Barnet Council has pledged to invest £65 million in providing additional school places and expanding the best schools.
Last week, confirmations of primary school places were sent out and this year’s figures show that 80% received their first preference while 92% got into one of their top 3 choices. According to a residents’ perception survey, satisfaction in primary education in the borough is up 13% on two years ago and there is a similar story with both nursery and secondary education.
This Conservative-led Government’s commitment to education reform has brought in more than 2000 new Academies and 80 Free Schools and we are delivering record numbers of apprenticeships.
We are determined to toughen up exam standards. Thanks to Michael Gove, spelling and grammar will once again be taken into account when GCSEs are marked. We are bringing back the study of the narrative history of Britain, our island history that was ignored in the classroom for too long. We will also be putting a stop to primary school children taking calculators into maths exams; and the number of pupils studying sciences and languages is increasing. We are taking action on the health and safety tick boxes that have made it so difficult for teachers to take children out on field trips.
At local and national level, the Conservatives are determined to provide better schools for everyone.