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We are serving breakfast till 4pm, including
Eggs Benedict and Eggs Florentine,
and daily specials which include
a wide range of vegetarian and vegan dishes
Salad bar
Open daily 9.30am -
6.30pm
101 Stoke Newington Church Street, London N16 0UD
Tel 020 7923 1303
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EDUCATION
Mike Roberts
When local children returned to their schools at the beginning of September, a quiet but
fundamental change had taken place over the summer holidays. Although the buildings were
the same and the teachers still taught, control of education in the borough had changed
hands. Back in 1999 the government decided that enough was enough. Children's education
was far too important to leave in the hands of a badly run and split Council. And so three
years on a new body now controls all aspects of education in Hackney.
The Learning Trust is the first organisation in the country to control a Local Education
Authority. While the Council still owns the buildings and pays staff, every other aspect
is now in the hands of the Learning Trust. And in future all education funds provided by
Central government will be ring fenced so that all funds come to the Trust and cannot be
siphoned off by the Council for other uses.
Headed by Chief Executive Alan Wood, and former Chief Inspector of Schools in England Mike
Tomlinson, The Learning Trust employs approximately 750 staff, and is responsible for the
education of over 27,000 children, and the maintenance of 70+ schools.
Formerly Director of Education in Hackney, Alan Wood is optimistic about the challenge
ahead. 'Not only do we have the dedicated staff who have a real enthusiasm for making this
work, but we will have the expertise to make sure The Learning Trust will be able to drive
levels of attainment in schools to a higher level, and reach Key Performance Indicators'.
'It's also important for people to realise that we're a private company, and our decision
making will be influenced by the entire community. For example we have Stakeholders
comprising governors, community representatives, heads and staff who will be assessing our
performance and suggesting ways The Learning Trust can improve or initiate services'.
The Learning Trust is also accountable not just to pupils and parents, but amongst others
to the Department for Education and Skills (DfES), external auditors, and OFSTED.
Learning Trust Chair Mike Tomlinson reflects 'Over the past few years there has been a
culture of Hackney bashing. While it would be wrong to say everything is high quality, the
criticism has hidden our strengths such as the rich diversity of language and culture of
the community, and our talented children'.
The Trust faces major problems in the short to mid term regarding secondary education at
all levels in the borough. The borough has eleven secondary schools, most of them in the
south. The Stoke Newington area, while having some of the best secondary schools, is faced
with the closure next year of Kingsland School. The impact will be great as the only other
schools are two girls schools and the rapidly improving Stoke Newington Media Arts College
whose GCSE results are now above the national average. On the plus side for sixth formers,
Brook House has just opened on Kenninghall Road and initial uptake on places has exceeded
expectations.
At the primary level, Stoke Newington is well served by schools which better the national
average, Grasmere Primary and William Patten both showing what can be done in the borough
if given a chance. The Learning Trust now has to show that it can make a real difference
to local education across the board without the Council shackles that tied down learning
and made it a political football. We hope it can, for all our children's sakes.
For more information
www.learningtrust.co.uk
www.brookhouse.org.uk
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