Liberal Democrats improving Education in Ealing

In Ealing, things are improving as we see that crime is down, there are more people in employment and millions of residents have been taken on apprenticeships across the country.

Those running Ealing Town Hall, like to take the credit for the improvements to our education system, however they forget to mention that the majority of money comes directly from the coalition Government.

So when our primary and secondary schools are maintained, expanded and improved, large chunks of money comes from the government.

Gary Malcolm

Liberal Democrats believe in giving every child a fair start in life. That's why we put an extra £2.5bn into schools each year from our 'Pupil Premium', as promised in the 2010 election manifesto. The money is targeted at those that need the most help, to achieve equality of opportunity.

In just one year seven schools in our borough received the following amounts:

• Hambrough Primary School, Southall - £126,000
• West Twyford Primary School, Acton - £81,000
• Selborne Primary School, Greenford - £107,100
• Gifford Primary School, Northolt - £325,800
• Perivale Primary School, Perivale - £83,700
• North Ealing Primary School, Ealing - £54,900
• Southfield Primary school, Southfield - £144,000
• St John's Primary School, West Ealing - £171,000

Some of the great examples of what the Pupil Premium has been spent on included a Maths tutor for a year 10 pupil who had gaps in their learning. Another was curriculum adaptations for pupils going into key stage 4, who were on the spectrum of autism.

The additional learning and communication helped them out massively. This will help those children to better learn and develop, so they can gain employment or an apprenticeship more easily.

Also a hot and healthy meal at lunch time greatly improves the health, behaviour and results of schoolchildren, providing them with their best start in life, enabling every child to fulfil their potential.

Evidence has shown that free school meals make a real difference in our classrooms. They were first piloted in 2009 and my aspiration is that free school meals is expanded to give free school meals to every primary school pupil in England.

We’ve also provided £150m to upgrade school kitchens and dining rooms, on top of a billion pounds of new money to fund the meals.

The government has also increased funding of nursery places for 2 and 3 year olds and agreed for an increase in paternal leave so they parents can spend more time with their new-born children. All of these policies are helping families across Ealing.

How Lib Dems in government are helping Ealing

Since the formation of the Coalition a number of policies have led to improvements for those living in Ealing.

The Liberal Democrat part of the coalition government has had an impact by ensuring fairness whilst turning around the economy from what we were left in 2010.

To help redress some of the inequalities in our society the Liberal Democrat idea of a Pupil Premium was introduced. This gives schools extra money if pupils’ families are most in need of assistance. For the 2013/14 year, Ealing benefits by £12.4 million. This will give our local schools a great chance to provide additional educational services for those who are most in need. The Southfield Primary School gained about £145,000 and this was welcomed.

Speaking at a rally about local hospitals

Many residents I have spoken to in Acton have said the last couple of years have been difficult with the state of the economy, but they welcome the raising of the tax threshold so that thousands of residents in Ealing no longer have to pay income tax. This Liberal Democrat policy (from our 2010 manifesto) is something we are very proud of.

This policy puts cash directly into working people's pockets, and benefits all lower income people.

In Acton and Southall we have seen the proliferation of betting shops. Fellow Liberal Democrat Councillor Jon Ball spoke about this problem at the Liberal Democrat Conference in Glasgow recently. He has called for changes in the law to allow the numbers of new betting shops to be better controlled and is hopeful that the coalition government will now legislate to give Councils like Ealing these powers.

Since 2010, over a million people have started apprenticeships, with thousands created in Ealing alone. Not everyone wishes to pursue a university education and so the positive work on increasing apprenticeships since 2010 needs to be continued.

Apprenticeships for those under 25 has given work experience and improves their prospects of getting a job. There will help our younger members of society in Ealing develop their potential.

Although we have fewer MP’s than the Conservatives at Westminster, we are pursuing our liberal beliefs and are able to curb some of the more extreme conservative ideas. It is not easy in a coalition, but it does demonstrate that coalition governments can work and bring real benefits to our area.