REVOLUTION returns to Hackney with a mass walk-out by pupils at Kingsland comprehensive school followed by a street blockade by 200 children handing out leaflets to motorists.
What caused this outburst? The protesters, it seems, were pursuing their demands for - we kid you not - a broad and balanced curriculum.
Specifically, they’re concerned that plans for an education action zone will see the national curriculum abandoned in favour of basic skills teaching.
Mutterings in Hackney town hall suggest it’s all a Socialist Workers’ Party plot, with Trot teachers turning kids out of class. “Half of them didn’t know what it was about. It’s disgraceful,” fumes one insider.
But a quick call to Kingsland National Union of Teachers’ rep John Yandell puts us straight. “It was a pupil-led protest,” he affirms. “They feel it’s their right to a broad and balanced curriculum.”
They sound unusually politically well-informed, John. “Well, we’ve sent home four leaflets to parents in the past two months,” he admits, “so they’ve been getting information from us in their role as messengers and from their parents.”
The autumn term should prove interesting.
