3 Cheers for 3 Approaches

Why 3 organisations?

K3 (Keep 3-tiers) were taking a political approach to the challenge, during the run-up to the County Council elections K3 was disbanded and some members of K3 joined with the Liberal Democrats. Other members of K3 supported the Conservative campaign or stood as independent candidates. PFLA (Parents For Legal Action) are taking a legal angle (see membership form).

NEAG (Northumberland Education Action Group) continues to lobby, campaign and try to negotiate with Northumberland County Council with the aim of enhancing and developing the already successful 3-tier education system in Northumberland for the benefit of pupils and the communities of Northumberland.

Donations to NEAG can be made online by clicking the link in the sidebar, for PFLA please contact David Edwick as shown below.

Who are NEAG?

Northumberland Education Action Group ( NEAG ) unites the 15 Action Groups from across the county who are opposed the Council’s abolition of the 3-tier education system and who raised over 30,000 signatures on petitions and has organised two marches on County Hall with several hundred people attending each march. The Independent evaluation carried out by Northumberland County Council confirmed that NEAG represents the majority view of the people of Northumberland regarding education provision in the county.

NEAG has launched its own web-site: www.NEAG.info which has a wealth of information and is open to the general public to use, post notes on and generally communicate with each other.

Download NEAG's constitution for the way it is organised, managed, and its aim of:
“The advancement of education by the support and promotion of the 3-tier education system in the County of Northumberland.”

NEAG’s current Committee is made up of-
• Chair Joe Ronan – St Joseph’s Middle School, Hexham
(4 children across the system)
• Vice Chair Fiona Wilson- Wensleydale Middle School
• Secretary Helen Lowerson – Ovingham Middle School
(2 children in first & middle)
• Treasurer John Bettney – Whitley Chapel First School:

NEAG’s umbrella group committee has a voting representative from each of the educational partnerships, 15 in total, but ANYONE belonging to an action group however large or small will be more than welcome to attend any NEAG meeting and the dates of these are posted on the web site.

Who are PFLA?

PARENTS FOR LEGAL ACTION has been formed to consolidate the legal expertise within the action groups and concentrate efforts purely on the legal aspect of the parental challenge to the Council’s actions. They have just released a membership form which is available from David Edwick (see below) or for download as a service to our visitors by clicking here.

The formation of this new dedicated group allows NEAG to concentrate on other areas of activity throughout the action groups opposing the Council’s actions, such as Open Meetings, fund raising, lobbying and research.

Joe Ronan, Chair of NEAG said:- “It is essential that NEAG and the action groups keep moving forward and the formation of this independent group gives them the freedom to explore all avenues in relation to the LEA’s action. We will still have a legal adviser to the Committee of NEAG and therefore get the best of both worlds.”

for further information contact: David Edwick – tel: 07906 220205 /
e-mail: david.edwick@btopenworld.com

Who were K3?

K3 was formed to focus on using the ballot box and started by campaigning for the removal of the Northumberland County Council leadership through the election of a mayor.

K3 has since decided to disband and some members fought the County Council elections under the Liberal Democrat banner while others supported the Conservative or stood as independent candidates in the May 5th County Council elections.