As promised, here's an opportunity for anyone who wants to know what I, and my fellow Liberal Democrat candidates, are promising if elected. Today, I start with education...
Bring back Quality Education
Eight years ago, Suffolk had an enviable education system.
After eight years of Tory mismanagement the County is almost bottom of the English league table.
Liberal Democrats will:
- get Suffolk back again into the top fifty Local Education Authorities, by increasing support to struggling schools and helping teachers to succeed
- ensure any free schools are fit for purpose and appropriately sited
- stop the use of Bed and Breakfast Accommodation for children in the care of the council
- avoid the need for expensive out of County placements for children in care by developing in-county services
- meet the needs of children in care after they reach sixteen
- support youth services and walk-in youth clubs.
The Conservatives have been entirely silent as the performance of our schools, relative to those elsewhere in England, has declined. Indeed, education doesn't feature at all in their five key pledges, so perhaps they think that Suffolk voters would rather save money on their council tax than have well-educated children. Given that you can only build a thriving economy if you can offer a well-educated workforce, I beg to differ.
Tomorrow, I turn my attention to adult and social care...
1 comment:
What a totally shocking record, Mark!
I suspect Education was missed off the (truly underwhelming) Suffolk Tory Manifesto "Pledges" because they didn't want to admit that after 8 years of Tory mismanagement, Suffolk has dropped to 148th out of 151 local authorities at Primary level, and 141st out of 151 at Secondary.
Yet, as I remember, Suffolk was in the top quarter achieving local authorities for education when a LibLab coalition ran the county education services?.
Did you know there is actually a primary school in Suffolk where only 29% of the pupils make the expected level of improvement in Maths? 29%! Its incredible!
And this failure is not due to the schools or the teaching, is it?(although no doubt that's who will get the blame). If an administration will cut the funding for undramatic things like school support, this is what happens!
No wonder the Tories are so quiet on the subject of education, eh?
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