‘RACISM FROM THE TOP DOWN’ – BOYCOTT THE SCHOOL CENSUS

Posted on May 12, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national, Student and tagged activism, Against Borders for Children, anti-migrant sentiment, awareness raising, boycott, Brexit, child safety, childhood, children, Community, data, data collection, department for education, deportation, direct action, discrimination, Early Years Census, education, england, FOI, government, hate crime, Home Office, immigration policy, institutional racism, Lord Storey, May 18th, media, migrant children, migrants, migration, National Pupil Database, national union of teachers, nationality, nicky morgan, parents, polling, prejudice, privacy, racism, school census, schools, Schools ABC, state violence, survey, teachers, theresa may.

by Against Borders for Children

“…this proposal has all the hallmarks of racism…Children are children, and to use their personal information for immigration enforcement is disingenuous, irresponsible, and not the hallmark of a tolerant, open and caring society”
– Lord Storey

Against Borders for Children (ABC) is a coalition of parents, teachers, schools and campaigners. Our aim is to reverse the Department of Education’s (DfE) policy to collect country of birth and nationality information on 8 million children in England in order to ‘create a hostile environment’ for migrant children in schools, primarily by encouraging a mass boycott of the School Census.

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REVIEW – TRANSGENDER KIDS: WHO KNOWS BEST?

Posted on January 24, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Arts, Perspectives and tagged bbc, blockers, CAMH, Cheri DiNovo, child psychology, doctors, documentary, gender dysphoria, gender-positive, genderqueer, Herschel, homosexuality, hormones, horror, Hospital, Ken Zucker, LGBT+, media, medical, mental health, mental illness, NHS, non conforming, non-binary, parents, review, sexual reassignment surgery, suicide, television, theory, trans, trans activism, transgender, Transgender Kids: Who Knows Best?, transition, TV.

On the same night Transgender Kids: Who Knows Best? aired (Thursday 12th), an apparently rather excellent documentary named Hospital exposed the difficult conditions under which the modern NHS works, bringing it to the attention of the nation that if you get sick and go to an NHS hospital, you’ll be treated by a doctor who’s working shifts more commonly seen in 19th-century coal mines while the Prime Minister calls them lazy. It was quite good. The subjects of Hospital (doctors) seem to have loved it. No such luck for the subjects of BBC2’s other documentary that night, however. Continue Reading

THE PERSONAL IS POLITICAL: A REVIEW OF TRIBUTE ACTS

Posted on July 21, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Arts, Community and tagged art, arts, bill clinton, bleak, Brexit, Community, creative writing, crisis, daughter, disenchanted, drama, father, humour, new art, norfolk, norwich, Norwich Arts Centre, parenting, parents, personal, Philip Larkin, poetry, political, politics, review, theatre, theatre review, theatrestate, tony blair, tribute acts, women, women writers.

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Tribute Acts is a bittersweet piece of autobio-theatre written and performed by Tess Seddon and Cheryl Gallacher from Theatrestate. Set against a space-age backdrop, Tess and Cheryl introduce their fathers via a pre-recorded video link. The dads look uncomfortable in their suits and ties. Their daughters are wearing spacesuits. The gulf between parent and child is obvious, and the unease is palpable.

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PROFIT BEFORE PUPILS — SCHOOL’S OUT FOREVER

Posted on March 17, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national, Student and tagged academies, academy, budget, chief executive, coalition, Community, comprehensive, council-run, democracy, department for education, devolved powers, education, education secretary, george osborne, gove, Green Party, independence, junior doctors, local authority, local council, local elections, lucy powell, Michael Gove, michael wilshaw, national curriculum, national union of teachers, new labour, nicky morgan, ofsted, parents, privatisation, pupils, salary, school, school selection, schools minister, sponsor, state-funded schools, student, students, teachers, Tories, trust, Vix Lowthion, whitehall.

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Wednesday was Budget Day and George Osborne set out plans for a huge shake-up of the schools system. He announced that schools in England must become academies, independent of local authorities, by 2020. It’s farewell to your old council-run comprehensive and hello to corporate sponsored academies — and no, you don’t get a say in the matter.

Along with junior doctor contracts, the majority of the public have not supported the government’s argument on academies — so the Tories have gone and imposed them anyway. Democracy, right?Continue Reading

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