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The pressure on school places and incentives to solve the problem

For the Telegraph, Fraser Nelson asks, Will Michael Gove’s schools revolution be just another false start? He sets out a crucial problem in education: David Cameron’s problem is not that Michael Gove might be run over by a bus. His problem is, this weekend, that quite a few mothers wouldn’t mind if he were. By the time tomorrow’s post is opened another 50,000 female voters will have good reason to curse the Education Secretary. The last of the primary school admissions letters will [...]

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John Hampden Grammar School receives lottery funding

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John Hampden Grammar School has been awarded a grant of £44,800 by the Heritage Lottery Fund for a student-led project on the history of the school and its role in providing education in High Wycombe since 1893. My researcher, Tim Hewish, is a former pupil of the school and is especially looking forward to seeing the final result. In the Palace of Westminster, on the right as you enter Central Lobby from Westminster Hall, there is a statue of John Hampden [...]

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EU fund of the day – Comenius

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The first in a series illustrating how the EU spends your money in its own interests. Today, The Comenius Programme: Comenius: Europe in the classroom The Comenius Programme focuses on all levels of school education, from pre-school and primary to secondary schools. It is relevant for everyone involved in school education: mainly pupils and teachers but also local authorities, representatives of parents’ associations, non-government organisations, teacher training institutes and universities. Part of the EU’s Lifelong Learning Programme, the Comenius actions [...]

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David Willetts, “Our university revolution has only just begun”

David Willetts writes in the Telegraph: Our university revolution has only just begun: Despite some dire warnings about the Coalition’s student finance reforms, we’ve already had more applications to university than in any year under the previous government. Once the decline in the total number of 18 year olds has been accounted for, their application rate is down only 1 per cent on last year, when a record number of people applied to get in. We’ve sent recent graduates into [...]

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A fascinating speech by Michael Gove

We’ve faced a good deal of opposition in the last year and a half. And I am certain 2012 will be no different. Because one thing I’ve come to realise during my time as Education Secretary is that the opposition we face is of a very particular kind… It’s ironic, if you think about it. The popular critique of our reform programme has most often been of its underpinning motives. The talk was of an ‘ideologically-driven Academies programme’ and ‘ideologically-motivated [...]

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Durand: A triumph of educational reason

NB: This post is by Tim Hewish, Steve’s researcher. I was delighted to learn that the Durand Academy has been successful in its request to set up a free boarding school for acutely underprivileged children in Stockwell, South London. When Steve and I visited back in January, we were greatly encouraged by the transformational work all the teachers and staff were doing at Durand. Their passion was rooted in traditional principles of hard work, meritocracy and discipline. They were not [...]

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Teachers as heroes

It’s Parliamentary recess, but recess isn’t time off: it’s time to catch up and to work in the Constituency, carrying out all those visits which simply aren’t possible when Parliament is sitting four days a week. One of the greatest privileges I have as MP for Wycombe is visiting our schools. In the past week, I have been to Highcrest, Cressex and a nearby school for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties. My overriding impression is the dedication of teachers [...]

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Expanding the English Baccalaureate

This month, I had the opportunity to speak on a panel at the Buckinghamshire Academy for School Leadership (BASL) conference. This event was attended by almost all of the Heads and Deputy Heads from both primary and secondary schools in Bucks. A recurring theme throughout the morning was concern over the English Baccalaureate and the choice of core subjects. I would like to see the E-Bac expanded to permit a larger number of humanities and creative subjects. If we believe [...]

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Free Schools for the Future

N.B. The author is Tim Hewish – my Parliamentary Researcher — Steve Building on our visit to Durand Academy, I listened to Monday’s Today programme on Free Schools where the question posed was: How can the Government afford to hand out extra capital to Free Schools when the Department of Education has had cut backs? During the debate, Toby Young, founder of West London Free School, said that an average maintained school cost £36m for a four form school using [...]

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Tim Hewish: Fiction reveals truths that reality obscures

N.B. The author is Tim Hewish – my Parliamentary Researcher — Steve My attention was recently drawn to the reduced £13 million funding for State initiatives to provide books to pre-schoolers in the form of Bookstart, Booktime and Booked Up. I can sense the reactionary response: Why would any Government withdraw money for children’s books? However, as a first principle, that accepts the premise that it is the State’s obligation to offer a selection of books to infants. We should be [...]

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Steve Baker is MP for Wycombe. He was previously an RAF officer then a business software consultant. Find out more...

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