Harry Cohen
Standards In Schools Improvements
Standards in our local schools continue to improve and talking to parents over the last couple of weeks they tell me that they want to see even higher standards, more teachers and more attention for every pupil.
By the mid-1990s many of our school buildings had declined and temporary classrooms and leaky roofs were commonplace. Thankfully things have improved and we’ve ssen a change for the better. For example, Dallam, Primary has had a new ICT suite, St. Paul’s in Burtonwood has a new classroom and a brand new art block at Birchwood High.
As those parents reminded me we need to keep moving forward by investing more in our schools, giving parents a stronger say in their children’s education, strengthening discipline in schools and help children stay on in school.
As a start the government has promised to refurbish or rebuild every local secondary school and provide classrooms that teachers want to teach in and pupils can learn in. Families need to be given a real choice for an education that best helps their children succeed so at the age of 14 young people should be able to choose to focus on professional skills, academic courses or a mixture of both.
Discipline in schools is also important and heads need to have power to deal with trouble makers and to be committed to the traditional values of respect and authority.. Pupils who behave badly must know the consequences. I support the introduction of truancy sweeps where police and welfare officers find truants and take them back to school.
All these measures are part of the government’s five year plan. It will need sustained investment for us to ensure we have modern schools with every child taught in a respectful environment, with up to date books, equipment and information technology. I think it is right to commit ourselves to that investment as did the parents I meet recently. I would be delighted to hear your views or comments. You can contact me via Warrington Guardian or directly by letter to Gilbert Wakefield House, 67 Bewsey Street, Warrington , WA2 7JQ, by phone on 01925 232 480, by fax on 019025 232 239, or by e-mail at jonesh@parliament.uk
