During lock down playgrounds are shut.
However, unfortunately some adults have ignored this. To this end I contacted Enfield Council about what was happening at the playground.
In response the Council has secured the Bury Lodge playground site by installing tall metal fencing.
A10 average speed cameras – 1st month resultsDuring the 1st month of the A10 Enfield Borough average speed cameras 📸 on average are catching 186 speeding drivers each and every day.
The community campaigning was worthwhile!
Over the years the A10 has seen some of the worst speeding across most of London and indeed the country.
I received complaints about a contractor (on behalf of the Forestry Commission) pesticide spraying oak trees to deal with Oak Processionary Moth (OMP).
There was clear concern about the health and safety of Park users.
From the complaints which detailed a lack of warning signs and spraying on a windy day; I have contacted Environmental Health at the Council.
In response the Council has; (1) Raised these concerns with both 
the contractor and Forestry Commission.
(2) Reminded the contractors of their health and safety obligations for spraying in public places
(3) Instructed permission is sought to enter any Council controlled land (so parks, open spaces etc) or providing all mandatory health and safety paperwork in advance.
1st Anniversary of A10 Operation Vision ZeroToday marks one year since the A10 Traffic Police Operation ‘Vision Zero’ commenced. In that time we have seen a significant number of traffic enforcements, cars seized and arrests. Their action is saving lives and keeping the road safer and quieter. Huge thank you to Detective Supt Andy Cox and the Traffic Police team.
At the No.10 briefing today the Home Secretary referenced the 134mph speeding on the Enfield/Edmonton A10. Underlines why the Traffic Police Operation ‘Vision Zero’ and average speed cameras 📸 we campaigned for were so important – in catching these irresponsible, dangerous, selfish drivers.
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/health/dangerous-drivers-priti-patel-coronavirus-a4424106.html
Thank you to everyone that posted feedback on my previous thread about Enfield Councils side collection of refuse waste policy known as ‘clear all’. https://nextdoor.co.uk/news_feed/?post=17592193957487
I have been working with a Director and Manager at Enfield Council to help improve matters and clarify the policy, which goes as follows;
(1) On black bin collection day, two black bin bags can be left by the bin. On blue bin collection day flat packed cardboard can be collected. You can also leave visibly recyclable items beside your bin. Squashing and flattening bottles, boxes and cartons can really make a difference.
(2) These can be collected by the refuse team; depending on how full their lorries are. If they cannot then they are sending street cleansing teams (the red caged vans) to clear the outstanding later.
(3) If you have not had the side waste collected by 4pm, place in your black/blue bin as appropriate.
(4) Report this as a missed bin collection on the Enfield Council website – who will arrange a collection.
(5) If this is not resolved contact your Councillor. If you live in Bush Hill Park – then I am one of your Councillors and are happy to help. I hope the above is helpful and constructive.
Increasing numbers of pupils are being excluded from schools – with special education needs (SEN) being over six times more likely to be excluded.
I have written previously about the 16,000+ bullied school children that are school phobic and who are pushed outside the mainstream education system, but the issue is broader – affecting pupils with a range of challenges, including; mental health (50% of mental health issues are established at the age of 14), SEN, poverty, home environment and personal trauma to name but a few.
To be clear, I support schools having the right to expel unruly children. Disruptive children in class can absorb ten minutes of every teaching hour.
However, there is a growing evidence base that exclusions are being used in some schools for all the wrong reasons and casting pupils into the Alternative Provision (AP) sector, which has little oversight and patchy academic results (only 1.1% of pupils in Alternative Provision secure five good GCSE passes).
Exclusions
Fixed term exclusions have risen to 381,865 – an increase of 114,345 since 2012 – with at times a limited paper trail of decision making (16% of the time, the reason is left as ‘other’!).
The Children’s Commissioner Report of 2017 flagged specific concerns over the use of exclusions and reported breaches of the UNCRC. The call for action is not new, in 2010, Barnardo’s report ‘Not present and not correct’ hi-lighted concerns over the use of fixed-term exclusions and evidence of unofficial exclusions.
