During the 1980s Hackney Downs School had been above average or average in the Inner London Education Authority exam rankings. In Hackney we have had direct experience of this. The school had been an innovator. For example, the Policy Studies Institute report on the Metropolitan Police dramatically underlines what has been going wrong with the police. victims were treated with suspicion Tell that to Hackney LEA whose statistics from the last secondary review show it will need all of its 10 secondary schools by the end of the century. We say that if the Police will not take on their own racism Hackney teachers should have nothing to do with them. Subscribe for just 1 per month for the next 3 months to get unlimited access to all Tes magazine content. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Not surprisingly, no police apology was forthcoming. Members of the National Union of Journalists complained at police behaviour towards photographers on the marches. These include the landing of a police helicopter in a school playground without warning when they were looking for thieves, or twelve and thirteen year old black children out of school for their lunch break being stopped on a number of occasions and made to stand spreadeagled against the wall, by the SPG, while searched. Positive verbal feedback was given to a majority of teachers. They began to throw stones. In such cases, the introduction of the police is not only a matter of concern at the time, but also raises the problem of false accusations remaining on both police and school file to blight a students subsequent career. From here. But what is the reality? The staff of the condemned east London comprehensive argue that it was killed off despite showing clear signs of recovery. feedback . They organised two open days at Hackney Police station in May. Prior to these open displays, the Headteachers of local schools were asked along to Stoke Newington Police Station to discuss how to arrange the event. And yet, as we have shown and many others agree, the police themselves are racist and are one of the main instruments of racial oppression of black people. Horror stories of muggings and rape (largely carried out by black youth), vandalism and drug addiction (the afflictions of the white working class) regularly appear in the press. We know of many local instances of similar behaviour. Against this manifest support, Michael Barber counterposes the national parties and national press and a silent majority of parents and teachers. They appeared to promote the idea that baby-batterers were immoral slum-dwellers to be treated with contempt. Despite Lord Scarmans report, in the wake of the Brixton uprising, recommending that the Metropolitan Police do the same and make racist remarks and behaviour a disciplinable offence the Home Secretary, the Police Federation and Sir Kenneth Newman have rejected this recommendation. At such a display the police will gloss over the fact that they only have a 12% clean up rate for crime in Hackney. Parents and staff, governors and borough council shared that view. It was one of the first schools voluntarily to go comprehensive in the late 1960s. Hackney Downs Grammar School: Hackney Downs Boys' School, also known as the Grocers' School, was established by the Grocers' Company in 1873, and declared open in 1876. One vivid part of the Hillingdon report describes police officers giving their views on baby-battering, which they strongly connected with single parent families and dirty neighbourhoods. The causes of baby-battering are complex and an important part of teaching on the subject should presumably be directed at offering help to students who might find themselves in stressful situations with young children in future lives and who would need help. Find something interesting to watch in seconds. At that time the ILEA supported the policy and instructed their Heads to co-operate with the police. Its action plan provided the basis for full recovery. We have over 65,000 old school photographs from over 7,000 uk schools - search for your old school photo here. Our small school sits in the heart of Hackney Central close to the beautiful outdoor space of Hackney Downs and the vibrant local areas of Clapton Ponds and Stoke Newington. The immediate cause of this was the murder of a teacher, Blair Peach, by the police while he was on an anti-racist demonstration. Ark John Keats is part of Ark Schools, a hugely successful network serving pupils from deprived communities. Eventually the police presence around the mortuary seemed to ease, but at approximately 11 pm their presence escalated yet again. The school was confident of moving forward. Travelling by rail from central London: Our nearest overground station, Turkey Street, is a 10-minute walk from the school and stops at Seven Sisters, Stoke Newington, and Hackney Downs on the way to Liverpool Street. The school is looking to recruit a full time SEN Teaching Assistant for a little girl in reception who has Downs syndrome, and a little boy in Year 1, who has a diagnosis of ASD. . Staff have acknowledged that there were areas of weakness but these were addressed in the action plan . At an infant school, the headmistress called in the police to deal with