Lewisham Bridge Primary School Occupied
Angry parents from Lewisham are occupying the school in protest at Lewisham Council’s decision to move pupils and teachers three miles away to another site. The school is a grade 2 listed building that is recognised of national importance. The school has been at the heart of community life for many years.
Communist Students fully support this fight and urge as many people as possible to go down and show their support for the parents’ struggle.
More information can be found here and on the regularly updated facebook page here.
Although the protesters have a point to air, it is sad that they have put very little thought into their protest and that they are going about it in a distainful manner.
Firstly, a protest is suppose to send a message to the persons in power, the decision makers. It is suppose to facilitate discussion between both parites and to give the people a voice as well as inclusion. Unfortunately, this is not what is taking place here.
What purpose does sitting on a school roof in an uninhabited school serve other than to give the protesters a central place to
meet? Surely protesting outside the town hall or protesting outside places that the decision makers actually frequent would make more sense.
Whilst the protesters sit on a school roof at the mercy of the delightful English weather, the decision makers carry on with their day, tucking into three course dinners completely undetered by the protesters action and because of this, the protestors are given no real relevant attention at all.
Next on the list is screamning and verbally abusing the teachers as well as encouraging the parents to do so. What does this achieve? The
teachers are not the decision makers. They have no influence in the decisions made by the council. They simply turn up for work to do a job. They only care about teaching the children, so why make attempts to distrupt the children being collected and dropped off? Why shout and verbally abuse them? These teachers are hard working individuals who are in the middle of something they have not created. They have to turn up to work, they have to do their job and they cannot influence what is taking place here. In fact, they probably don’t care where they teach as long as they can teach. This only goes to show that the protestors haven’t really thought for one moment, who their target audience for the protest, should really be? Frankly, venting frustration at innocent parties such as the teachers is nothing but misguided and cruel.
Lastly, withdrawing your children from school as a form of protest. Again, what possible purpose does this serve? None other than your child losing out on their right to be educated. It just doesn’t sound like the actions of a good parent. If, as an adult, you wish to protest, fine, but why withdraw your child’s eduation when their safety is not in question?
I am all for the people standing up and having a voice but protest has to make an impact to the people who can make a decision that possibly changes the situation. Protesting the right way, at the right location, to the right people can make a difference and it is the stark difference between a protest and a unthoughtful misguided mob.
(@Don) An occupation has a variety of functions. The first is the message the action gives out, the reclamation of the physical space by those who use it rather than those who own it. Then there is the media attention. Getting a place in the means of manipulation may sit uncomfortably with most activists but there is a point when it can help to put your action in the public consciousness.
Screaming at the teachers does sounds like undirected rage, however, these workers are complicit in the issue. Why weren’t the teachers on strike?
Don posted the same comment on the PR wesbite where this occupation has been reported on. He received the following responses:
juliet said…
After reading your comments i as a parent on the roof are very angered by them as i am up there in rain and sun night and day even when its -3 like tonight will be and we do have a purpose if you took the time to ask us you would find out about us going up to london to protest to the leather sellers the march to the town hall and many other things like leaflets petitions and just the time we have put into this i feel that before you place another comment on here about us you should come to the roof and see what we are doing for yourself.
Tue 28, April 2009 @ 17:42
Tina said…
Don,
On the contrary, I am sure that the protestors have put a lot of thought into their protest. I live in Manchester so have been following this from afar, and have been inspired by what the parents of this school are doing. Had their protest been limited to town hall protests, I doubt it would have got the same amount of coverage. To describe these concerned parents as an “unthoughtful mob” is insulting. No, they are courageous parents making a stand against those who make decisions on our behalf with little thought for the consequences.
What is really needed, however, is joint action by parents and teachers, and its unfortunate that it appears that the teachers haven’t joined parents in this struggle. Teachers are not just caught up in the struggle, they are a part of the solution. Workers need to be prepared to take direct action if we are to prevent the government and bosses from making us bear the brunt of the economic crisis that is descending on us. Local actions against undemocratic decision making can be part of this. Workers, like those at the Viseton factory, and the parents of Lewisham bridge are challenging the idea that we need to stay within the boundaries of protest accorded to us by the state. And they should be applauded for that. An example to follow, I’d say.
Tue 28, April 2009 @ 17:43
Dan said…
Don to be honest I think your comments are bang out of order and I wonder where you get your information from.
Actually two of the parents went to the NUT branch meeting last night. Unfortunately they couldn’t get to speak there but they said they were going to write a letter to the teachers so they know its not the teachers they are concerned with (indeed they said what a good job they thought they did), but the decision of the council. I’m not sure why they weren’t allowed to speak to the NUT branch meeting but it was a real shame, which my sister agreed with as an NUT rep in Lewisham.
