The Mossbourne model (first published by Progress during their campaign against the expansion of grammer schools in 2016)

It is the top 20 per cent of kids that make Hackney’s schools truly comprehensive – and successful

Over the summer, Hackney Labour party started our own campaign against grammar schools and other Tory attacks on schools, which we continued into the ‘Education, Not Segregation’ campaign. The response from local parents, unions and residents could not have been clearer: the Tory plans were deeply unwelcome and that we should fight any attempt to impose them on Hackney.

This unity of purpose around defending our successes would not have been credible or possible only a generation ago when Hackney’s schools were among the worst in the country. Hackney’s record of improvement is Labour’s record of improvement, and we should be unapologetically proud of what we achieved between 1997 and 2010 at Westminster, and between 2001 and now in the London borough of Hackney.

In the late nineties, only nine per cent of children in Hackney schools were getting five good GCSEs. Now we are well above the national average, with some schools achieving as much as 90 per cent. Was that journey simple? No. There were debates to be had about local influence, the role and shape of academies and the setting up of an independent not for profit company – the Learning Trust – to run our schools along the way. However, the council, led by my predecessor Jules Pipe, ensured local political leadership remained at the heart of education in Hackney.

This led to record investment, with all secondary schools rebuilt, real investment in teaching and a relentless focus on standards and outcomes, as well as the council building 19 brand new children centres and five new youth centres.

When challenging the Tories on education, Labour must ground our campaigning in what works – looking to and championing our experience in local and national government to take them on, not only with our values, but also our record. As Michael Wilshaw, chief inspector of Ofsted and a former headteacher of Mossbourne Academy in Hackney, has said, reintroducing selection at 11 years old would be a ‘profoundly retrograde step’. Wilshaw has made it clear that he could never have achieved what he did at Mossbourne without, as he puts it, that top 20 per cent, who instead of being creamed off into grammar schools, inspire and lift the rest of the school, in a comprehensive setting.

I am proud of what has been achieved over the past 15 years, with Hackney’s schools changing beyond recognition, transforming the opportunities and life chances for children in the borough. Recent results at GCSE and Key Stage One are now amongst the best in the country, and importantly that success extends to our children in care, our special educational needs cohort, and those on free school meals.

However, rather than taking the lessons and experience of Hackney and exporting it to parts of the country that need support to improve, the Tories are set on turning the clock back. At a time when there are chronic skills gaps in the British economy and we need to invest more in skills, both vocational and technical, the reintroduction of grammar schools will do nothing to close those gaps and, if anything, will only widen them.

Instead of meeting these challenges they launch an attack on inclusive schools and continue to cut funding to early years and further education; while in the autumn statement finding £50m for new grammar schools. We face possible changes to the schools funding formula that could see London schools lose up to £1,000 per pupil. Which is why I, with other leaders, have written to the chancellor warning about the impacts of such a cut.

Locally, we know there is still more to do. We need to reduce exclusions, ensure apprenticeships are equally valued, improve careers advice and build more school places. We have the ambition to do all this, but it will all be put at risk if the Tories continue their attack on our schools.

As 2016 draws to a close, we have launched our own conversation with residents about the future of our education. It will ask them what type of schools they want to see, whether they support selection and what role they think the council should have in education.

The council carried out a similar consultation in 2003, and residents responded that they wanted non-selective, non-denominational, mixed-sex comprehensives. This feedback helped to shape the sort of the schools we opened. We think that it is only right that given the challenges we face we have that conversation again.

Labour must have a clear vision that seeks to raise standards for all, not just for the few, opposing the Tories and a policy which will undermine years of hard work by our councils and schools, and let down a generation of children.


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Philip Glanville is mayor of Hackney. He tweets at @PhilipGlanville

Join the Progress rally against grammar schools. 7-8.30pm, 12 December 2016, Committee room 15, House of Commons, SW1A 0AA. Speakers include: Angela Rayner MP, Lucy Powell MP, Peter Kyle MP, Wes Streeting MP, Catherine McKinnell MP, Estelle Morris, Richard Angell, Philip Glanville, Robbie Young, Liz Rees, Rory Palmer, Mark Rusling

Lets get back to basics: Bringing politics back to the people

Since May, we have heard a lot about how the Party must renew. It’s clear that lessons need to be learnt and nobody should think the problems will spontaneously disappear over the summer. Yet too often the debate seems dominated by the febrile atmosphere of the Westminster Village, Fleet Street and the blogosphere.

Following our losses in Crewe and Glasgow East, barely a day goes by without one figure or another being accused of plotting; and get any group of activists or policy wonks together and you’ll hear various ideas floated around to get us out of this mire. As we look back at the successes and failures of the last year, it’s easy to pick out the ‘toffs’ campaign and problems at the top. But what about the deeper, more unsettling questions at the heart of the Labour Party’s current problems?

Campaigning in Crewe, I was struck by the problems caused by the lack of long term organisation. The late great Gwyneth Dunwoody may have been a formidable parliamentarian and much-respected MP, but the local party in Crewe seemed moribund at best. Sadly, it was clear that canvassing and campaigning had not taken place for a generation. No historic data, no personal relationships, no record of local campaigning.

In estate after estate, there was no sense that the Labour Party had a history of talking to local people. We hadn’t fostered a sense that the Labour Party was on their side - campaigning for better schools, safer streets and new homes. Instead, we were faced with knocking on doors where people, even Labour people, hadn’t seen a Labour politician until the by-election campaign. 10p tax and Gordon Brown did not create these problems they merely exacerbated them.

