Teachers complaining of “pressure-cooker atmosphere” and constant observations following Harris Federation’s controversial takeover of primary school

Harris Primary Academy South Kenton, the federation's new name for the former Byron Court primary

Teachers at a primary school which was controversially taken over last month by England’s second-largest academy chain are facing a “pressure cooker” atmosphere of “constant” observations, their union has warned.

Staff at the former Byron Court primary in Brent, North London, are still taking on board changes to their working conditions, after the Harris Federation took control following a rapid forced academisation approved over the summer by the newly-elected Labour government.

The National Education Union said that, since the arrival of Harris, “consultants” from the federation have been in the school, often in their classrooms and offering demonstrations in how to teach. It was not clear, said the NEU, whether “consultants” were Harris’s name for staff centrally-employed by the federation to visit its schools, or external freelancers.

Jenny Cooper, the NEU’s joint secretary for Brent, said: “[Teachers at the school] are using words like ‘pressure cooker’ and ‘stress,’ and ‘workload’. They feel like they are being pushed, pushed, pushed, constantly. And it’s just kind of exhausting…