Progress in Primary Schools
Posted by Stephen Timms, MP for East Ham, at 14:52, Thu 18 January 2007:
Two weeks ago, I visited four primary schools on one day: Nelson School in East Ham, and Kensington, Essex and Salisbury schools in Manor Park. It was striking that, at all of them, major improvement work has either recently been completed or is being carried out at the moment.
All of the schools now have smart, effective perimeter fences. In the past it was often difficult for the schools even to get their old fences repaired when they needed to. One of the Heads told me that weekend thefts – which used to be common – have stopped completely since the new fence was put up.
At Nelson, three classrooms are being re-built and refurbished, and they will be followed by new rooms for the nursery. At Kensington Primary School, I opened a beautiful new school hall last year. Now, a new reception area is being built, together with two new classrooms on the roof, replacing an old dining hall - which was constructed out of packing crates following wartime bomb damage! At Salisbury Primary School, classrooms on two of the three floors have been completely refurbished, and the rooms on the last floor will be this year. At Essex Primary School, my visit was to celebrate the official opening of eight new classrooms, together with an impressive new school library and computer suite. Since my visit, the Government has announced that Essex will be one of the first schools in the country to benefit from a new, fifteen year national programme of primary school improvements. Rosie Cowan, the Head Teacher, told me how much parents appreciated the improvements in the school.
Computer equipment at many of our primary schools is now very impressive. In some, every child in some of the year groups has their own laptop computer. Electronic whiteboards are widely used. They enable teachers to illustrate lessons with lively, colourful learning material, including video, making lessons seem much more interesting than in the past.
It isn’t just buildings and equipment that have improved - we have been investing in extra staff too. Nationally there are now over 30,000 extra teachers, and 130,000 extra teaching assistants compared with 1997. Primary schools now have two or three adults helping the children in each class, not just one.
All this has been made possible by the extra money that the Government has been investing in education since 1997. The full benefits will be with us for decades to come, but exam results already show dramatic improvement. In 1997 only 34% of Newham’s 15 year olds obtained 5 or more GCSEs at grades A to C. Today the figure has increased to 52%.
This all shows excellent progress, but there is still much more that needs to be done if we are to ensure that every child reaches their full potential. As other countries also forge ahead in preparing their young people for the challenges ahead, it strikes me that improving education must continue to be our top priority.
Rt Hon Stephen Timms MP
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