four black children between the ages of four and six, because they had money on them which she suspected they should not have. Hackney Downs Schoolwas an 11-16 boys, communitycomprehensivesecondary schoolin Lower Clapton, Greater London, England. privacy policy, GB/NNAF/C58082 (Former ISAAR ref: GB/NNAF/O34534 ), Grocers' Company's School (Formerly known as). The closure was not sympathetic euthanasia but premeditated murder by the Government with an instrument of its own creation . The Hackney Reading Centre, a place where adults came for literacy classes, ran from the mid-1970s to the 1990s in a small room at the top of the Centerprise building. A minimum set of information needs to be provided before a record can be saved. We use some essential cookies to make this service work. Correspondence relating to the report of the Education Association, notably a response from the Senior Management Team to the Secretary of State, and the formal letter of closure from the S of S. Hackney Black Parents and Teachers Group - pamphlet, Hackney Downs School Parents Newsletter, 16 May 1995, 'The future of Hackney Downs School: report to the Secretary of State for Education and Employment' by the North East London Education Association. It seems that they organised at least one social event as well as political work: Hackney Peoples Press #36 September 1978 The clip is taken from a longer Thames Television documentary which you can see here: . It was closed by the Government in 1995. Acting on this information, two plain clothes officers subsequently picked up an eleven year old boy and took him to the police station for questioning. But when do we hear of, say, structural unemployment, racist policing, lack of facilities and life opportunities the real problems facing the youth that led them to rebel against the system in 1981. The campaign was supported by the children, teachers, parents and governors. An updated edition was published in 2012: Hackney Downs 1876-1995: The Life and Death of a School. This page was last edited on 25 September 2022, at 21:41. It was established in 1876 and closed in 1995. It transferred to the LCC in 1906 and became Hackney Downs School in 1944. In one school the police got from the school the names and addresses of all the black boys in the first year. And it produced international sports champions like Dalton Grant and Eric Bristow. For example, every section of the police force nationally has been used to fight the miners and there they have been learning and using increasingly brutal methods. They found that 70% of West Indians in vehicles were stopped and searched without sufficient reason, compared with 49% of whites and 29% of Asians. They also asked for descriptions. Betty Knight was awarded nearly 70,000 in | 67 comments on LinkedIn Maria Rooney on LinkedIn: Black teacher accused of 'playing the race card' awarded 70k compensation | 67 comments And that information is likely to end up stored on a police computer. Other incidents affect children directly. the annual spring school census. OFSTED identified extreme and bizarre behaviour from some pupils. Others include the wrongful arrest and assault on the White family who got over 50,000 compensation and the wrongful arrest of Newton Rose for murder. As teachers trying to overcome these disadvantages and get the best for our pupils and the best from them, it is impossible for us to retain the confidence of black parents and pupils if we are seen to be allowing the police access to our schools and classrooms. Hackney Downs: The School That Dared to Fight It notes that on the protest march following the Deptford fire racist comments abounded: some described the march as hundreds of rampaging niggers. It is a slur on teachers and educational reformers to say that failure has been tolerated since the mid-19th century. If you can't yet jog 5km, but would like to be able to, then sign up for our free Beginner Training Sessions . (LogOut/ Travelling by rail from central London: Our nearest overground station, Turkey Street, is a 10-minute walk from the school and stops at Seven Sisters, Stoke Newington, and Hackney Downs on the way to Liverpool Street. This caused considerable hostility on the part of a pupil who came from that part of town. While they were there they made such abusive comments as This is what to expect from the animal farm.. I should warn readers that the text and images below include some examples of the polices racist language and racist behaviour. The police use every possible opportunity to make their presence felt in the schools and, it has to be admitted, wherever the NUT are not actively enforcing their policy, the police take the opportunity to come into the schools. https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/data/gb366-hd, Institute of Education Library and Archives, University College London. beta Racist language was even used in radio messages. But it had started to rise again and in 1993 reached 471 not far short of the local management of schools viability criterion. It is time for some joined-up thinking on inner city education.Maureen O'ConnorOxford, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. They come into Britain take up our homes our jobs and our resources