Technical hitch

For the last week this blog has been looking a bit odd due to the Hackney blogs bar missing which I didn't notice for a while and then couldn't fix. Seems to be OK now. Just testing.

Unemployment claims level - high number of women

The total number of people claiming Job Seekers Allowance in Hackney fell for the first time since December but remained above 11,000 at 11,028.

Last month the figure was 11,043 and the proportion of the working population on the dole remains 7.3%.

As the chart shows most of the increases in claims over the last year have come from Hackney South where the level of unemployment is the highest in London and most of the UK - and where the proportion of unemployment among women is also higher than most at 6.6% of the population.

When the figures were released last week the Guardian said: 'Female's claiming Job Seeker's Allowance has risen month after month and is now at the highest level since August 1999. Looking at our detailed but not seasonally adjusted claimant count by constituency it shows that Birmingham Ladywood records the highest rate of female claimants at 6.8%. Hackney South and Shoreditch and Tottenham also have rates of over 6%.'

Cardinal Pole school 'no confidence' in head

The majority of teachers at Cardinal Pole school on Kenworthy Road have signed a petition of no confidence in the headteacher Katharine Hartigan - according to sources.

It is also believed that the school's NUT (National Union of Teachers) representative, who is a teacher in the school, has been suspended.

Members of the union at the school will be balloted this week over whether to strike in support of their representative - the fact that an official ballot will be sent out means that the union believes the suspension was unfair.

Blood and Property doesn't know the reasons for the vote of no confidence but has been told the school's governors are looking into the dispute.

Cardinal Pole school has over 1000 pupils spread over two sites. The main school is on Kenworthy Road in Homerton, the lower school is on Victoria Park Road. In September 2012 the school is due to move to a new site on Morning Lane.

The school passed an Ofsted inspection in March which gave it a '3' or 'satifactory' grade where '1' is outstanding, '2' is good, '3' is satisfactory, and '4' is inadequate.

In a letter to the school's pupils the Ofsted inspector said examination results were low in comparison with national standards but some pupils were rapidly improving their performance.

It said: "Some aspects of your school are good, for example the care and support you receive from your teachers. We saw plenty of you enjoying your lessons and we were pleased to hear that you are happy at school.

Your head teacher has plans to improve the school further. We identified three things

that should help her with this:

1. Improve the use of assessment so that lesson activities are matched more closely to your needs.

2. Reduce the variability of the quality of teaching so that you all make expected or

better progress in all of your lessons

3. Raise achievement in science. "

I have emailed the school and the Learning Trust to confirm the claims and will pass on any fresh details if they are supplied.