To begin:
Here is my second sheet of the Islington Branch Newsletter. It has been a busy term and although the learning curve has remained steep, I'm still hanging on in there. You should have received the minutes to the February general meeting, which confirmed me as Islington secretary and Filemina Lee as assistant secretary. At present we have no treasurer to hold the purse strings, nor health and safety representative.
Annual Conference at Eastbourne
Filemina Lee and I represented Islington as part of the London delegation to conference this year. There's little point reiterating what has been written in the conference reports, but Filemena proposed an amendment (seconded by Margarita Taylor, Southwark) to a proposal on limiting contact time, giving examples from Spain and Italy; fifteen and eighteen hours maximum respectively in secondary schools. Both the proposal and the amendment were unanimously agreed.
Education Action Zones (EAZs)
All Islington teachers should have received information about the bid for an EAZ in the north of the borough. I am sorry that the letter made so much reference to "NUT criteria", especially as both NASUWT and NAHT were present at the meeting. The important point is that the information we asked for was circulated. What wasn't mentioned is that a second bid is projected in the south of the borough if the first bid is successful. "Zone 2" could include: Blessed Sacrament, Copenhagen, Vittoria, Penton, Winton, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, Clerkenwell Parochial, Hugh Myddelton, St Peter & Pauls, Richard Cloudesley, Prior Weston, Moorfields, St Lukes, Central Foundation, Moreland, St John the Evangelist, Islington Green, Charles Lamb, Rosemary, Rotherfield, Ecclesbourne.
Matters are in hand at the moment, but contact me if you need specific information.
Section 11 Funding
This has been pretty much off the agenda in Islington. If any section 11 teachers are NASUWT members, then their membership information is out of date and they are keeping very quiet. In theory there is little to be concerned about in the immediate future as this year's funding should be the same as last year's.
OFSTED & the Audit Commission
Islington LEA has been inspected and is waiting for the feedback. The DFEE have returned the Education Development Plan to Islington to review in the light of the OFSTED report (which is irritating for the borough as it is intended to be reviewed each year anyway) and also because LBI was not strict enough about schools' targets!
Green Paper
There is so much that could be said, but overleaf is the joint response I wrote for all the Islington teaching unions.
Greg Robbins