and contribute relatively less to our once glorious country. Hackney Local Offer Information relating to special educational needs and disabilities in Hackney can be found on the Hackney Local Offer website. Find a keyboard in London on Gumtree, the #1 site for Stuff for Sale classifieds ads in the UK. Things came to a head in the 1990s, when the school made national news by being described by the then Conservative government as the 'worst school in Britain'. Teachers, like all other predominantly white groups in our society, have had to take active steps to combat and outlaw racist behaviour, practices and ideas throughout the curriculum. So here was a school showing all the signs of a full recovery. A further factor cited as essential for turning a school around is a close working relationship between school and parents. used are the performance table figures which ensures GIAS and the Find and Compare Schools in England The report says there can be few other groups in which its normal, automatic and habitual to refer to black people as coons, nigger and so on.. The school was founded by the Grocers Company to offer education to children of Hackney, a suburb of London, which changed at the beginning of the 20th century from a leafy suburb to an area in. Hackney Downs School was an 11-16 boys, community comprehensive secondary school in Lower Clapton, Greater London, England. A Tribunal has found a Black teacher was subjected to an 'intimidating, hostile and offensive' working environment. So, in the light of this, what is the attitude of the authorities, both in the Department of Education and Science, and in the Inner London Education Authority, to the question of police in schools? In the light of what we have noted before about the racism of the police and their irregular methods of questioning minors, the attitude of the schools inspectorate is stupid and uninformed. ParentPay Welcome Video Admissions Contact us Next Previous ITV News London has seen emails sent by teacher Barry Smith, who was brought into Hackney New School to improve discipline, calling pupils "detainees" when handing out detentions. "Grocers" was an imposing Gothic building wedged between two railway lines feeding into the commercial heart of the City. I have just spent three years working on a book with the last head and deputy of Hackney Downs School which closed at the end of 1995, pilloried by the then government, its education association and sections of the media as the worst school in Britain. Other transport options . 01-354 0557 I will not forget that he was murdered by an unnamed policeman who may still be a member of the Police force.. As Mr Simons, a local teacher and NUT member of ten years standing and a friend of Blair Peach, pointed out, Blair has been largely forgotten by the media but his friends and colleagues have not forgotten him. The Hackney Teachers Association arranged a picket outside the police station to try to persuade the Headteachers not to attend the meeting. Apply to School jobs now hiring in Hackney Downs on Indeed.com, the worlds largest job site. As the last long-serving teacher and headmaster of Hackney Downs School, John Kemp saw its successful transition from grammar to comprehensive school and then fought a losing battle to hold. In fact, multi-agency policing was fully put into practice as a response to the 81 uprisings and in the knowledge that the protest of black and inner city youth needed to be controlled and quelled. SEN Teaching Assistant Job in Hackney SEN Teaching Assistant - Hackney - 80 to 105 per day . So far we have shown that the police abuse their powers of access to schools and threaten the civil liberties of children in doing so. A fanatical pursuit of half-understood theories of school improvement by a Tory government with a political axe to grind was understandable. An official history of the school was published by the Clove Club in 1972. But rather than help it along, the EA killed it off. The cheapest way to get from East India DLR Station to Hackney Downs School costs only 6, and the quickest way takes just 11 mins. They made no inspection of police activities in schools at all, but simply based their report on the opinions of the police and the Local Education Authorities. In 1979 the Hackney branch of the National Union of teachers (HTA) started a policy of non-co-operation with the police. Hackney Downs has received overwhelming support from parents since October 1994. Home-beat officers drop in at school during break-time for a chat with pupils or teachers. The education associations own verdict was that there were some excellent lessons, a majority were satisfactory and a few were poor. In the same way, the police are becoming increasingly active in the harassment and deportation of large numbers of black people. The police visits did increase the students respect for the police as an institution and strengthened their views on law and order. Architect: Richard Rogers Partnership The commitment of the Metropolitan Police to visit every classroom once a year can only be viewed as a cynical PR exercise, while at the same time in the community and on the streets Instant Response squads operate with a heavy hand towards all black people. The front