Getting our Schools Right!

Tuesday's edition of the EADT (2/2/10) showed the confusion in Tory Education policy in the region.

On page 4 Tim Yeo MP called for the decision to scrap Stoke by Nayland Middle School to be delayed until after the general election when he claimed that Tory policy would help save the school. On the letters page Graham Newman, Tory Portfolio Holder for Children, Schools and Young People argued against Tory national policy claiming re-organising schools was vital for education. While on page 13 John Gummer MP calls for urgent action to start a new Felixstowe school on the grounds if they area does not get the money before the election then he believes it will be lost.

Such public disarray!

The Tory policy paper on education will remove local decision making over schools transferring all power to determine new schools into the hands of central government. So much for their commitment to localism, which seems confined to local people paying for their decisions!

It is of course nonsense to suggest the scrapping of Middle Schools will improve educational standards. The evidence from Derbyshire five years after the re-organisation there has shown no significant change to educational attainment. It is not the 'system' that produces good education it is the quality of the teaching and the resources made available that are the key factors, and the less interference from central government the better! The poorly performing schools in Suffolk are primarily in the most deprived areas of the County. That should not be a surprise to anyone, but it remains a scandal that not enough effort has been made to address this fundamental problem within our community.

I believe we need to start at the beginning. I was shocked to discover that after a year at school my son had still not learned to read. His phenomenal memory had enabled him to memorise the books read to him. Six weeks later he could read and should start university this year, but that taught me the need for urgent action in the early years.

Liberal Democrats want smaller class sizes for primary children so that teachers can properly focus on their pupils and give them the time they need to make sure learning is taking place. It will mean more teachers and more local schools. We don't want 5 year olds travelling miles to school. We will introduce a pupil premium that will give schools more money for every disadvantaged pupil they have, and provide more one to one teaching for struggling pupils.

This will cost £2.5 billion.

It will be paid for by scrapping tax credits for higher earners, and Labour gimmicks in the Education Department.