A question of creative education

On Saturday Jeremy Corbyn and the Shadow Education Secretary, Angela Rayner, will bring people together from across the education system to roll up their sleeves and find innovative approaches to tackling disadvantage at school. This is the question I submitted as I fear the focus on STEM in schools is leaving our children at a disadvantage in the future workforce:

"Although core subjects like maths, english and science are important, I strongly feel creative subjects are just as vital for a rounded education that inspires all children, ensures we have imaginative and innovative adults in our future workforce and strengthens our cultural offer as a country.

How will the National Education Service ensure creative subjects are at the core of any future curriculum?"

One of my proudest achievements to date is the creation of Reading's Cultural Education Partnership which works with our cultural and artistic community to ensure children in Reading have the chance to experience good quality art and culture.

The Budget - a lost opportunity to improve lives

I've just seen the budget.  I'm not sure what I was expecting - certainly not an end to austerity, despite it being clear it's failed.  I was hoping to see the government had listened and understood that living standards are being squeezed and people are struggling. I was wrong.

Forecasts for growth have been down graded from 2% to 1.5%. Pay continues to stagnate and public sector workers still face a pay cap. People are struggling to make ends meet and the budget has done little to lighten their load.  Food bank use continues to grow with ReadiFood delivering 135 parcels a week.  Food prices are rising as are energy costs, rents and house prices.

Stamp duty is being scrapped for first time buyers purchasing properties up to £300,000.  That's all very well but you have to be able to afford to buy the house first, have the salary to back up a mortgage plus be able to save a deposit. According to RightMove the average terraced property sold for £314,479.  Property ownership is now out of reach for many and rents, on average £1,079 for a two bed property in Reading, are also becoming unaffordable.

We face another winter where people will be faced with the choice of eating or heating.  This is nothing new, the government have not been taken by surprise. 

Some money has been thrown at the NHS.  There's £350m to address pressures in winter 2017/2018 but that won't go far when you take into account how far it's to be spread and additional pressures caused by cuts to council social care budgets and a GP service stretched to the limit.

Schools gets nothing extra in their budgets.  There is money available for secondary schools and collages for pupils taking maths at higher levels but nothing for the primary schools who have already resorted to asking parents for money to plug their budget gaps. The government really is just papering over the already deep cracks they have created.

The future really does look bleak under the Conservative government.  After 7 1/2 years of austerity it's still very much pain with little gain for the average family.

We need a change of government if we really want to see living standards improve, properly affordable housing, a well funded NHS and school budgets that provide a good quality and varied education for our children.  

We need a Labour MP in Reading West who stands up for every community, regardless of its prosperity.  

We need hope.

See Jeremy Corbyn's response to this shambles of a budget here:  Jeremy Corbyn Budget 2017 response

What would Labour do instead?  Find out here: Manifesto

School funding cuts shouldn't deny children a full and varied education

School funding is being cut - there's little doubt about that.  Funding changes and increased costs mean schools in Reading have less money with which to provide your children with an education. The newly formed National Education Union have said:

Since 2015, schools in England have had their funding per pupil frozen while inflation and other costs rise, leading to an effective £2.8 billion real-terms cut.

Campaigning with the National Union of Teachers in October last year for investment in education, not cuts.

Talking to parents and teachers in Reading it's clear that these cuts are having a significant impact on schools.  Some departments are having their funding slashed.  I was talking to some art teachers last week who are struggling to buy supplies because there's little budget for them.

I know schools are reducing the number of teaching assistants they employ to save money.  This is denying children who require support, but do not have an Education, Health and Care plan, the help they need to thrive.

There is a Reading secondary school that has apparently cancelled work experience because they can't afford it!

How can we forget there is a school in Reading which wrote to parents asking for money to plug its funding gap?

Parents are being asked to pay for more and more of the activities that would have been covered by the school in previous years and this is while parents are facing their own budget struggles.  How long is this sustainable?  Will we see trips, cultural experiences and extra-curricular activities  disappear?  Will the curriculum be limited to only classroom based learning?

Each of these cuts is impacting on education.  Each extra activity that parents have to pay for is putting pressure on household budgets.  Each subject lost through budget cuts is a lost opportunity for our children to receive a full and varied education.

The Conservative government must review the way it's funding schools before our children are priced out of a full and varied education.

As Angela Rayner MP, Shadow Education secretary, said on a recent visit to Reading "It should be on the ability of the child to learn, not on the ability of the child's parents to pay."

From www.labour.org.uk/education

Imagine: a future without creativity

I've just got back from the launch of Imagine at the University of Reading (more info here).  It is a fundraising campaign with the ambition to raise £150 million to enable the university to make a real-world impact with the research it does.

Part of the launch was a debate on this topic:

To dream and imagine: the impact of our research in the coming 90 years.

The panel contained experts in cellular and molecular neuroscience, integrative neuroscience and neuro dynamics,  film, theatre and television, leadership and leadership and organisational behaviour and meteorology.  At first glance they don't seem to have much in common but there was one theme that they all shared, the importance of creativity and imagination in research.

We were only discussing how important creativity was in the workplace in the Cultural Education Partnership meeting yesterday. One of the aims of the partnership is to increase the number of young people with qualifications preparing them for work in the  creative industries.  We started talking about what the creative industries are and I mentioned that creativity is important in many careers, not just those in the arts. This evenings panel discussion qualified my remark and all panellists agreed that creative thinking, and imagination, are vital when it come to designing experiments, theories and pushing our understanding of the world.

I mentioned in my farewell speech as mayor that I felt the arts were being pushed out of the school curriculum in favour of more academic subjects. Don't get me wrong, a good solid foundation  in maths, English and science are important but we must not stifle creativity. Creative thinking should be encouraged alongside these subjects and art and heritage are great ways to encourage a creative thought process.

I hope the work of the Cultural Education Partnership helps fill the gap in our children's education because, without creativity, we are limiting the scientists, experts and academics of the future.

You van read more about the Cultural Education Partnership here.

Let's Talk Education: We Want To Hear Your Views

As the parent of a reception age child I know only too well the anxiety and worry school allocation caused this year. The shortage of places was predicted but the location of these shortages was not. It quickly became apparent there was a problem in Battle and the Oxford Road corridor and I ensured the concerns of parents were made known in the various meetings I attended while the bulge classes were identified and transport problems resolved.

It was suggested early on that a good subject for Let's Talk would be education and school places are an ongoing challenge. The event in Battle is Thursday 25 October at 4pm at Oxford Road Community School, 146 Oxford Road, RG1 7P. I urge as many people to attend as possible as this is a very important subject.

If you are unable to attend please complete the survey.  I have included the link in the top right hand corner.  Just click Let's Talk Education.  Battle is in the Central West planning area.

Please see below the press release from Reading Borough Council: