Class Debate

I'm not talking about background, but about class sizes at schools. Today we focussed on our education policy. One of our four key pledges for the next Parliament is that we will invest an extra £2.5bn in schools through a Pupil Premium that will raise funding for the poorest pupils to private school levels. The money will be targeted at schools taking on children who need more help, but will benefit every child in every school. The cash can be used to cut class sizes and provide one-to-one tuition or catch-up classes, ensuring every child gets the individual attention they need. An average primary school could cut class sizes to 20. An average secondary school could see classes of just 16. We want to give children the best possible start, whatever their background or circumstances. Until we put this essential building block in place, we can't begin to tackle other issues in our society properly. That's why it is right at the top of our priority list. Shortwood Infant School has been threatened with closure for having small class sizes. We believe all schools should be like this.

Radio Shortwood

I'm glad BBC Radio Surrey are still following the save Shortwood Infant School campaign. They played clips from all 3 main candidates and spoke to one of the organisers of the campaign, which highlights that this has captured the imagination of the press, just like it has driven local people to act to save their much loved school. They edited what I said about the school itself and concentrated on the policy statement, but the message came across that I think this school must be saved. The commentary was about the politics and how that comes into these things at election time. It's great that they have that political support, but it's worth remembering that ultimately it is the drive, commitment and determination of local people, parents, staff and governors that has made this campaign such a high profile, positive call to keep the school open. They are amazing. I hope that the council now make the right decision and keep it open. Save Shortwood!

Talk To People

We had a great day talking to the people in Staines today. The topics bring up are so varied, from the economy to Shortwood, the environment to sleaze. When we get in front of voters and explain our policies, we get such a good response, and today was no different. Voters deserve to speak directly to their representatives, and to challenge them on important issues. There was plenty of that today, and it is really enjoyable to put our case. After two years meeting local people, I still feel I have so much more I want to say, and more importantly I know there is much more I need to hear. We will be getting to all the communities of Spelthorne again over the next few weeks.

Building Schools For The Future

This is a program Labour brought in to help local authorities keep up with capacity issues with schools, and also to improve facilities. Many areas have benefitted from this funding, which has been considerable. Surrey has just failed in its bid in the latest round of available funds. They will be able to re-apply, as areas of most need get the best chance at the cash. However, the application itself recognises the need for improving schools locally and dealing with future lack of capacity. In this context, it seems even more short sighted to consider closing Shortwood Infant School. Better organisation of the school catchment, improved transport and better promotion of schools like this one would help. It's good to hear though that the campaigners have generated so much interest in the school that they may generate a full intake in September. Amazing work!

Conference Time

As I prepare for the Lib Dem spring conference, I am reminded that as a party we make our policy democratically with voting by representatives from all over the UK. I will be looking to get involved in our localism agenda, with more work being done this weekend on how to devolve as much power as possible to local people. I will also be picking up the young persons agenda, which Linda Jack and her task group have been working really hard at. Most of all I will be sounding out senior colleagues about issues affecting Spelthorne, like the Shortwood School proposals, anti social behaviour and getting the police working in the community. Local NHS issues and environment will get a good airing, so Norman Lamb and Simon Hughes better watch out, I want to bend their ears! I hope to bring support and advice back from conference, which will be very beneficial to Spelthorne. Despite several years experience, there is always so much to learn, and I will use the opportunity this weekend in Birmingham.

No New Answers On Shortwood

There was another public meeting tonight on the future of Shortwood infant school. As with the previous meetings, the school was packed to the rafters, and this time the parents and residents were more prepared, having had time to gather more information. The questions were superb, to the point, directly relevant, challenging and well delivered. The answers from the Council representatives were not. Despite having had 3 weeks since the last meetings to gather information that had been promised, and to cover key points of residents questions, there was nothing new tonight. With the consultation running until the 19th March, there is still time for local people to get there views heard. Then the officers of the Council will make a recommendation, and the Cabinet of Surrey, made up of councillors, will make there choice. With the man in charge of the education portfolio saying today Surrey faces huge pressures on places, and will need to build more schools, it seems that the first port of call should be to use all the places currently available, and then build as necessary. Closing Shortwood must be crazy in this context. A school that is working well will surely be able to gather more pupils with the campaigners committed to bringing numbers up.

