Today’s publication of the School’s White Paper sets out the Government’s ambitious plans to further improve education and opportunities for children. These aims include targets of 90% of primary school pupils achieving the expected standard in Key Stage 2 reading, writing, and maths by 2030, and secondary schools raising the national average GCSE grade in both English language and maths from 4.5 in 2019 to 5 by 2030.
Our schools have never stopped striving to achieve the best for our children. But in changing times it is right we continue to review and adapt the framework they work within to ensure it delivers the best results. I have met regularly with school leaders since becoming your MP in 2019, and had the pleasure of meeting with them again this morning.
I don’t think I will ever meet a school leader who isn’t thinking all the time of ways to improve and deliver even more for their students. But they must also protect the welfare of their staff, and a school cannot function if it is over-stretched and its staff are exhausted from the unprecedented demands of the past two years. I therefore highlighted today the need to ensure that the changes set out in the White Paper bring about minimum disruption for our schools, so improvements can be made without bringing additional burdens. You can view this question and the Secretary of State’s response above.
The White Paper is an opportunity for Government to set out its proposals ahead of legislation being brought forward, likely later this year. You can review the full proposals here: www.gov.uk/government/publications/opportunity-for-all-strong-schools-w…;
I will be working with our local schools to shape a response to the proposals and ensure that changes brought forward prioritise wellbeing as well as results, and are delivered in partnership with schools to deliver sustainable improvements.