It’s also the case that loads of NUT branches have put up messsages of support on facebook and emailed them in.
Some of the parents may have been annoyed with what the children at the school are having to go through and expressed this to the teachers, but what has that got to do with the parents who are protesting? Unfortunately I get the feeling that someone, possibly the headteacher, is trying to slander the protesters with the kinds of things you are saying.
Where have any of the protesters screamed and verbally abused teachers? This is total nonsense and you’re totally out of order saying it.
And the people disrupting the education of the children are the councilors and directors in the council who have decided to go for such an ill thought out scheme with pitiful consultation about what the parents and children want.
You should really find out the facts before coming out with ill-informed stuff like the above.
Tue 28, April 2009 @ 22:17
Dan said…
I’ve actually just found out that Lewisham NUT have passed a resolution in support of the aims of the parents who are protesting.
Which makes Don’s comments even more bizarre.
Tue 28, April 2009 @ 22:32
Eleanor said…
I am a parent at Lewisham Bridge Primary School and I, along with other parents, have put a lot of thought and effort into the fight to save our school. In fact we have been fighting this proposal for nearly 3 years and the council have ignored us along every step of the way.
At a public meeting in 2006 where 100 people unanimously voted against the proposal, Chris Threlfall and Frankie Sulke (the council officers responsible for the whole project) were there and saw the vote and heard the arguments against their proposal.
Over 120 parents at Lewisham Bridge signed a petition against the proposal. Our signatures were ignored.
We have lobbied the council on many occasions but our concerns and objections have fallen on deaf ears.
We have asked Chris Threlfall to meet us on several occasions and on one occasion when he did grace us with his presence he made it very clear that his mind was already made up and he would not take on board our concerns.
We felt the need to resort to this dramatic protest because we have exhausted all other avenues. And it appears that it has had some impact because Chris Threlfall is coming to meet parents to discuss our concerns this week.
However we all know that this issue goes further than the simple problem of decanting our children. We do not want a private company to run our school. We live in a working class community and we understand what happens when things get privatized. We end up paying the price. For example at a nearby academy a new uniform has been introduced where a skirt costs c. £45. Lewisham’s school clothing grant is only £80.
In fact we know that this is part of a wider attack on working class people and we parents at Lewisham Bridge may not have the support of people like Don, but we do have the support of people around the country. Last night 6 Visteon workers from Belfast came up on the roof because they know that in the end we have to have the courage to stand up and fight to defend our communities.
We welcome any supporter who wants to come to Lewisham and help us in our struggle.
Check out our Facebook for updates.http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=94554226367&ref=nf
Wed 29, April 2009 @ 09:22
@ Rosa:
“Screaming at the teachers does sounds like undirected rage, however, these workers are complicit in the issue. Why weren’t the teachers on strike?”
Firstly, this is an very naive comment. The teachers of one particular school can’t just unilaterally strike. They would have no legal basis for it and could just be sacked and replaced. They would have to convince their unions that this one local cause is worth calling a national strike for.
Secondly, one reason that many of the teachers are not behind the protest (contrary to some of the false claims being put about by the protesters) is that they’re not entirely against, and in some cases actively for, the new school. Has it occurred to anyone here that there are REASONS for the LEA’s decision to build it? ie, Lewisham actually needs more secondary places, in this part of the borough.
Yet another reason is that the current site is dilapidated and highly unsuitable for teaching in many ways. Many of the classrooms are too small, the acoustics of the large spaces are terrible, there is asbestos and other problems. Many of the teachers – who lets face it are the people actually working there, who know and have to deal with it every day – welcome the decant, because they have a better place to teach in, and welcome the demolition because then there will actually be a proper, purpose-built modern school there.
Some other facts, for anyone interested:
1. When this plan was first mooted, the then headteacher opposed it, and encouraged parents to fight it. Parents were leafleted in the school playground, asked to attend meetings etc. The response was almost non-existent, and almost no parents could raise the energy to complain or do anything about it. That’s what allowed the LEA to continue with the plan. It was only once the decant went into operation that people actually woke up and did anything about it, and by then it was too late.
2. The number of parents involved in the protest has, right from the beginning, been EXTREMELY small. Many of those up on the roof, those photographed by the press and so on, are not actually parents of children at the school, and have no connection with the school at all. There are some 350 children at Lewisham Bridge and a big hullabaloo was made about a petition with 50 signatures on it. Why so few? Because there are plenty of parents at the school who are actively in favour of the new build, or on the fence. The painting of this protest as some mass movement of the majority is completely unfounded.