Oppositions do well in by-elections not only because Governments are unpopular mid-term, but because they often take place in the soft underbelly of the thought-to-be-safe seat. Faced with an unfavourable national, political and economic climate, and an ill-judged campaign, there was little we could have done to stave off defeat.

Crewe and Glasgow are better after eleven years of Labour Government. Yet, for years it seems nobody has talked to local people about what we are doing and why – no-one has said ‘come, join us in this crusade’. David Miliband rightly highlighted the power of the membership card and how our shared philosophy sets us apart from our opponents. Margaret Curran’s phrase that – “the Labour Party is a cause not a career” – also strikes a strong cord. It is this belief, this unshakable commitment to the Labour cause that should provide activists with the confidence to knock on doors and fight for our values.

Our supporters don’t need Facebook or interactive campaigning - they want us to talk to them face to face: in their local pub, at the church fete, at a residents’ meeting or on the doorstep. It’s old-fashioned to say so, and working all year round in the community isn’t sexy, but it works.
This idea should have become embedded in our movement, but the allure of Government has dimmed it. Looking at Glasgow and talk of safe seats the lessons are shockingly similar to those from Crewe: you can’t just turn up every four years (even worse when you come back mid-term) and expect people to vote for you.

Let’s be clear: being in power is vital. We should never lose sight of that aim or hold the deluded view that we need to be in opposition to renew. Yet being in Government can hold the Party back psychologically and organisationally from top to bottom. For our leaders it captures their time, energy, and attention as they listen to Civil Servants over Party members, stakeholders and citizens. We get caught up in the idea that a good policy and a slick soundbite is all it takes to succeed.

During our honeymoon that might have been true. But now people aren’t listening, and the press are almost universally hostile. So, we have to be even more sure-footed on the ground, quietly working away amongst local people and stakeholders - selling our ideas. Voters aren’t as tribal as they used to be, making personal engagement even more important: People trust the people they know and speak to regularly.

There are lots of things out of the control of party members: the economy, the leadership and what Harold MacMillan termed ‘events’, but we do have control of what we do day-in day-out. The underreported lesson of the May elections was how local parties up and down the country bucked the losing trend; from Oxford to Hastings, from Haringey to Slough, we either held on or took seats off both the Lib Dems and the Tories. The common theme: strong local messages and a strong local campaign.

These local Labour Parties all have different stories to tell, but what they have in common is that they didn’t wait for a national policy change, a new leader or a favourable media. They didn’t rely on new movements, ‘new politics’ or clever viral campaigning; they did it the old fashioned way, on the street, house by house, voter by voter. This micro-level campaigning is essential to sustaining and growing the Party.

Party structures are often highlighted as a reason people are turned off by party politics: having sat through many GCs and branch meetings, I agree that it’s not for everyone and shouldn’t be the only form of involvement. Yet it is an important building block from which to sustain a campaigning party. Throwing it overboard to somehow broaden our reach could be as damaging as seeing structures as the be all and end all.

Where I would advocate serious change, however, is from the top down, with MPs, Peers, MEPs, AMs, MSPs and Councillors. Looking at recent by-elections, there was very little campaigning leadership in our ‘heartlands’. If we can’t deliver that in safe seats, what hope is there in marginals?

There are many Labour MPs up and down the country who work all year round, leading from the front, quietly building the party’s presence in their community. Yet, there are many others who haven’t knocked on a door in years – who are happier on TV or in the newspapers criticising the Government. They are often supported by an unfavourable media, eager to hold them up as anti-establishment heroes, ignoring their failures as ‘Labour’ Members of Parliament. We will of course always have, and need, critical voices. We don’t want an army of nodding dogs in Parliament as fodder for the whips, but all Labour MPs have obligations to the party and one of these must be to campaign for its ongoing success.

Contrast this with the local leadership shown by Councillors in Hackney, Oxford, and Lambeth and MPs such as Siobhan McDonagh, Jim Knight and Martin Salter – they have been very clear that campaigning is at the heart of being a Labour representative. That means MPs doing regular campaigning on top of their representational role. If they don’t perform, questions need to be raised. The best MPs are already excellent campaigners, but the NEC and Party whips should be less concerned with votes in Parliament as a measure of loyalty and more worried about how many voters they spoken to. If MPs aren’t up for leading from the front they should be out – deselected. As simple as that.

Getting back out there and engaging with people would protect us from some of the excesses of bad media coverage and help us to speak with a more authentic voice. Less time at conferences and briefings - more time outside Tescos, in the new Children’s Centre or the local Mosque. True renewal will only come when we become closer to the people. Let’s take a good look at the Britain we have been a part of creating, look at what works and what doesn’t. Let’s return politics to the people by talking to them about their priorities.

Breaking open the political class and reconnecting with supporters and voters will not be done through open primaries, or other such eye catching quick fixes that risk disenfranchising Labour Party members. It will happen through the dedicated hard work of putting the Labour Party back at the heart of our communities. Less Whitehall, less navel-gazing, and less waiting for someone else to come up with a solution. The tough political climate is not going to change overnight and we won’t always be happy with every policy decision made, yet all of us have the power to bring about real change we can believe in - by getting actively involved.

Philip Glanville, Progress Member and Labour Councillor for Hoxton