Shadow Secretary for Education applauds school partnership success
Michael Gove MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Education, joined Tom Biggins in July on a fact finding visit to two of Telford’s schools which have been working in partnership to drive up academic standards.The partnership has resulted in striking improvements at Madeley Acadamy, with an increasing number of students exceeding expectations made when they first arrived at the school. The school has seen the number of students gaining five or more A*- C GCSE grades improve from 22 per cent to 84 per cent in the last four years, making it one of the most improved schools in the country.
“I am really impressed by the educational standards, attendance levels and teaching methods of both of these top performing schools,” said Michael Gove. “I was able to hold in-depth discussions with both school heads which made the visit informative and most valuable.”
Notes to Editor:
Schools - ‘Raising the bar, closing the gap’
In November 2007, the Conservative Party published ‘Raising the bar, closing the gap’, an action plan to raise school standards, create more good school places and make opportunity more equal.
In it, the Party sets out plans to address the educational underperformance through a long-term, supply side-revolution, along with a number of immediate measures.
Immediate action driving urgent improvement
As soon as the Party is in office, it will make the following urgent changes:
- Improve discipline and behaviour in schools, shifting the balance of power in every classroom back in favour of the teacher
- Get every child who is capable of doing so reading by the age of six, so that every minute in the classroom thereafter is productive
- Reform the testing regime in primary schools to reduce bureaucracy and focus on every pupil’s real needs
- Deliver more teaching by ability which stretches the strongest and nurtures the weakest
- Reform the schools inspection procedure to ensure there is tougher, more effective and more searching scrutiny of under-performance
- Champion excellence in the comprehensive sector by evangelising for the best professional practice in the state system, and more generously rewarding those who deliver for the poorest
- Provide over 220,000 new school places. That would meet the demand from every parent who lost their appeal for their first choice school in our most deprived boroughs
- Allow educational charities, philanthropists, livery companies, existing school federations, not-for-profit trusts, co-operatives and groups of parents to set up new schools in the state sector and access equivalent public funding to existing state schools
- Ensure funding for deprivation goes direct to the pupils most in need rather than being diverted by bureaucracies
- Divert more resources to pupils who come from disadvantaged backgrounds, ensuring they get the earliest possible opportunity to choose the best schools and enjoy the best teaching
- Make it easier to establish the extended schooling (from summer schools through Saturday schooling to homework clubs and breakfast clubs) which drives up achievement, especially among the poorest
- Remove those obstacles - in terms of centralised bureaucracy, local authority regulations and planning rules - which prevent new schools being established
- Allow smaller schools and more intimate learning environments to be established to respond to parental demands
TOM'S PLEDGESThe General Election has been called and Tom Biggins has set out his pledges for the Telford constituency. Should he be elected as Telford's MP, this is the work he will be concentrating on: |
KEY POLICIESThese are just some of the steps a Conservative Government will take to get our country back on track:
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Vote Biggins - a record of action
The choice at this election
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Write to: Tom Biggins, Broadway House, 2 Haygate Road, Wellington, Telford, TF1 1SG
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Email: tom@tombiggins4telford.com