Last week, Theresa May set out plans for schools that work for everyone. Her Government’s mission is to build a country that works for everyone and a fundamental part of that is having schools that give every child the best start in life, regardless of their background.
The Conservatives are the only major political party who want Britain to be the world’s great meritocracy. We want our country to be a place where people succeed on their merit and not because of their background; where it is talent and hard work that matter and not where you were born or who your parents are. For me, education should always be about maximising every child’s potential whereas for Labour it often feels that it is political ideology coming first.
There are 1.4 million more children since 2010 in officially good or outstanding schools but more needs to be done to ensure that there will be a good school place for every child. Therefore, I very much welcome that the Government are going to consult on proposals that will create more good school places.
The Conservative Government are going to remove Tony Blair’s 1998 short-sighted ban on new grammar schools opening. Any new grammar schools that open will contribute meaningfully to raising outcomes for all pupils in every part of the system. In practice this could mean ensuring they take a proportion of pupils from lower income households, so that selective education is not reserved for those with the means to move into a catchment area or pay for tuition to pass the test.
In Crawley we have some brilliant faith schools and the removing of obstacles that stop more good faith schools from opening is great news. This includes removing the ‘50% rule’ where schools that are oversubscribed must limit the numbers they select on the basis of faith to 50%. This rule has not worked and changing it will allow the growth in capacity that especially many Catholic schools have long been requesting. The Conservatives are determined to maximise the potential of all pupils and return social mobility to education.
Councillor Duncan Crow, Leader of Crawley Borough Council Conservative Group
14th September 2016