On Sunday 22 April, hundreds and hundreds of local people stood together against an attempted fascist march in Brighton. Some estimates of numbers were as high as two thousand and there were certainly large crowds lining the start of the route along Queens Road awaiting the arrival of the ‘March for England.’

The scale of the mobilisation against the arrival of fascists in Brighton showed that the political argument had been won. Those who stood waiting were convinced that March for England, an organisation that helped found the English Defence League and is supported by their Infidel and Casual United bedfellows, were fascists.

Whatever they claim about innocent allegiance to nation, their version of Englishness is little more than a hatred for anyone deemed an outsider. They stir up fear of religious difference. Whether they realise it or not, it is clear to anyone who reads their hateful web postings…

APF parents have been writing to their local election candidates asking them the following questions;

As a candidate standing in the local elections on May 3rd we would like to ask if you are in favour of a full consultation with a binding parental ballot before any conversion to academy status takes place?

If elected will you be willing to meet members of our campaign to discuss these issues further?

We have received a response from Eva Phillips, Labour candidate for Brandwood, who was emailed by APF parent Mark Raychell. Their email correspondence is reproduced below;

Hi Eva,

I’m a local Labour Party member and a parent of two boys at Colmore. I’m also a member of Ask Parents First.

I’m really concerned about the break-up and privatisation of local state education. Since the election, schools have been effectively bribed into becoming academies and leaving local authority accountability. We are now…

Birmingham local elections 2012

A report by APF parent Mohammed Ashraf

In the Sparkbrook ward of Birmingham, local election candidates were invited to participate in hustings so that voters could ask them questions. It was disappointing that the Labour and Green party candidates were the only ones to show up and this kind of summed up for me how much they care about this election.  A question was put forward with reference to the fact that there are currently 3 schools in Sparkbrook that have been forced to become Academies;

‘Firstly what are your views on academies, and if elected would you support parents and the community if they opposed a forced academy?’

Both candidates were swift to pledge their support if the community felt they didn’t want their schools to become academies and said that they would do their best to challenge an undemocratic decision. They also each gave…

We are very excited to have been invited to contribute our thoughts and ideas to an innovative project called Edchange2012. The project aims to develop a dialogue in creating an alternative view and manifesto for education in England.

The Edchange2012 group intends to canvas as widely as they can over the next few months to develop, change and add to their ideas. Phil Wood and Joan Smith, both academics at the University of Leicester, will be visiting the Ask Parents First group in June to run a workshop with the APF parents to gather their views on educational futures.

Edchange2012’s initial ideas cover a diverse range of issues including;

• Learning Approaches
• Curriculum and Assessment
• School structures and systems
• Teachers as learners, collaborators and researchers
• Centrality on development for all
• Equal Access
• Inclusion
• Faith
• Community
• Schools as socially just places
• Social change

You can read more and comment on the ‘undigested’…