October 2nd Campaign Update

1. A pokey office and two classrooms - it's official!

Interesting article by Warwick Mansell in 'The Guardian', er, sorry to inform you Warwick, but I think that's the complementary season ticket gone...

'The Guardian' 2/10/12

Kick start?

It's the only "free school" so far to have been launched by a Premier League football club. But does Everton free school have another remarkable claim to fame: opening last month with only six pupils? This seems to be the case after the school in Liverpool was forced by the Unison union to respond to claims that it began life with as few as three students.

Everton free school focuses on alternative provision for 14- to 19-year-olds, taking on secondary pupils referred to it by other schools or the local authority.

In a letter to Jon Richards at Unison, the school's principal, Adrian Packer, said the figure of three children was inaccurate. He added that the school had a strict policy not to take on more than six pupil referrals in a week because of the complexity of the needs of the young people it educated, and that "this is our first week of offering alternative provision so our numbers (in this part of the school) reflect our policy". The numbers would double in the coming week, he said.

Packer also said claims that the school has only two classrooms are wrong. However, an email to local teacher and free school critic Richard Knights from the Department for Education (DfE) said: "The school has two dedicated classrooms and an office [although] the staff and students are free to use the communal areas." The email says: "Because of the restricted classroom space currently available, it is likely that the school will teach fewer students this year than it had originally planned." The school's roll would reach its capacity of 200 within three years, the email said. An Everton FC spokesman added: "Our free school operates under an agreed framework with the DfE, which permits the school to enrol up to six young people each week. That is precisely what we have done." Critics question whether public money is being used efficiently, although the school's budget has not been revealed.

2. First the sentence, then the verdict, finally the evidence...

The campaign to defend the Evertonians Against Free Schools One, er, that's me, continues, I've made an official complaint to Merseyside Police and to the Independent Police Complaint's Commission. It's being dealt with by an Inspector Brennan, please e-mail psd@merseyside.police.uk

It's alleged that I 'harassed and intimidated' Everton Free School Principal Adrian Packer, I've met him once, sent one letter. Er, don't know if Adrian has led a very sheltered life, but if he finds me intimidating... Still, a football club, the police, the judiciary, where could I go wrong?

3. Mr Packer's salary

Adrian has been rather coy about this, all will be revealed in the next few days (allegedly).

Richard Knights

Evertonians Against Free Schools

From the Department for Education

Dear Mr Knights,

Thank you for your email of 17 September about Everton Free School. This alternative provision (AP) school caters for students aged 14 – 19 and is temporarily located in the Liverpool Community College’s Learning Exchange Building.  Although, as you point out, the school only has two dedicated classrooms and an office, the staff and students are free to use the communal areas.  Because of the restricted classroom space currently available it is likely that the school will teach fewer students this year than it had originally planned.  However, the numbers will build over the next two or three years to reach its capacity of 200 once the school has moved to a permanent location. Students in AP schools arrive via referrals from commissioners, such as other schools or the local authority, rather than the mainstream admissions process.  It is highly likely, therefore, that new AP schools will open with very few students with numbers building over time.  Everton Free School is no exception to this. Applications to open a new Free School undergo a thorough financial assessment and the Department has no reason to believe that this school is not viable.

Yours sincerely,  Mike Couzens Free Schools Group

Letter to BBC North West News

Dear Mr Clarke

I am writing to you following a telephone conversation with Lindsey Prosser, the journalist responsible for the feature on the Everton Free School, that was carried by BBC North West News on Tuesday September 25th at approximately 6.45 pm.

This was almost a promotional video for the Everton Free School, I'm assuming that the football club contacted the BBC. It seems to me that there was no attempt to research the contentious issue of Free Schools, nor the particular details of the Everton Free School. The Hillsborough Independent Report highlighted the unhealthy relationship between Sheffield Wednesday and the local and national media. Your report was an example, possibly unintentionally of cronyism. Simple research on Google would have revealed the local opposition by fans and unions to the Everton Free School.

Free Schools are not accountable to anyone, not parents, not teachers, nor locally elected representatives. They are accountable only to themselves. They will lead to chaos in the admissions system, already some Free Schools are offering free uniforms as an enticement. The 'One in a Million' Free School, sponsored by Bradford City F.C. didn't even open leaving scores of pupils without a school.

