News: July 2010 Archives

Walking for Walthamstow's Young People: Can You Volunteer This Summer?

By Stella Creasy on July 15, 2010 9:31 PM | | Comments (0)
This Summer I'm seeking volunteers to join a project developed in partnership with the local police, the local McDonalds franchisee Zulfikar and Worth Unlimited, a local youth charity, to help ensure young people in Walthamstow are given the support they need to have a summer full of activities. To support their safe participation in summer activities I'm seeking volunteers to help walk young people to and from a range of activities in the Walthamstow area during the evenings of the summer holidays. Working in partnership with trained youth workers, other volunteers and young organisers for this scheme, those who participate in this scheme will play a key role in helping our local young people access services. They will also have the opportunity to build relations with young people they may not ordinarily get to meet in your local community and help inspire them to achieve their potential through a summer of positive community outreach activities. Throughout this project training and support will be given to all volunteers.

In the first instance this "safe passage" scheme will run on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Volunteers who take part in this project will be asked to commit to participating for a minimum of four evenings during the course of the six week summer holiday period.  If you are interested in learning more about this project or volunteering through this scheme please contact Ebony Vincent on 020 8520 6586 or email at ebony@workingforwalthamstow.org.uk. I hope you'll be able to join me in helping our local young people stay safe this summer.

Press Release: MP Calls on Gove to Visit Walthamstow to hear firsthand local case for schools investment

By Stella Creasy on July 12, 2010 7:20 PM | | Comments (0)

At education questions today in the House of Commons local Labour MP Stella Creasy championed the need to invest in school buildings in Walthamstow and urged Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Education, to agree to visit the area to meet those affected by his decision to cut funding for new school buildings. Speaking after the session Stella said:


"We have three schools - William Morris, Holy Family and Willowfield - which I know from personal experience all deserve refurbishment and for which money had been agreed before last week's decision.  We also need more school places here in Walthamstow to meet the demands of our growing population which these plans would also have created. I'm therefore pleased the Secretary of State recognised these challenges in his response; now I'm determined ensure his department hears firsthand the views of local parents, pupils, teachers and governors on their plans to stop these projects and the consequences this could have for the future of Walthamstow's children."

Stella is now liaising with the local authority and local schools as well as the ministerial private office to seek the earliest possible date for such a discussion.


 Notes


 The full text of Stella's question to the Secretary of State at Education Questions on 13 July 2010 is below:

 

Stella Creasy (Walthamstow) (Lab/Co-op): I recognise that there are many pressing issues in Ministers' diaries, but may I beg the Secretary of State to take seriously the request by Willowfield school in Walthamstow to host a meeting for him, for parents from the Walthamstow area, and for parents affected by the decision to stop all the wave 1 school projects in Walthamstow, including those involving William Morris school and Holy Family college? There could then be a discussion about how we can meet our urgent need for school places in the locality, given that all those buildings have been condemned as not fit for purpose--a bit like the present Government.

 

Michael Gove: I am grateful to the hon. Lady for asking a very good question with a nice scorpion sting in the tail. I appreciate that in some parts of the country, because of the way in which Building Schools for the Future was run, the decision that we had to make bites more sharply. Waltham Forest is one of them, Somerset another, and Liverpool a third. For that reason, I will ensure that one of my Ministers or officials contacts the hon. Lady very quickly to see what we can do to alleviate this necessary blow.

Press Release: Local MPs condemn Government Decision to Cut investment in Waltham Forest Schools

By Stella Creasy on July 5, 2010 8:41 PM | | Comments (0)

Waltham Forest Labour MPs John Cryer and Stella Creasy today expressed their anger at the Tory and Liberal Democrat Coalition Government plans to stop investment into the programme to rebuild the borough's schools. Following an announcement by the secretary of State for Education Michael Gove on the future of the BSF schemes in Waltham Forest they issued the following joint statement:


"We are outraged at the Government's decision to cut this much needed investment in our borough's schools without any consultation with parents, pupils, governors, teachers or councillors. We've seen the difference new school facilities such as those at Frederick Bremer and Kelmscott make - and as the local MPs we want those resources for every child in our borough. Time, money and energy has gone into putting together plans to rebuild schools like Leytonstone, William Morris or Willowfield. Now with the swing of Michael Gove's axe that's all wasted and we have no idea how they plan to meet the urgent need for school places we have here either. Today's announcement also raises other questions about fairness in education as this Government channels funding into proposals for academies and free schools. We are determined to fight against the two tier system they seem to want to create which could leave thousands of young people in our borough without the schools and quality learning opportunities they need and deserve."


John and Stella have already co-authored a parliamentary Early Day Motion condemning these cuts and will be seeking clarification about what these will mean for investment in education in Waltham Forest in the current financial year.

 

Notes

 

1.    The following early day motion has been tabled by John and Stella today:

 

"that this house condemns the government's decision to cancel the Building Schools for Future programme for a number of schools in the London Borough of Waltham Forest; notes that parents, pupils, governors, teachers and other staff have often worked hard and valiantly under difficult conditions and over many years; that the BSF programme promised new buildings and vastly improved conditions for staff and students and that this announcement will be a serious setback for education in Waltham Forest."

 

2.    Building Schools for the Future (BSF) was the biggest-ever school buildings investment programme. Some 180 schools have been rebuilt or revamped since the programme was introduced in 2004. And building is about to start in a further 231 schools.

 

3.    Originally under Labour's Building Schools for the Future Programme all of England's 3,500 schools were to be revamped by 2023. The plan was to replace out-dated buildings with facilities that suit modern education.


 4.    The Secretary of State Michael Gove announced today plans to stop the proposed rebuilding of 715 schools across the country. For further details please visit www.education.gov.uk.

 

5.    The following Schools in Waltham Forest have now had their plans for investment cut:

 


·         Belmont Park

·         Brookfield House School

·         Chingford Foundation

·         Connaught Girls

·         George Mitchell

·         Heathcote

·         Highams High

·         Holy Family (RC) (QW deducted)

·         Joseph Clarke

·         Lammas

·         Leytonstone

·         New Provision

·         Norlington Boys

·         Rush Croft Sports College

·         Tom Hood

·         William Morris Special

·         Willowfield
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