3. Protestors HAVE harangued parents, both at Cornmill Gardens and outside the Mornington centre, where parents I know personally were stopped by protestors wanting to gain converts while dropping their kids at school. Anyone who can’t tell how inappropriate it is to expose the kids themselves to this kind of thing has got some pretty serious credibility problems.
4. The behaviour of the protestors has been appalling. They have spread lies about the decant and the new school that have worried many parents. For example that Lewisham bridge children have been banned from other local schools, or that they won’t necessarily have a place in the new school (the school authorities have repeatedly confirmed that they will, automatically). As a result of these lies and the protest in general, the school are having to put substantial resources into communicating the truth to parents, reassuring them, and dealing with the political fallout. Those are resources that should rightly be going towards the childrens’ education.
They descended en mass to a school governors’ meeting, a closed, private meeting of a VOLUNTARY committee giving their time freely to the school, and who have NO power over the decision or the process, expecting to lobby the meeting and then complaining when they were not given access.
All in all it is clear what is going on here: the protestors are simply unable to see, or to accept, that many people – possibly the vast majority – simply don’t agree with them. And many of those people are LB parents and employees who have every right to the opposite opinion. Is the plan for the new school perfect? No, probably not. Should it be run by the Leathersellers’ Federation? I’m not sure, but they do have a strong track record, and Prendergast School with whom the new school will be federated is one of the most respected in the borough. Something is needed, the old site is falling down, and this is the plan that has been approved – a plan which when originally put out to consultation, was largely ignored by apathetic parents. The best course now would be to let them get on with it as quickly as possible so the kids can get a decent education at the Mornington centre, and then have a strong, modern, well equipped secondary school to attend.
Instead, we have a ragtag bunch of noisemakers swelling the ranks of a small number of highly vocal parents who can’t step back and see anyone else’s point of view, drawing the process out, disrupting the childrens’ education further and possibly condemning future generations to schooling in the same inappropriate site. All because of a kneejerk reaction to the abstract concept of “privatisation” (which this isn’t really), that is determined not to be obscured by anything as inconvenient as the facts.
Bruce
On teachers striking why do you say that they can’t unilaterally take strike action at this school? Lewisham NUT supports the Hands Off Lewisham Bridge Campaign and I am sure would support any form of direct action that the teachers took. You’re right to flag up the issue of legality because this country has particularly draconian anti-union laws which make it difficult for workers to take strike action, but as the recent dispute at Visteon showed, fighting wins. In some cases the anti-union laws may have to be challenged and that might mean breaking the law. I don’t think Rosa is calling for a national strike, but the fact is that strikes are happening over the privatisation of our schools. Look at Tamworth and Croydon where teachers have recently taken strike action. Teachers at Lewisham Bridge do need support from other NUT members and a day of action across Lewisham would be brilliant.
This proposal was first made in 2006 and before then to my knowledge no one was saying that Lewisham Bridge is dilapidated. All schools need investment to make sure that they are kept up to the high standards that our children require. That does not mean we have to rip down a perfectly good building. The new building plan has a number of problems which have been highlighted elsewhere including the fact that the Environment Agency have raised concerns about the dangers of flooding, CABE say the plan is “not good enough”, the classrooms ad playground space do not meet current government standards for new schools.
The majority of parents have never wanted this plan and we have been ignored over and over again by Lewisham Council. There have been many petitions, which have had more than 50 signatures.
I am a parent at the school and I have not harangued parents, in fact the opposite. When we talk about the new school or the decant we share our concerns and complaints. For instance we found out that one of the bus attendants has been racially abusive to some of the children. Buses have been late or cancelled. Our children are telling us their stories about the Mornington Centre. What exactly do you think our children shouldn’t be exposed to? The buses? Their empty school? Their demolished school? Or should they be exposed to their parents standing up for our community?
The campaign has not told any lies about the new school. The fact is that Chris Threlfall and Frankie Sulke have lied to us! We were told that the children would have a say in the name of the new school and in the end the name was chosen for us. Chris Threlfall told me that the planning decision would be made on 23rd April. In fact he has moved us out of the building when planning permission has not been given. Did he make that public? He has promised us that he would set up a shelter for our children so they don’t have to stand around in the rain. Where is it? As for resources, I agree they should be put into our kids’ education so why is Lewisham spending £900 per day on these buses?
Lewisham Bridge Primary School was chosen not to replace an old building but because the council thought they could get away with their privatisation plan. Yes it is privatisation. The running of the school is being taken out of the hands of the local authority and given to a private company. It is not an abstract concept. It is a reality, which means that we will end up with an unaccountable body running our school.
You are so scathing of parents. According to you we’re apathetic and not interested. Well instead of sitting at home writing vicious comments about us on the internet, why don’t you come down to our school and discuss your nasty ideas with us. We care about our kids and our community and we want them back in their school, where they can continue their education.