Nick Clegg And Our Education Pledge

Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg has today set out in more detail our education pledge, and emphasised the importance of early years education in tackling inequality, in a speech to the Salvation Army. Committing the Liberal Democrats to invest an extra £2.5bn in schools, Nick Clegg said that parents and schools must work together to make sure that children get the best possible start in life. Education is at the heart of our manifesto for the election, and we believe that bringing down class sizes for early years education should be at the very top of the agenda for the next Parliament. Having seen for myself the kind of school you get with smaller class sizes at Shortwood, I know it can't come soon enough.

Save Our School (But Not Our Planet)

I attended the meeting of Spelthorne Borough Council tonight, in large part because residents from both ends of the borough were there to have their voices heard. People opposing the ill judged London Irish proposed development asked a series of excellent questions about planning policy, and gave councillors plenty to think about. Then campaigners working to save Shortwood School had their 3 minutes to tell the borough councillors why the school is so important to the community. The speech was excellent, and I thought it was a shame that a bit more time wasn't given when the 3 minutes was up. The campaign will now need to gear up for another public meeting on the 4th March, and then on to the county council. Then we had the budget setting for 2010, and a round of deep cuts from the Tory administration. After years of failing to manage a budget deficit (ring any bells?) they now have to remove staff from areas like planning, where they already perform poorly. In response to one of our Group Leaders comments about not signing up to the 10:10 campaign, where organisations including councils can pledge to cut CO2 emissions by 10% this year, we had the usual response from a Tory. Lib Dems had tabled a motion last year to join the campaign, only for the Tories to block it. Well, with one of their number once again trotting out the "there is no proof the climate change exists" it's no surprise. If that councillor ever bothered to look beyond the end of his nose at the wealth of scientific proof that exists, and thinks for one solitary second about the wider world, he would know the threat we face. But once again we see the true face of the Tories on the environment.

A Night In Playbox

I was at a meeting tonight of the campaign to save Shortwood Infants School and Playbox playgroup. Tonight there were parliamentary candidates, county and borough councillors as well as parents, support staff and governors. This is a testament to how quickly the campaign has been mobilised and how hard the campaigners are working. Lots of ideas were exchanged, as well as a plan for the next 4 years for the school to grow it's numbers and build stability for the future. There are still questions for the council to answer as I said before, but key is to keep engaging the local community and keep up the pressure. The publicity has started really well, but the story needs to stay fresh for the media to keep running on it. I think that the ideas we shared tonight will help move things forward. I have a commitment from our county councillors to carry on providing information that can be useful to the campaign, and I hope to help with campaigning experience too, although frankly this group of people are doing a fantastic job already!

Shortwood - There Are Questions To Answer

The consultation on the proposed closure of Shortwood Infant School continues. The document produced by the County Council to inform the debate on the schools future seems a very flimsy article, when you consider it effectively puts the case for closure. What it does do is repeatedly suggest that the school's educational performance may get worse in the future. At the public meeting, council officers repeatedly said they were not criticising the education provided. But the consultation says things like "we are concerned about the quality of education that may be provided in future to the children at the school". There are other parts of the document that cast the same aspersions. So not attacking the education today, but innuendo about the performance tomorrow. This is crude and unneccesary. There are a number of other questions that I will be suggesting are put to the council too. Current capacity, birth rates, transport, new building and Government policy all seem to add weight to the argument to keep the school open. But all these subjects need questioning in detail to get to the facts, not just a 3 page proposal from the County Council.

Facts And Figures

I have been at a meeting with my County Council colleagues tonight discussing the threat of Shortwood Infant School's closure . We are pulling together as much information as we can to pass on to the campaigners there. There are so many factors that need to be included in this consultation that seem to be missing from the council's document, so it's vital to get as much info into the public domain as possible to inform the debate. We'll be working on this some more over the weekend.

Shortwood Infant School

Surrey County Council have announced potential plans to close Shortwood School. There were two public meetings at the school today, and I went along to the second one this evening. I don't think I have seen many more passionate defences of a community facility than I heard from local people tonight. Whilst the school has low numbers of pupils, it was clear that parents think the school is fantastic, as do the ex pupils, ex teachers and other local residents who had their say. The overwhelming feeling is that they have not had the support, publicity or understanding of the County Council, and that many people only heard about the school by word of mouth. Many also feel that long standing rumours of closure have put people off making the school their 1st preference. Talking afterwards to the acting head, and other campaigners, it was clear that they will defend the school and fight closure all the way. The community love this school and value it dearly. Councils have a tough job balancing needs and budgets, but their own figures show, to my mind, that short term desire to close the school will cause real problems in the near future, over and above the hardship some parents will face now if the school closes. After tonight they have my wholehearted support.