Please make a note that our next meeting will be Tuesday 21 May at 7 pm (note earlier start time) scheduled to finish at 9 pm.
Venue: Oban House in Beeston (just along from the Post Office – park in the Council Car Park on Foster Avenue)
Tomorrow’s meeting, 23rd April, will be in the Lounge Bar (downstairs) at The Commercial on Wollaton Road.
Our next meeting is scheduled for 23rd April at the Commercial pub on Wollaton Road, starting at 7.30 pm.
Don’t forget we are having an open meeting this Thursday, 14 March, 4.30 pm at The Commercial pub on Wollaton Road, Beeston.
It’s opposite another pub called The Cricketers, the Sainsburys supermarket is behind The Cricketers and you can park in the supermarket car park for up to three hours (don’t worry, the meeting won’t go on that long). Please check the parking restrictions when you arrive, just to be on the safe side!
‘Hands Off Our Schools’ is holding an Open Meeting on Thursday 14 March at the Commercial Inn, Beeston, Nottingham, starting at 4.30 pm. Refreshments provided. Note: the Commercial Inn is on Wollaton Road, opposite the Cricketers pub and Sainsburys. Free parking up to three hours is available in the supermarket car park.
All who want to get involved in the campaign against academies and free schools or who just want to be better informed, are welcome; this includes teachers, parents, school governors, students, councillors and prospective councillors standing in the forthcoming county elections.
This will be a chance to share information about what is happening in local schools regarding proposed academy conversions and about plans for free schools in our area. It will also be a chance to get involved in the next stage in the campaign to prevent academy conversions and free schools.
‘Hands Off Our Schools’ is the local Anti-Academies Alliance campaign group, fighting the conversion of our local community schools to academies and the setting up of free schools in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.
To find out more, look around this site, visit our Facebook page (‘Notts Anti-Academies Alliance’) or contact nottshandsoffourschools@hotmail.co.uk.
A meeting on Wednesday evening (16th January) revealed considerable opposition to proposals for Fairfield Primary School in Stapleford to convert to an academy, among parents at the school and those at nearby William Lilley Infant School. This site has been contacted by several people who were at the meeting. One of them listed concerns expressed at the meeting, including a possible rise in costs for activities, the expectation that parents purchase iPads for their children and the speed with which the proposal is being rushed through.
Another commented: “A group of parents from William Lilley Infant & Nursery School who attended the meeting at Fairfield are, I believe, not happy with the proposals for academy status and the lack of notice given to them before a decision is made. They are planning to take further action.”
The consultation period has been set to run until 15th February and Hands Off Notts Schools would support parents in urging the governors at Fairfield not to make a decision until that process has been completed.
If you are a parent at Fairfield or another local school, such as William Lilley, or a local resident, and you are opposed to the academy conversion, we would urge you to contact the Chair of Governors at Fairfield to express your opposition. You might also wish to request that the governors do NOT make a final decision at least until after the end of the stated consultation period, and that the governors should conduct a proper ballot to determine accurately the feelings of all parents at the school and at ‘feeder’ schools.
To contact the school you can:
Members of this group distributed leaflets — detailing arguments against academisation — to parents at the end of the school day, in advance of the meeting timed for 5 pm. If you attended that meeting and would like others to know what went on, use the ‘Contribute’ button on our Home page to give us details. Your name will not appear, unless you want it to.
Please note that the venue for Tuesday’s meeting of the group (15th January – 7.30 pm) has been changed to
Oban House (Broxtowe Volunteer Bureau), just up from the Post Office and opposite the church.
AGENDA:
Happy New Year!
The next meeting of ‘Hands Off Notts Schools’ is on Tuesday 15 January, 7.30 at Beeston Library.
Hello – I’m a recently retired secondary school teacher who retains a strong interest in education and a deep concern about the way it’s moving at the moment. As someone with a little extra time on his hands, I’ve volunteered to take over the editing and managing of this site, which is dedicated to keeping parents, teachers, governors, councillors – indeed, anyone who cares about the future of the state education system in this country – up-to-date with stories and issues around academies and ‘free’ schools in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire and the surrounding area.
If you have news, stories or concerns you would like to see aired on this site, please use the ‘Contribute’ form, reached from the top menu. You can also use this form to let us know of any item you’ve found on the internet that you think should be followed up.