The cost to society of exclusion is high, the IPPR estimates this to be £370k per young person in a lifetime due to education, benefits, healthcare and criminal justice costs.
Exclusions are not capturing just the knife wielding bullies, but a wider group, for instance every school week 4,610 SEN pupils receive permanent and fixed term exclusions.
One pressure point could be that some schools cannot cope with complex pupils’ needs. The ‘Teacher Omnibus’ survey found that 18% of teachers do not feel able to meet the needs of a child with SEN with 30% stating that there is insufficient training provided to support SEN students.
For parents to fight an exclusion the odds are stacked against them, many not knowing their rights or being able to respond to the complex process involved. The safety net of the Independent Review Panel does not have the power to reinstate a pupil.
When a child is excluded, the school can effectively and neatly wash their hands of responsibility, which passes to the Local Authority.
Home Schooling
Another route out of the education system is known as ‘off-rolling’. Officially parents must formally request to home educate their child. Although the reality can be somewhat different.
It is now estimated that over 45,000 children are being home schooled, a near doubling compared to five years ago.
We heard reports of non-attending bullied children’s parents being threatened with truancy action and given the option to home educate.
Shouldn’t Ofsted inspections show what is happening?
According to the latest National Audit Office report, 1,620 ‘Outstanding’ schools have not been inspected for over six years, of which 296 have not be inspected for over 10 years. This lack of transparency provides for the opportunity of opaque decision making.
Alternative Provision (AP).
Alternative Provision is an umbrella term to include; state AP, independent AP, third sector provision and work base learning providers.
When schools exclude, responsibility passes to the Local Authority. If schools had a responsibility going forward, imagine the difference this would make – a real motivation for early intervention and ensuring quality AP provision if exclusion is required.
However, in many areas AP is a postcode lottery, with a lack of capacity in the system to support those with complex mental health and/or behavioural issues coupled with poor
Ofsted ratings.
Best practice can be observed in Cambridgeshire – where schools have set-up successful partnerships to scale up Alternative Provision and provide economies of scale. In 2015/16 the exclusion rate for Cambridgeshire was 0!
This model has been proven successful by the DfE themselves. Between 2011 – 2014 a series of pilots commenced involving 11 local authorities delegating funding and responsibility of excluded pupils to the schools themselves. The results of the pilots realised improved outcomes for pupils.
In the sector the DfE has no framework of what a model AP looks like, nor any real monitoring of the sector. It is an adjunct to the education system, rather than as part of the system. Due to this, we do not know exactly how many pupils are in AP, but an analysis of available data by the Education Select Committee found that at least 48,000 pupils are in
AP – and this figure is increasing.
Even when Schools commission AP themselves, the 2016 Ofsted report into Alternative Provision found that under a third of Schools embark on any systematic review of the education provided.
AP needs to be viewed not as a permanent silo, but as a short-term intervention, with the aim of pupils, where possible, returning to main stream education. For example, this has been achieved in the majority of cases at the Red Balloon Learner Centre Group, TBAP Intervention Centres and The Family School, London.
Conclusion
In a system that requires rigour and oversight we are seeing youngsters being failed – through a lack of transparency, accountability and silo-based thinking.
Only a systematic change, facing up to the weaknesses of the system and embracing the best practice that exists will help some of the most vulnerable youngsters in our society.
Recommendations:
1. Proper Reporting: Schools must provide greater detail of why a pupil is being excluded and what support they require. ‘Other’ will no longer be an option.
2. Schools maintain responsibility: That schools maintain educational responsibility for excluded children with a path back to mainstream education where possible.
3. AP Framework: That the DfE establishes a framework for how a model AP should operate with monitoring structures like mainstream education.
4. AP Support: DfE Implements a strategy to grow capacity, share best practice and improve standards (especially in poor performing Local Authority areas).
5. Home Education: That funding is provided to ensure the child has real education provision with a pathway back to mainstream schooling as an option to parents.
6. Independent Review Panel (IRP): The Education Act 2010 to be amended to allow the IRP to reinstate pupils.
7. Teacher Training: DfE to enhance and increase level of training and support, so that schools are better equipped to implement early intervention and when needed, commissioning effective Alternative Provision.
