 old school photographs from over 7,000 uk schools - search for your old school photo here. This information will help us make improvements to the website. . Hackney is an area with a multi-ethnic population, run down, poverty-stricken with very high levels of unemployment especially among black youths. Location: Enfield - easily accessible from central, north and east London, as well as surrounding areas. It was ill-served by those who blamed it for the problems of its desperately difficult intake and who allowed its buildings to fall into squalor. 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. This shows us that where we organise we can stop these activities. National Rail services are also a 10-minute walk and stop at Tottenham Hale and Hackney Downs before finishing at Liverpool Street. For the present government to continue in the same vein is unforgivable. There is something of a stalemate between the police and schools in Hackney. Until a few years ago nobody thought it necessary to have a regular police presence in the schools to teach about the law any more than they thought it necessary to have doctors involved in the school curriculum to teach about hygeine. receive a qualifying benefit. And yet, as we have shown and many others agree, the police themselves are racist and are one of the main instruments of racial oppression of black people. If you can't yet jog 5km, but would like to be able to, then sign up for our free Beginner Training Sessions . The evidence of the Hillingdon Research findings indicate that the police are not the best people to do this. The low roll was engineered by the LEA. Teachers at her Hackney school called the Met Police after wrongly suspecting her of carrying cannabis in 2020. These films or slides would then be used as a basis for discussion with the pupils about the topics concerned. There have been some developments. Joseph Brearly was Harold Pinter's teacher at Hackney Downs Grammar School. The police remain their own judge and jury they are not accountable. The ILEA have produced a new policy document which instructs schools not to divulge pupils personal records to the police without a court order. The school buildings of both the original Grocers' Company's School and Hackney Downs School have gone. Change). We agree we can have no dialogue with the police until they tackle their institutional racism. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/data-protection-and-privacy-privacy-notices (opens in new tab), There is no governance information for this establishment. If we are to maintain credibility with many of our black pupils and parents then we cannot be seen to be associated with the Police. Salary: Ark MPS or UPS (Outer London) 33,209- 44,274 or 46,477- 49,981, depending on experience. Hackney Downs was a victim of its own success. In 2002, the borough entered into a ten-year contract with the Learning Trust, an independent collaborative body that organises education for Hackney's 27,000 pupils in over 70 schools, nurseries and play centres. Other Similar Properties Check other properties in the same postcode E9 5SW, sector E9 5 or district E9 Check other properties in the same street Hassett Road; The first question the researchers wanted to ask was What did the children learn from the police visits? The answer, so far as knowledge of the law is concerned, is absolutely nothing. Beware the hundreds of other schools similarly labelled . includes handwritten notes [by ST] on the subsequent careers of HD teachers, Copy minutes of the Meeting of Heads and Chairs, 21 Nov 1994, Handwritten note and evidence relating to a 'racist incident book', 1990, Gus John memo and other papers re mid-term entrants, 1993, Letters re a meeting of the 'Hackney Downs School Parents Against Low Educational Standards Group', 1994, Papers relating to a disciplinary case and the resignation of Mervyn Hinds (Head of Maths), 1994 (linked to the above group), Letters etc 'evidence of promises of financial cushioning' - letter from Chair of Governors and documents presented to Governors, 1993, Letters between Governors and DfE regarding the headship of HD, Oct/Nov 1994, PTA notes of Parent's Meeting, 16 Jan 1995 - comments by Dianne Abbott MP, Notes of appraisal meeting of Betty Hales, Acting Head, 11 May 1995, 'Hackney Downs School: the last thirty years', by John Kemp, Secondary School Performance Tables 1996 - Hackney (DFE booklet), London Borough of Hackney: its people, facts and figures', 1996. Unlimited access to all Tes magazine content. *Similarly police taking social or community studies in secondary schools is not acceptable. At an infant school, the headmistress called in the police to deal with four black children between the ages of four and six, because they had money on them which she suspected they should not have. For example, the Policy Studies Institute report on the Metropolitan Police dramatically underlines what has been going wrong with the police. The sample as a whole did not know much about the law as measured by the test. A Tribunal has found a Black teacher was subjected to an 'intimidating, hostile and offensive' working environment. https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/murder-hackney-downs. Professor Barbers claims are based on loaded Government statistics of the cubic capacity of classrooms. , See the Hackney Local Offer At that time the ILEA supported the policy and instructed their Heads to co-operate with the police. Maureen O'Connor is a freelance education journalist (previously education editor at the Guardian); Sally Tomlinson is at Oxford University, having been a Professor at Goldsmiths; Elizabeth Hales was Head at Hackney Downs; Jeffrey Davies was Deputy Head at the school. Not surprisingly, no police apology was forthcoming. Average salary for Havant & South Downs College A Level Psychology Teacher in Woodham Ferrers, England: [salary]. 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. Teachers in many Hackney schools have operated our policy for a number of years. The final report of the GLC Police Committee panel of enquiry into racial harassment on local authority housing estates states that: attacks were not taken seriously However, this report has clearly influenced the Inner London Education Authority. Juvenile Liaison Schemes are being set up all over London. We know of many local instances of similar behaviour. So the meeting was not a success. In the Jamaican, he informs us,you have a people who are constitutionally disposed to be anti-authority., (quoted Daily Mirror 30/6/82). At such a display the police will gloss over the fact that they only have a 12% clean up rate for crime in Hackney. It was closed by the Government in 1995. Alternative non-racist agencies exist in all these areas if schools want outsiders to develop these and other areas of the curriculum. However, the researchers found out that this effect was completely cancelled out by the behaviour of the police outside the school. NATIONAL UNION OF TEACHERS Bus London Overground Lines at this station London Overground London Overground; Plan a journey. They have produced extensive documents in support of their policy and asked all schools to actively implement it. This is bound to influence their views on sentences. We believe excellence is achieved through three key ingredients: clear structures, high expectations and strong relationships. In 1968 it became a comprehensive school. Or register to get 2 articles free per month. . The police policy towards