White British girls cause Ofsted concern at Haggerston

The latest Ofsted report for Haggerston School (girls) gave the school an overall grade 3 or "satisfactory" rating: here's the report

(Hackney Community College seems happy with its latest Ofsted report - at least that's the case according to this governor's blog)

For Haggerston, though, the main problem highlighted by the report was the level of exclusion and absence amongst white British girls. The problem was mentioned several times:

1. "Attendance levels have improved and the number of students who are persistently absent from school has declined significantly, although the rate of attendance of White British girls remains low and exclusion rates, particularly in Key Stage 4, are still high."

2 "Overall, students make good progress from their different starting points in Year 7, although White British and Caribbean students and students from Any Other Mixed backgrounds make less progress than other students. The school is beginning to reduce this gap through its improved mentoring provision, so that individual needs are better catered for."

3. "The school has successfully started to address the low levels of attendance and high levels of persistent absence that existed in the previous academic year. Attendance overall is now average and the number of students persistently absent from school has significantly declined. However, the level of attendance for White British girls remains too low."

4. "Though the school has improved overall levels of attendance, there remain groups of students, such as White British students, whose attendance is low. Better systems to support and improve students' behaviour are beginning to have an impact. However, although the levels of exclusion are showing a slightly declining trend, they remain too high."

Blood and Property reported that the school's head Barry Hersom will be leaving at the end of the summer term. Haggerston is where where murdered 16-year-old Agnes Sina-Inakoju was a pupil - she was shot dead in April.

Nargis Khan - Wigan a la Haggerston?

She was de-selected from Dalston and then controversially re-selected in Haggerston only to stand down - apparently from politics all together.

But now Hackney Councillor Nargis Khan - Cabinet Member for Community Services - has resurfaced in Wigan amidst 'angry scenes' at a Labour Party selection battle.

Six prospective Labour candidates were selected to take part in the contest to replace MP Neil Turner but a popular local candidate was squeezed out. The defeated candidate's supporters blamed a last minute venue change and selective crowd control.

So conspiracy theories abound - as they did in Haggerston. That was where hard left Cllr Barry Buitekant was beaten by New Labour Cllr Khan in what the Conservatives claimed was a New Labour effort to save one of its own. Cllr Khan - who had been de-selected by the Dalston ward she will represent until the election - moved on Haggerston and allegedly benefited from a poor turnout of unsuspecting Buitekant supporters at the selection meeting.

In Wigan six people were selected to take part in the contest including Cllr Nargis Khan.

Wigan Today quoted one Labour Party member: "The meeting was moved from The Deanery High – which obviously has loads of room – to the Unite office, which doesn't.

"Officials decided there was no more room and locked the doors before we were due to start, leaving supporters out in the cold.

"When the result was announced people couldn't believe it. There was booing and people broke into a round of chants for 'McGurrin, McGurrin' before there was a mass walkout. It just wasn't right."

Cabinet member steps aside after unpopular victory

Labour councillor Nargis Khan, cabinet member for community services, will not be standing in next year's local elections despite successfully recovering her political career earlier in the year.

Khan was deselected as a Labour representative for Dalston but then managed to get reselected as a candidate for Haggerston.

The casualty of Khan's move to Haggerston was Cllr Barry Buitekant who is more left leaning than many of his Labour party colleagues (http://www.revolutionaryhistory.co.uk/). His profile on Labour's website reads: "Barry Buitekant has lived in Hackney for most of his life and went to school locally. He has been a lifelong active trade unionist in the Post Office and BT unions serving as an official locally and nationally."

During the summer Buitekant wasn't keen to answer any questions on the situation.

The story is that the original Haggerston selection meeting was poorly attended and that Kahn's win would not have happened if Haggerston's Labour party members had thought there was a threat to Buitekant.

Now Khan has decided to take time out from politics all together.

News of these goings on originally came from a Conservative who speculated that Hackney's New Labour establishment had conspired to save one of their own at the expense of an old-school socialist.