Teachers call for public debate ton school future

Published: 7:00 PM October 23, 2009 Updated: 8:14 AM October 14, 2020

TEACHERS are challenging the Town Hall to a debate on the future of an East End school over plans for it to be taken over by a trust of university chiefs. Union members who are against plans for St Paul s Way Community to become a National Challenge Trus

TEACHERS are challenging the Town Hall to a debate on the future of an East End school over plans for it to be taken over by a trust of university chiefs.

Union members who are against plans for St Paul's Way Community to become a National Challenge Trust School are calling for Tower Hamlets' education councillor Abdul Asad to allow parents and teachers to vote on the plans.

The move would mean the school in Bow, where only 23 per cent of kids received five A*-C GCSE grades last year, would be handed over together with its staff and assets from Tower Hamlets council to an "educational partner" that could include three universities.

In a letter to the Advertiser last week, Cllr Asad said the school would still be a State school but would have "excellent universities as partners who can help raise standards and give the youngsters better chances."

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But branch secretary for the Tower Hamlets National Union of Teachers, Alex Kenny said: "If Cllr Asad is so convinced of the benefits of trust status, he should debate this with us in public. The NUT challenges him to put his ideas to the test and allow a vote of parents and school staff."

The consultation period for teachers and parents to comment on the plans ends on Monday.