The new school for St Laurence

Whilst there is undoubtedly a demand for a new school within the borough, and the news that one is to be built is cautiously welcomed, there are a couple of things that trouble me.

I would have preferred to see a comprehensive rather than a free school built, although I do understand that since the Tories have had their hands on the education system the local authority’s hands are tied in what they can do. Still, the parlous state of education under the Tories is laid bare for all to see.

The site chosen leaves me wondering. The areas of largest growth in the borough do not include St Laurence ward, which actually is the ward with the second smallest increase between 2001 and 2011 (https://warelane.wordpress.com/2012/11/29/cramming-them-in-in-milton/). The town centre has the wards with the largest growth, and therefore demand for new school places.

Putting the school away from where the greatest demand is does not seem like intelligent thinking to me. The town centre has just the one secondary school, and this one selects based on faith.

Whilst suitable sites in the town centre are scarce, they do exist. (For instance, Warrior Square and the old gasworks.) If we are have to force our students to travel to the edge of town, then maybe we need to review planning policy. Cramming more homes into the town centre without regard to infrastructure (and schools are part of infrastructure) is not clever either. We ought to encourage more development in St Laurence ward, giving the new school a genuinely local catchment.

Of course, if the four grammar schools and two faith schools took their intake entirely from with the borough then a need for a new school would evaporate entirely.

Celebrating GCSE success

This week I joined the ranks of the many proud parents who saw their children achieve very good results in the GCSEs. However, I am not about to gloat about the success of my progeny. Instead I want to celebrate all children, regardless as to their level of attainment, for all our children are to be encouraged. Well done to one and all.

As I have always said, it is not what you get, but whether you can honestly say you have tried your best.

Education is about equipping our young for the long road ahead. It is also about the joy of learning, about acquiring facts and understanding the hows and whys. An inquiring mind continues to explore way beyond the last of one's school years, but it is often set off on that road at school.

Whatever you have achieved this year, bask in your success. Every hard working child is an asset to us all.

Once again, well done to one and all on their GCSE results.

On school funding

Mike Fieldhouse with a local mother

Southend Labour Party has responded to a request from thousands of head teachers to raise the issue of school funding with political canvassers in the General Election, by taking Labour’s message to the parents of school children.

“Ahead of the forthcoming general election” the letter from headteachers to parents states, “it is crucial that parents, carers and all other interested parties raise the issue of school funding ‘on the doorstep’ with all prospective candidates,”

Julian Ware-Lane, Labour’s candidate in Southend West says, “the letter quite rightly does not favour any pollical party, but it did ask parents to engage with canvassers on this issue. We are confident that our policies to stop the cuts to school budgets, increase funding, along with a commitment to cut class sizes to 30 five, six, and seven-year-olds, will be attractive to parents.”

Local campaigners will be taking Labours message to the parents of children at a number of local schools both before and after the half-term break. Julian says, “We hope this will at least go some way to show that Labour is committed to establishing a National Education Service, to provide cradle to grave education, free at the point of use, for the many, and not just the privileged few.”

Julian Ware-Lane welcomes Labour's pledge to increase spending on schools

Labour’s candidate in Southend West, Julian Ware-Lane, has welcomed the announcement that a future Labour government would fund improvements to schools’ budgets.

This will be funded from corporation tax. Labour is pledged to increase spending on schools by £4.8bn a year to keep up with rising costs and a further £335m so no school loses from the Tory’s funding overhaul.

Last month, Jeremy Corbyn said, “The National Audit Office confirms that schools are facing a cut of three billion pounds in real terms by 2020, the first real terms cut in education budgets in a generation.” 

Conservative MP, Sir David Amess, conceded that the government’s funding formula “would be likely to have a devastating impact on every school in Southend West.”  As Julian points out, “Sir David is now out campaigning to have a Tory government re-elected that he knows will have a ‘devastating impact’ on the children in his own constituency.”

Julian Ware-Lane echoed Mr Corbyn’s concern about children being “crammed in classes like sardines,” the shortage of teaching resources, and that due to the shortage of qualified teachers it was necessary to recruit around 5,000 teachers from other EU countries last year. “It is these same teachers” said Julian, “that Theresa May is using as bargaining chips in her megaphone diplomacy with the European Union.

The British Chamber of Commerce is “committed to bridging the gap between business and education, by increasing collaboration between the business community and education providers, to improve young people’s transition to work.” “British business should indeed play its part,” said Julian Ware-Lane. “British industry enjoys one of the lowest rates of corporation tax in the developed world, it is right and proper the next Labour government should fund improvements to education in this way, rather than cutting corporation tax even further as the Tories propose.”

Standing up or not, the indecipherable Mr Duddridge (or 'How to keep falling short')

Y'know, I have little patience for Tory policies but I try to avoid being personal, and I actually like many of Southend Tories. To be honest, Jimmy "I will skip whilst I trash your human rights" Duddridge is actually an affable chappie.

I had to smile at his latest email to me.

I wrote

Dear James Duddridge,
I believe important decisions about the whether the schools in our constituency become academies should lie with parents and teachers - not the government.
As my MP will you please stand up against the government's plans to turn all schools into academies? I'm counting on you to represent my views in Parliament.
Many thanks
Yours sincerely, Julian Ware-Lane

There followed my full postal address.

His office has responded thus:

Thank you for contacting me.

If you have an issue which you would like me to help you with, please ensure you have included your name and full address so I can ensure you are a constituent and write to you. If you have previously provided your address, my apologies however I will need you to confirm it again for Data Protection reasons.  If you are enquiring about an event invitation or tour of the House of Commons or Big Ben, please call my office on 01702 616 135. Finally, if you are writing in regards to a campaign you will most likely find a response to your concerns on the ‘Issues’ section of my website, which is detailed below.

Thank you for taking the time to write to me and for reading the above.

Yours sincerely,

James Duddridge MP

Member of Parliament for Rochford and Southend East

Not only is my inquiry ignored, but so is the fact that my address was included in my original email. And no, I do not want a tour of Big Ben, thank you very much.