The Everton Free School is part of the attempt to privatise special school provision as outlined in the Taylor Report. Free Schools don't have to comply with strict regulations that apply to state schools. The Everton Free School is meant to accommodate 120 pupils by the end of the year, all it has is one pokey office and two bog-standard classrooms, this is a school for our most vulnerable and disadvantaged pupils. Where is the playground? Where are the green fields? Why are they stuck in an adult learning facility?

Free Schools do not have to pay nationally agreed pay scales, the Everton Free School advertised for Learning Mentors from ₤12,000, that's ₤10,000 below the normal rate. Then there's the six-figure salaries that headteachers are paid. I've been asking Adrian Packer for three months, 'What is your salary?' He's refused to reply. This. Is. Taxpayer's. Money.

I helped establish 'Evertonians Against Free Schools', we have held a successful public meeting (to which Mr Packer was invited but declined to attend), letters in the Liverpool Echo (printed after a successful complaint to the PCC), an article in the Everton fanzine, a Facebook page and blog. A few 'malcontents'? So why after one short visit to the Everton Free School did officers from Merseyside Police's Football Intelligence Unit appear on my doorstep and issue me with a Recordable Verbal Warning under the Protection From Harassment Act 1997?

Another example of the chaos caused by Free Schools is Hawthorne Free School in Bootle (established after the closure of St George's and St Wilfred's) where scores of staff have been left without a job and without any redundancy pay. The Hawthorne Free School are also refusing to honour previous pay scales under TUPE regulations.

I hope you will consider carrying a piece about opposition to Free Schools. Failing that I would like to make a complaint, it's probably a complete waste of time but I just thought the BBC had higher journalistic standards than the tabloids.

Having my collar felt...

On Monday September 17th two officers from Merseyside Police's Football Intelligence Unit knocked at my door, they were sent there at the request of Everton Football Club, with an allegation that I was 'harassing' the Principal of the Everton Free School Adrian Packer.

A Recordable Verbal Warning was issued under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 - 'It is Merseyside Police practi

ce to give you a recordable verbal warning in relation to this incident. You are being warned that this may be the first recorded event in a course of conduct of harassment, and you are strongly advised not to make any form of communication to the reporting person. If in the future you are investigated for a similar offence, you may well commit an offence against The Protection from Harassment Act 1997. Such an offence may leave you liable to arrest.'

This particular Act was passed to prosecute people who constantly intimidate or stalk victims.

I made one short visit to the Everton Free School to make an appointment to meet Adrian Packer on September 11th. For the record, I have met him once, in July, for about 10 seconds, I've written one letter to him and have never spoken to him on the phone or communicated with him in any other way.

This is clearly an attempt by Everton FC and the Free School to intimidate anyone who is opposed to their plans to implement the Conservative Party's agenda of undermining state education.

Please send protests to Ian Miller, Football Intelligence Officer, Floor 7, Merseyside Police, Canning Place, Liverpool L1 8JX and/or e-mail - football.intelligence.unit@merseyside.pnn.police.uk

Richard Knights

Evertonians Against Free Schools

Three pupils, one small office and two classrooms

Last summer we were promised that the Everton Free School would be a 'landmark school' for 'the most challenged and deserving young people in our City'. The school was meant to educate 120 pupils, two thirds of them aged under 16.

So what is the reality? The Everton Free School is on the third floor of the Liverpool Community College's Learning Exchange in Roscoe Street. The facilities? One small office and two bog-standard classrooms – that is the 'landmark' Everton Free School.

The Everton Free School are refusing to divulge any figures, But sources within Everton FC have informed us that only THREE children were enrolled at the start of the school year. This immediately raises questions about the long-term financial viability of the school. Also if you were aiming to educate 120 children why have one office and two classrooms? Is there any room for expansion in the Liverpool Community College?

The pupils from the Everton Free School don't appear to have any separate facilities for toilets or catering, let alone a playground or fields.

Pupils will spend some time at Finch Farm (the Everton Training Ground) and at Goodison Park, however, this will involve taking substantial travel time from out of the school day.

Salaries at the Everton Free School are considerably below those in state schools, Learning Mentor jobs were advertised 'from ₤12,000' and teachers' jobs did not mention special payments that are commonly granted in special schools or Pupil Referral Units (PRUs). This will inevitably mean a high staff turnover.

As for the Principal Adrian Packer, the school are still refusing to reveal his salary. A common feature of free schools are the six-figure salaries for headteachers and principals.

