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Richmond upon Thames Liberal Democrats:Covering the constituencies of Twickenham and Richmond Park |
Improving Richmond's Our Secondary Schools
October 30, 2003 10:22 AM
By Serge Lourie in Online Exclusive
By Serge Lourie in Online Exclusive
The Council has just submitted its bid to the Department for Education for a massive investment in its secondary schools through the Private Finance Initiative (PFI). Whilst the proposal has been developed by the Conservative administration, it has the full support of the Liberal Democratic Group on the Council as well as the two MPs, Vince Cable and Jenny Tonge. Indeed we all had to sign the document being sent to the Education Department. The project is also backed by Susan Kramer, our prospective parliamentary candidate for Richmond Park, and Dee Doocey, our Greater London Assembly prospective candidate.
Whilst the original unsuccessful proposal put forward by the Tories envisaged a small sixth form in every secondary school, the present scheme is a collaboration that has the full support of the Tertiary and Adult colleges through a "14-19 Community Learning Federation". Post 16 education will continue to be supplied largely by the Tertiary College.
So why have we supported a Tory scheme?
This proposal is similar to the one developed by the Liberal Democrats when Teddington Councillor, Stephen Knight was Executive Member with responsibility for education. The Liberal Democrat administration pioneered two successful PFI schemes including the one for primary schools that has just come on stream with several new and improved classrooms and two new schools.
A lot of money [£85m] will be pumped into the secondary sector. Secondary schools require £22 million of necessary repair work. This is a large part of the so called black hole of £50m discovered by the Tories. We have rightly been criticised by Ofsted for the poor state of our schools.
The proposal will improve educational standards. It will raise attainment of pupils with special educational needs through investment at Strathmore School, Richmond House, Clarendon School and at the unit at Oldfield as well as providing a dedicated unit for pupils with Autistic Spectrum Disorders. There will also be development at two schools as locations for "multi agency support for vulnerable children". In addition, a Learning Support Unit will be provided in every school to improve social inclusion. There will be enhanced day care for under fives, breakfast and homework clubs and internet cafés.
All eight secondary and two special schools are involved. There will be 210 more secondary places, including those in a new Catholic secondary school that will enable a lot of children currently educated in borough Catholic primary schools to continue their education in Richmond upon Thames. There will also be new classes in two of the existing schools.
The proposal is innovative in that it will also improve radically Information and Communications Technology within the schools and will make it possible for the secondary sector in the borough to match the rankings of the primary schools, which are the best in the country.
16+ education will be largely provided by the College although some classes may be given in the secondary schools. There will be improvements in libraries and sports facilities through partnerships.
All in all, officers of the Council have come up with a proposal that will revolutionise secondary education in Richmond upon Thames. All premises will comply with the Disability Discrimination Act and there will be enhanced training facilities for teachers and other staff. We are strongly supporting the proposal.
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