Laburnum School Reunion, September 27th

1st October 2002
The Save Laburnum School Campaign organised a reunion for ex-pupils on 27th September. The reunion started in the school hall where many old friends met up along with current teachers, staff and community activists.

Event organiser Peter Sutton read out e-mails of support from those who have moved away from the area and so could not attend but wanted their support to be recorded. Typical examples were:

"Sorry to hear that they want to get rid of the old school,but I live in Australia and will be unable to attend so sorry about that, the school has to be Heritage Listed, I went there as a child way back in the 1950's, Anyway I do wish you all success and hope that they relent, Regards Ken Bywater Perth Australia", and

"I am very saddened and upset to hear of Hackney Council's decision to close Laburnum School, I only just heard about it the other day and thought it was a mistake, then I recieved your e-mail so it must be true. I went to laburnum from 1973 - 1979, and I remember those days there to be happy and very memorable.

"I wish you all well in your efforts to save a great school from impending closure; and I hope that once the council sees how important this local school is to the community, I remember my days at Laburnum as some of the happiest and I could almost guarantee that other's did too. Rod Rothwell"

Candidate for Mayor of Hackney, Terry Edwards spoke to the reunion. He said "I went to Laburnum School as did my brothers and we got a good education here." After reminiscing about the school Terry spoke briefly about the Council’s mismanagement of the Borough and his Mayoral campaign. Terry pledged "If I am elected Mayor of Hackney, Laburnum School will not close."

Some ex-pupils wanted to look around, others were interested in catching up with old friends – but all were determined to fight to keep the school open. Charlie Sandbridge, 65, who now lives in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex and left Laburnum School in 1949. "Towards the end of the War, German planes came overhead shooting their guns at us. Teachers told us to get back inside. We survived German planes and we can fight off this Council’s plans to close our old school." Dominic Bergonzi, 44 formerly of St Mary’s estate and now living in Waltham Abbey "The Council are breaking down the fabric by selling off its silverware – its schools"

A group of girls from Haggerston School attended – who had all left Laburnum in the last few years and were keen to show their support for the school.

The evening ended with a social in the Old King John’s Head attended by ex-pupils, current parents and a number of school support staff.

Laburnum School - "Consultation" Period Over

30th September 2002
Today is the end of the "consultation" period. Laburnum kids and parents are handing in hundreds of signatures on petitions and postcards to the Learning Trust who will make specific proposals and consult on them throughout November. Below Carl Taylor puts forward our perspective on the "consultation" in a letter to the Learning Trust ; meanwhile the Save Laburnum Campaign goes on.

It is the view of the IWCA that Hackney Council/the Learning Trust intend to close Laburnum School regardless of this “consultation” exercise. You are going through this exercise only because you have to legally. However we do not accept that closing Laburnum School is inevitable. The IWCA is campaigning as an organisation in the south of the Borough and as part of the Save Laburnum School Campaign against closure of Laburnum School. We want to impress upon Labour councillors in Haggerston Ward in particular that this decision will cost them too much in political terms. They nearly lost Haggerston Ward to IWCA candidates this year, and they will have no chance of retaining Haggerston in 2006 if they allow this school to close.

On the subject of the election, the decision to close Laburnum School makes a mockery of local democracy. Just five months ago five rival political groups were out campaigning in Haggerston Ward in the Council elections. Four of the political groups did not know about the proposal to close Laburnum School. The Labour Party candidates did, but chose to hide it. In voting, or in choosing not to vote, none of the Haggerston electors knew that the Council was considering closing Laburnum School. For this reason we call for a referendum across Haggerston Ward on this issue before a final decision is made on closing Laburnum School.

We accuse the Council of running down Laburnum School for years. The Council tolerated an unpopular Head, who did much damage to the school. The Council took no action then, leading to the school going into Special Measures. Now under a popular Head, who working with governors and staff has turned the school around, the Council say the school must close. And you have the cheek to say part of the reason is that the School is on Special Measures. But it is only on Special Measures because of the lack of Council support in the first place, and of course is only ne of many Hackney schools that have been on special measures.

By closing Laburnum School you also close a full-time nursery. We know that this means that the Council saves more money by closing Laburnum than other schools with no nursery or only a part-time nursery. We believe that this is part of a wider agenda to run down public nursery places in the Borough and replace them with private nurseries. If this is not the case, what proposals have you got to provide the same number of nursery hours in other local schools if Laburnum closes?

Property developers are already showing an interest in the Laburnum School site. (See the page 21 of Homehunter in this week's Gazette). It is as obvious to them as it is to the local community and us what the real agenda is here. You have got a building that would convert so easily into yuppie flats as well as the playground which faces onto the canal, where more flats could be built. Taken alongside the private flats built on both sides of the school, Shoreditch New Deal plans for 30 private flats in Haggerston Pool and proposals to redevelop Haggerston West and Kingsland estates, the obvious intent is to transform the area. The Council is pursuing a policy of social cleansing - of driving out the working class majority and moving in a new middle class population who don't use facilities, libraries, social services or welfare benefits, while paying a high level of Council Tax. They won't use local schools as they will either send their kids out of the Borough or move before they are school age to be replaced by more rich young childless couples. We will fight not just the closure of Laburnum School, but any attempt to use the site for anything other than education.

Over the last few years Haggerston has lost so much. We have lost more than one library, youth clubs, nurseries and the swimming pool. Both the Apples and Pears Adventure Playground and the Haggerston One O'clock Club are under threat. Top Learning Trust Managers might not be interested in wider issues, but the Council is meant to be. Haggerston should not have to pay so heavy a price for the financial mismanagement of this Council.