schools and schoolchildren is part of a wider approach known as multi-agency policing. The Hackney Reading Centre, a place where adults came for literacy classes, ran from the mid-1970s to the 1990s in a small room at the top of the Centerprise building. Apply to School jobs now hiring in Hackney Downs on Indeed.com, the worlds largest job site. The school has been denied a permanent head since 1992, although the leadership of the current acting headteacher has been commended by OFSTED and HMIs. The staff of the condemned east London comprehensive argue that it was killed off despite showing clear signs of recovery. This claim has only been made recently. Teachers who tried to stop it were told not to interfere and to mind their own business. There have been strong demands from many unions and the TUC to disband the SPG to no avail. They came to the conclusion that local school children deserve an explanation and apology. If you would. Shop-keepers were warned by police to be on their guard against pickpockets; local residents were told burglaries and muggings were up. The Grocers' Company School, later known as Hackney Downs Grammar School, was established as a middle-class day school for boys in 1876. Hackney Downs station Dalston Lane Hackney Greater London E8 1LA . This might sound fine on the face of it. Terms such as monkeys, spooks and coons were widespread both in private conversation and on police radio. This collection is not catalogued. In almost messianic tone he argued that 1995 represented a seismic culture shift where failure accepted for 150 years in publicly provided education, would no longer be tolerated. When PC Pridham fell, other officers got visibly aggressive and were heard to shout. Let us look in a bit more detail at some of the incidents that have occurred in London schools. . Its contents suggest the six-person hit squad swallowed Government propaganda on surplus places and were given a heavy briefing along the lines of dont support the school if its not financially viable. There is not much sign that anything very much is changing. It was closed in December 1995. It is vital for us to get our message home we are not against policing: we are against drunken policing, racistpolicing and corrupt policing. It was left to Hackney Schools Support Centre to point out that schools hadnt broken up for half term it was absurd to blame children for increased crime. Ark John Keats is an exceptional school looking to hire exceptional people. Exterior. It was founded in 1876 as The Grocers' Company's School. Contents. Many people around the scene felt disturbed at the attitude the police now adopted. The last Head Teacher comes out of it very well but in order to have the integrity of objectivity it would . Subsequently, the Metropolitan Police policy of visiting every classroom once a year put increasing strain on the trust between pupils and teachers. The familys two children, Senep and Fatih, were born and had only lived in this country. This view begs enormous questions about the nature of state education, the meaning of success and failure. Those pupils exposed to the programme did not seem to know a great deal more about the law than those with no exposure. 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. This is a list of schools in the London Borough of Hackney, England. They claim that they are well-placed to educate children in those aspects of social life where the law is involved matters that range from crime across to social problems such as child-battering. The brutality of the police, which is felt daily by black residents of London, frequently spills over into the schools. 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. racist comments abounded: someone described the march as hundreds of rampaging niggers. Was this massive operation, all at the ratepayers expense, justified in the fight against crime? So where does Hackney Downs School fit into this process? Hackney Downs in fact took the most impoverished children in the most impoverished borough in England. 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. At this point, given a permanent headteacher, stability, capital investment in unsafe buildings and targeted support for the disproportionate number of children with special educational needs, the school could have progressed. In Turkey the family is without employment and living in destitution. They also asked for descriptions. There was a smattering of strikes by students in schools across the country at the time, inspired by the student unrest of the late 1960s and counter-cultural publications such as 'The Little Red School Book.' About 1.5 million stops are made each year, but only about1 in 12 leads to the detection of an offence. 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 Recently some black school girls were arrested on a bus in school time and were not allowed to see their teacher. Tell that to secondary schools in neighbouring boroughs where Michael Barber claims there are 7,000 surplus places. This was estimated at about Pounds 250,000 over the next two years until the school had reached viability under formula funding. On June 28 this year, after nine months of campaigning and reasoned argument, supporters of the school had persuaded a clear majority of Hackney councillors to keep the school open. We say that if the Police will not take on their own racism Hackney teachers should have nothing to do with them. Following a series of 'failing' inspection reports, the school was placed under the control of an Education Association appointed by the Local Education Authority in June 1995. This information is compiled from the data returned by establishments for their establishment's situation Hackney Local Offer sets out the services available to children and young people with SEN and disabilities, aged 0 to 25. In our opinion, it is quite out of order that the police should have such direct access to information about children without their parents being aware of it, and it is outrageous that a boy can be picked up by the police in this way without his parents being made aware of it prior to the event. The school is looking to recruit a full time SEN Teaching Assistant for a little girl in reception who has Downs syndrome, and a little boy in Year 1, who has a diagnosis of ASD. The Old Boys of Hackney Downs continue their interactions as alumni through the Clove Club, which meets regularly, has its own website, and sponsors an email group called The Clove eGroup (on Yahoo), and featured on The Clove Club website.[1]. These, together with Government insistence that the problem is not large classes but poor teaching, are a travesty of the real situation. tenants lacked confidence in the staff, and therefore reported few attacks for example, the housing department had no records of racial incidents at Shadwell Gardens estate, but the Tenants association has records-of 111 incidents between June 81 and February 82. and 110 for the rest of 82 The Police insistence that they be allowed to present to children these parts of the curriculum has an ulterior motive of control and intelligence gathering. Of those on foot 66% of West Indians were stopped without reason comparedto 32% of Whites and 23% of Asians. The police use every possible opportunity to make their presence felt in the schools and, it has to be admitted, wherever the NUT are not actively enforcing their policy, the police take the opportunity to come into the schools. monitoring of attacks by staff was negligible