Friday 12 June 2009

Labour is investing in schools through the global economic downturn

David Williams, Labour's Parliamentary Candidate for Crewe and Nantwich said, "Whilst Labour in Government is taking action to deal with the global downturn, they are also building a better Britain for the future. The key to that future is education. We need to invest in the downturn so that everyone can share in the opportunities that the upturn will bring."

Early Years: Labour is radically transforming early-years provision. In 1997 there were no free guaranteed nursery places or Sure Start Children’s centres. Today, there are over 3,000 Sure Start children’s centres providing childcare, healthcare, early education and family support to more than two million children and their families. Every three and four year old has the right to a free nursery place, which we will extend from 12.5 hours a week to 15 hours by next year.

Schools: Labour wants parents to have a good local school, wherever they live. Labour’s National Challenge will ensure that no school has fewer than 30 per cent of its pupils achieving 5 GCSEs at A*-C grade including in English and Maths by 2011. That ambition is backed up by £400 million of extra investment over the next three years. Over 1,100 new schools have been rebuilt or newly built since 1997 and Labour is committed to rebuilding or refurbishing every secondary school and half of all primary schools in the coming years. Labour has set three-year budgets for schools up to 2010/11 and are more than doubling in real terms total spending per pupil since 1997.

Labour believes in intervening early and is rolling out catch-up classes and one-to-one tuition in the 3Rs for children at risk of falling behind in primary and secondary school. To ensure that every child leaves primary school confident in their literacy and numeracy skills, Labour will offer 30,000 pupils support in literacy and 30,000 support in numeracy every year over the coming years.

David Williams concluded: "Only Labour is committed to investing in our children's future. We have transformed education since we came to power and will continue to do so. A lot done, a lot more to do."

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