Education

Cuts begin to bite

August 29, 2011

Details are beginning to emerge of the effect on local public services of the cuts being pushed through by all levels of government, and they make dramatic reading. Over 1,000 children will have to leave borough schools as their families are uprooted by Housing Benefit cuts Local voluntary groups will lose £1,000,000 over the next [...]

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Cathnor Sure Start

July 4, 2011

Details are emerging of what happened at Friday’s Judicial review of the Council’s attempt to cut Cathnor Park’s funding. After the Judge indicated that the mum bringing the complaint about the council’s behaviour had a case worth answering, the Council caved in and grudgingly made concessions, rather than proceed to a full hearing, at which [...]

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Mums win in High Court!

July 1, 2011

Parents and kids at Cathnor Park Children’s Centre are celebrating today after their High Court challenge forced the Council to back down and keep their centre open. Told by Mr Justice Collins that their behaviour may be unlawful, the Council folded and produced a contract in court which accepted all the parents’ terms, averting an [...]

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Celebrating VQ Day

June 22, 2011

On Monday, I visited Ealing, Hammersmith & West London College to celebrate the fourth annual VQ Day. This celebration for students, teachers and employers is a great way to raise the profile of Vocational Qualifications (VQs) and encourage more young people to achieve their goals by pursuing VQs. VQs are vital for students to give them [...]

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Educational Vision

May 18, 2011

The photo shows me with Mohammud Abdi and pupils of the Vision Supplementary Education project, which runs on a Sunday in the brand new sixth form block at Phoenix School. I was pleased to see community use included in its remit, though it is a terrible irony that having secured the £10m needed to build [...]

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Sri Maneck Dalal, OBE

May 18, 2011

One of  Hammersmith’s most wonderful places is the Insitute of Indian Art and Culture – the Bhavan – in Castletown Road. It is one of the most important centres for Indian culture outside India: you can study Kathak or Bharatanatyam Dance, do a degree in Indian music, learn Yoga, study Indian Art or learn one [...]

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English UK

May 17, 2011

Hammersmith is home to some of the best English language teaching in London and last week, English UK, the national umbrella organisation for colleges which teach English, held a reception at the House of Commons, aimed at highlighting some of the  problems bona fide colleges are still having with the UK Border Agency. English UK [...]

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Free School – At What Cost?

April 20, 2011

Wormholt residents were both angry and bewildered when asked to view the revised plans for the ARK Free School last week. Lack of demand (there were only 25 applications for places at the school originally intended for 410 pupils) led the council to cut pupil numbers by half, and many local people thought this meant [...]

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Sure Start protests grow as closures confirmed

April 4, 2011

On Mothers’ Day I joined mums and dads from Hammersmith in delivering a petition to Samantha Cameron opposing the cuts to Sure Start centres in England. 2,000 of the 52,000 signatures came from the Hammersmith and Shepherds Bush centres threatened with closure. Last Wednesday we handed the Hammersmith petition into the Town Hall after a [...]

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Reviewing the First 100 Days

August 31, 2010

I was doing an hour’s political discussion on LBC last week, something I quite often do, but this was a special on the Coalition’s first 100 days, with Tory blogger Ian Dale standing in for Petrie Hosken as presenter. So with a Tory and Lib Dem politico and a Tory referee it felt a bit [...]

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