Staff, parents and children from Strathcona school in Brent descended on Brent Civic Centre, waving colourful homemade placards. Cllr Muhammed Butt, Leader of Brent Council was caught on the hop as he came into work. There was a very lively exchange. Cllr Butt will be meeting further with Unions and Staff Reps tomorrow.![]() |
| Cllr Muhammed Butt addresses the picket line |
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| Parents put their point of view to Cllr Butt |
I offer my complete and utter solidarity to the striking Roe Green Strathcona staff.
The proposed closure of Strathcona and subsequent loss of jobs concurrent to the proposed opening of further free schools and academies, represents another shameful attack on public education and indeed community ownership in Brent.
The staff’s brave action is a defence of public education itself, and I implore Brent Council to defend and grow - rather than again surrender - our valuable community assets.
Strathcona was opened by Roe Green Infant School at the request of Brent Council when the authority was unable to place all primary age pupils in local schools. The two schools are managed as one so staff on both sites are affected. Other local schools were expanded to meet rising demand but despite demand levelling off, and reducing in some areas, Brent still plans to open an Ark primary free school in the car park at York House, on a busy road near Wembley Stadium station. Some of the expanded schools have been unable to fill all their additional places. This produces a strain on school budgets already affected by the failure of government funding to keep up with inflation, pay increases and school pension costs.
Primary schools last suffered from falling pupil numbers in the 1970s which led to some schools closing, some merging and others being reduced in size. Staff were often compulsorily deployed to other schools and some made redundant.