8. Exclusion rates: That Ofsted monitor schools exempt from inspection with high exclusion rates and/or off-rolling. Investigating where needed and Inspection as a reserve option.
In the biggest overhaul since the 1970s, the Government has announced the extension of the Blue Badge scheme to include people with hidden disabilities (which includes autism and mental health conditions). This change is due to the current rules being open to interpretation.
The extension of the scheme has been praised by charities, including Mind and the National Autistic Society. Isabella Goldie, director of Mental Health Foundation, said: ‘It is also another step to creating a society in which we take mental health problems as seriously as we take physical health problems and create real parity between the two’.
This announcement is part of a wider inclusive transport strategy to improve transport for those with disabilities. Backed by £300 million funding, will improve accessibility across all types of travel for those with disabilities. The strategy includes investment in road and rail access and to produce league tables which highlight the best and worse operators.
This week the Government announced the biggest public sector pay rise in almost 10 years – to help recognise the vital work that teachers, the police, armed forces, prison officers, doctors and dentists do.
Pay restraint over the years has not been an easy decision to take, as the Government took difficult decisions to reduce the nations deficit.
It is because of this balanced approach to the public finances, that the Government is now in a position to announce the biggest pay rise in almost 10 years for around a million public sector workers.
Our deficit is still too high – each year around £50 billion a year is spent on debt interest, which is more than the police and armed forces budgets combined. This offer strikes the right balance between fair pay, and ensuring public services have the resources they need.
Pay rises announced:
• Teachers will see the highest pay rise since 2010. The lowest paid 40 per cent of teachers – including all those earning under £35,000 – will be eligible for a 3.5 per cent baseline pay rise in 2018-19, equivalent to at least £800. Teachers in the Upper Pay Range, earning above £35,000, will be eligible for a 2 per cent baseline pay rise.
• Armed forces will see the highest pay rise since 2010. Service personnel will receive a 2 per cent increase to salaries plus a 0.9 per cent one off payment, worth a combined £980 for the average member of the armed forces.
• Police will see the highest pay rise since 2010. Police officers will receive a 2 per cent baseline pay rise in 2018-19, worth £760 to a police constable on an average wage.
• Prison officers will see the highest pay rise since 2008. Prison Officers will receive a 2.75 per cent pay rise in 2018-19. Most staff on modernised grades will also be receiving performance related pay, meaning someone on Band 3 Officer’s pay on modernised terms will see a 4.1 per cent increase this year.
• Doctors and dentists will see the highest pay rise since 2008. Dentists and junior doctors will receive a 2 per cent baseline pay rise from October 2018; GPs will receive 2 per cent baseline increase with a further 1 per cent potentially available subject to contract reform; the small minority of Speciality (SAS) Doctors will receive a baseline pay rise of 3 per cent from October 2018.
This week the Government announced a multi-million pound investment in state-of-the-art facilities for children with special educational needs.
Children only get one chance at an education and they deserve the best, whatever challenges they may face. All parents want to send their child to a good local school that meets their individual needs. 1.9 million more children are attending good or outstanding schools and we have created over 800,000 new school places since 2010. But there is more to do.
The investing of £50 million is to create additional school places and state-of-the-art facilities for children with special educational needs and disabilities. This will help councils to meet additional demand and provide families with more choice. Over half the councils in England will receive more than £225,000 to increase places or improve schools for children with SEND, and every council will receive at least £115,000. Local authorities will need to work with parents and carers to determine how this money is most effectively spent.
Overall this brings the total investment in new school places for children with additional needs to £265 million, following the announcement of a £215 million fund last year. The latest funding boost could help create around 740 more special school places and provide new, specialist facilities to support children with complex needs, such as sensory rooms and playgrounds with specialist equipment.
Investing £23 billion to 2021 to ensure every child – regardless of their needs, background or circumstances – has access to a good school place. This has already created over 800,000 school places, and 91 per cent of the places created last year were in good or outstanding schools.
Overall investment in educational provision for children with SEND was £6 billion this year, the highest on record with 94 per cent of special schools are rated good or outstanding, compared with 82 per cent in 2010.
