Downhills campaigners to feature in documentary (From Haringey Independent)

Downhills Primary School campaigners to feature in documentary

1:18pm Tuesday 22nd January 2013 in News By Bruce Thain

A documentary film following a campaign to stop a school becoming an academy will be screened later this month.

The film, entitled The Politician, the Parents and the Carpet Baggers: the Story of Forced Academisation, follows members of the Save Downhills School campaign.

The film looks at the process the school went through from when it was put into special measures by Ofsted to when it finally became an academy in August.

The 50-minute documentary was made by educational film-maker Rhonda Evans.

She said: “What I really want to do is stimulate some sort of debate about forced academisation and the impact it has on parents and pupils.

“I knew about forced academies and heard about the campaign by Downhills parents I thought it would make a good subject to for the film to show the issues around the process.

“The parents really knew what they were fighting for and what they wanted and they really drive the narrative of the film.

“There was so much coverage of the changes to the health service but the huge changes to the education system have almost gone unnoticed and it’s important people understand what is going on.”

Last May, Education Secretary Michael Gove ordered the school to become an academy led by the Harris Federation, despite a six-month campaign by parents and staff against the plan.

In August, campaigners attempted to get a judicial review into the decision to turn the school onto an academy, but were turned down.

From September the school has been run by the Harris Federation, which runs 13 academies in south London and is sponsored by Conservative peer Lord Harris.

After being showcased in Tottenham the film will be shown at Cambridge University education department.

The film will have its premier for people living in Tottenham on Thursday January 31, at the dream centre in Tottenham Town Hall, and those wanting to attend must RSVP to savedownhills@hotmail.com