Free Schools are a discredited Tory initiative, already this term the 'One in a million' Free School, sponsored by Bradford City FC, hasn't even opened. How many children are enrolled in the Everton Free School? Is it financially viable?

Sadly whenever questions are raised we are accused of being 'aggressive' or 'intimidating'. If you refuse to answer questions and exclude people from visiting the Everton Free School it does raise the question what have you got to hide? Three pupils, one small office and two classrooms?

Article in 'When Skies Are Grey'

Everton running their own school? I'm thinking of something like 'Field of Dreams', the legends appearing out of the mist, kids playing with the stars, chasing that rainbow, sun-kissed fields, no stuffy classrooms or teachers that resemble Miss Trunchbull. A chance for the club to search for the next Wayne Rooney, an academy like Barcelona's.

Here comes the reality check. Free Schools are a Conservative initiative that will destroy state education. Free Schools don't have to pay national rates of pay, they don't even have to employ any qualified teachers, they undermine local democracy because they aren't accountable to locally elected councils but to Michael Gove the Conservative Education Minister, Free Schools can choose their own admissions policy. So there it is, Liverpool that hasn't returned a Conservative MP or city councillor since time immemorial has this policy foisted upon it.

Will the Everton Free School be some kind of sports college? Think again. Special schools and Pupil Referral Units (PRUs) are for the most damaged, excluded and marginalised children, those who get expelled from mainstream schools or children who need to be protected in a secure environment. Some of them have suffered horrific abuse or violence, they can be extremely difficult to teach. Sadly the public sector has witnessed the following - failure to invest; inspection; declare the service as failing and then privatise it. So step forward one of Dave Cameron's chums, Old Etonian Charles Taylor – special schools and Pupil Referral Units are failing, let's bring in 'Alternative Provission', or, to give it its correct name, 'privatisation'.

Sadly that's where the initiative by Everton in the Community to establish a 'Free School' fits in. You might have expected some kind of media scrutiny of the bid. To date the only article carried by the Liverpool Echo was by their sports correspondent, Greg O'Keefe, entitled - 'Why protests seem too cruel for school'. If ever this was a case study of lazy journalism this was it, every word was inaccurate, that's including 'and' and 'the'. The article claimed that there was an 'extra pot of money' available, that 'local jobs would be created' and that the opponents of the Everton Free School were guilty of 'cynicism'. In fact Free Schools take pupils and money away from state schools and will in most cases lead to job losses and school closures.

The claim is that Free Schools are 'community driven'. As for the Everton Free School they were reliant not on the local community but the Manchester-based Place Group. This free-market organisation makes its money by advising scores of organisations how to undermine state education by establishing academies and Free Schools. The Project Director of the Everton Free School was the Place Group's Dominic Battiston, I did ask him who was on the board of the Place Group, only to be told that, 'This wasn't relevant...', next question, 'Which team do you support?', that wasn't relevant either. I was going to ask what he'd had for breakfast but quickly realised that the Humour By-Pass Operation had been successfully completed.

Everton Free School did organise two 'consultations' in June, you didn't attend? Well hardly anyone else did. I went to both events and held lengthy conversations with the organisers, strange to say on neither occasion did they make any notes, despite the fact they had to report back any concerns to the Department for Education. Once again I did encounter the wall of silence, the Principal of the Everton Free School, Adrian Packer, was only appointed on a full time basis in June, the school is due to open in September. 'What is Adrian's salary?' Couldn't tell me, 'It's personal'. This. Is. Taxpayers'. Money. Interestingly enough this has been a feature of academies and Free Schools massive salary hikes for Headteachers and Principals.

However, when it comes to the rest of the staff it appears that this generosity has ended. Everton Free School advertised, on the club's web site, for Learning Mentors 'from ₤12,000', Unison informed me that in Liverpool Community College, Learning Mentor salaries started at around ₤22,000. The jobs advertised opened for applicants on June 28th and closed on July 13^th, most teachers have to give a term's notice, so that would rule out experienced teachers. The jobs didn't mention extra payments, which are common in special schools or PRUs. So will the Everton Free School attract the best staff? Not on the wages they are offering.

As for being a 'landmark' school, let's consider the proposed venue for the first year, on the top floor of the Roscoe Street Learning Exchange, part of Liverpool Community College. Unison and the lecturers' union UCU were not consulted. As for any green fields, you would need a pair of binoculars. Remember these are vulnerable children, the excluded, the hard to educate. Roscoe Street is an adult learning venue.