elevation and entrance, with debris heaped up in the playground, after the school was bombed. Secondary Science Teacher . One eye-witness, deeply disturbed by the racist remarks being made, made a complaint there and then. It was established in 1876 and closed in 1995. Our network shares a belief in our six pillars, find out about them here. Hackney School Kids Against The Nazis was formed shortly after the ANL's Carnival Against The Nazis in Victoria Park on April 30th 1978. However, it is essential information for the department to be able to uniquely identify an individual and in a small number of cases conduct checks to confirm their suitability for this important and influential role. It is difficult not to conclude that they took the opportunity to settle scores with a local teacher who they knew to take the side of deportees. receive a qualifying benefit. Hackney Downs was a victim of its own success. Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Police Out of School Hackney Teachers Association,1985, A peoples account of the Hackney anti-poll tax demonstration on March 8th1990, Police Out of School, 1985 | The Radical History of Hackney, 1985 TV news report: Police charm offensive in Hackney | The Radical History of Hackney, When Hackney (almost) defunded the Police | The Radical History of Hackney, Ten years of the radical history of Hackney | The Radical History of Hackney, Today in London policing history, 1983: Colin Roach dies in Stoke Newington Police Station | past tense, Exclusive: More London children speak out about horrific police strip searches | SRI LANKA. Alternative non-racist agencies exist in all these areas if schools want outsiders to develop these and other areas of the curriculum. England service are consistent. Once the school NUT union group has voted on the policy it should be taken to a full staff meeting, the parents and Governors and, in secondary schools, to the school students for endorsement. report found that 70% of West Indians in vehicles were stopped and searched without sufficient reason, compared with 49% of Whites and 29% of Asians. on the third Thursday in January, in the spring school census data collection return. However, the researchers found out that this effect was completely cancelled out by the behaviour of the police outside the school. However, as long as the police continue to behave in the ways we have illustrated in this pamphlet we will refuse to co-operate with them, and this includes opposing all their cosmetic exercises. This policy was re-affirmed in December 1981 when Hackney Police arrested and assaulted a black mother and two daughters the Knight family. This history is not an excuse but an explanation. As teachers and trade unionists we find ourselves unable to accept the level of racism found throughout the Metropolitan Police. They also laid on displays by the Police Cadet Adventure Training Unit, the First Aid section and organised a game for visiting school children to play Sherlock Holmes in a specially constructed Serious Crime scene. How could we improve this service? A suggested privacy notice for schools is available for download: Bus London Overground Lines at this station London Overground London Overground; Plan a journey. There is nothing that especially qualifies the police more than any other group in society to teach five a side football, disco-dancing, road safety, law or even not to go with strangers. We place some essential cookies on your device to make this website work. Abstract. He was a very good teacher and well respected by the East London community. Find the perfect hackney downs secondary school stock photo, image, vector, illustration or 360 image. Our outstanding curriculum is built around 'The City Experience' which . A letter from T.Hurley of the Hackney Police Monitoring Group to the Hackney Gazette describes the incident: At approximately 9pm many Hackney residents will have witnessed a helicopter flying over their rooftops, spinning round in circles and making a hell of a noise. (A response from a Hackney policeman is included at the end of the pamphlet). Nationwide, more than a hundred schools got fewer A-C passes than Hackney Downs. The commission also cites strong leadership by head as a first criteria for success. Subscribe now for regular news, updates and priority booking for events, All content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0, except where otherwise stated, 1862-1907: governors' minutes, letter books, financial records, register of scholarships, London Metropolitan Archives: City of London, 1876-1970: headmaster's journals, administrative records, pupils' records, societies' records and photographs, 2007-2013: obituaries and articles by former pupils, members of the Clove Club, Old Boys Association, c1920: photographs of pupils and teachers, About our A series of displays organised in this way is obviously likely to be attractive to some young people as it highlights the adventurous crimebusting aspect of police work. These Hillingdon findings are confirmed by the PSI report which pointed out the consistent stereotyping evidenced by police towards black people, women, homosexuals and trade unionists. 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