There is another Free School opening at the same time the Anfield-based 'Harmonize Academy', this is linked to the Pentecostalist 'Temple of Praise'. I went down to talk to them and met Pastor Michael Wilhelm, first question, 'Do you believe in creation?' 'God created man, we do not believe in Darwin's theory of evolution'. Well, that cleared that one up! The church is also affiliated to the Evangelical Alliance, in 2006 this organisation was asked for its views on gay-marriage, their theological spokesman replied that, 'This would be like a man marrying a horse'. The 'Liverpool Lighthouse' is run by the same people involved in the 'Temple of Praise', 'Harmonize Academy' and 'Love Joy Ministries', as a result of the death of a volunteer in 2010, they are currently facing charges of corporate manslaughter.

As for 'democracy' the Liverpool Echo has refused to print two letters I've written in reply to Greg O'Keefe, (they've also bounced me off the 'Everton Jury'), I did contact the Everton Fans' Forum, only to be told that they couldn't discuss it, I wrote to the Phil Neville who is the Professional Footballers' Association rep at the club and on their National Council – no reply. David Moyes? Again, no reply. The MPs and councillors? 'It's a Free School, there's nothing we can do'. I did get a letter from Robert Elstone, he had to reply under the terms of the Customer's Charter, he might have saved the ink and used two words, the second being 'off'. 'Confidential information that I do not believe you seriously expect me to divulge... the Club views our correspondence with you as closed.'

So there it is, Everton that has outsourced kit sales, hospitality, catering and ticketing seriously believes that they can run a school for vulnerable children. That's not to mention past history like Kirkby, the Park End Development or Finch Farm. Everton in the Community has done some fantastic work but with their involvement in the Everton Free School they will in marketing speak 'contaminate the brand'. And what happened to 'straining every nerve and muscle' to get more investment in the club, or new owners?

Privatisation isn't only affecting education, the NHS is being sold off to Virgin and Serco, or to the American companies that have wrecked health care over there, 40 million low paid workers with no health insurance. There was a report by the Children's Commissioner into abuse in children's homes, the problems highlighted included, poorly paid untrained staff without qualifications, profit placed before care. The owners? Three quarters of them are run by private equity companies.

Michael Gove's next project is schools run for profit. The Conservatives? Place Group? Everton are swimming with sharks. Rubbish wages and a building not fit for purpose? The club should hang its head in shame. The 'Everton' Free School? Not in our name.

Liverpool Echo and the right to reply

Article by Greg O'Keefe

The letter the Echo refused to publish

Sometimes you've got to rub your eyes, pinch yourself and wonder morosely at the lamentable standards of journalism. Greg O'Keefe's article in the Weekend Echo (Why protests seem just too cruel for school) on the Everton Free School was a prime example of cronyism, i.e. placing an article in a newspaper to curry favour with a powerful organisation.

Here's some questions that Greg O'Keefe might like to investigate-

1) Why is a football club trying to run a school and is Everton F.C. a good business model - Kirkby Stadium, Kit Bag, Finch Farm etc?

2) Who are the Place Group (the 'project directors' for the Free School) and why won't they reveal who is on the board?

3) Why is the Everton Free School refusing to state the salary of Principal Adrian Packer?

4) How can they appoint experienced staff? The school opens in September and staff have to give a term's notice.

5) What will be the staffing levels for the 120 children they propose to teach? How many will be qualified teachers? 'Free' Schools do not have to employ any qualified teachers.

6) Will the Everton Free School use the notoriously lax building regulations or the stricter and safer ones used by the Department for Education?

7) If the Everton Free School recruits 200 children in 3 years time how many jobs will be lost from Pupil Referral Units and special schools?

8) Exactly how many people attended the two 'consultation' events?

9) Why are Everton refusing to discuss the Free School at their own Fans' Forum?

10) Why are the Everton Free School refusing to send a spokesperson to our public meeting on July 17th?

Greg O'Keefe makes a rather sweeping and categorical statement, 'Cynicism at heart of objections to scheme', surely good journalists always attempt to canvass a wide range of opinion? Strange to say but Greg O'Keefe didn't even attempt to contact the organisation that is opposing the Everton Free School.

Richard Knights

Evertonians Against Free Schools