Congratulations to Lambeth College on winning a prestigious Association of Colleges Beacon Award. Minister of State for Further Education Kevin Brennan MP presented Curriculum Manager Rachael Brown, Chair of Governors Dame Lorna Boreland-Kelly and student Natalie Harris with the award at Westminster recently.

The College received the RNIB and Mencap Award for Students with Learning Difficulties and/or Disabilities for its hard work in placing these students in employment. Through workplace and personal skills training, practice work environments and partnerships with employment agencies the College has prepared its students well for the challenges that lie beyond their education.

Chuka Umunna, who attended the opening of the College’s new buildings last year, said:

“It is fantastic that Lambeth College’s work in the local community has been recognised nationally. It is important to equip our young people as best as we can for the challenges that they will face in the job market.

“With its recent expansion and continued development of new teaching methods, Lambeth College can certainly not be accused of resting on its laurels. It is an innovative and growing education centre which is an asset to local residents.”

The Department for Children Schools and Families is currently passing a bill that is set to revolutionise schools in Streatham and beyond. The Children Schools and Families (CSF) Bill will guarantee catch-up support, one to one tuition for children falling behind, and stronger discipline through tough home-school agreements. In the above video, Schools Minister Vernon Coaker discusses the aims of the bill.

The guarantee of one to one tuition for children falling behind in literacy and numeracy has already been backed by £1,254,595 of extra funding this year for schools across Lambeth, with Streatham’s students set to benefit.

Crucially, discipline in schools is set to be overhauled by new home-school agreements with all pupils and parents accepting the school’s rules when they apply for a school place, and clear consequences if they are broken. This will help foster the development of a stable learning environment and orderly schools in Streatham.

Further plans under the CSF Bill include:
• The opportunity for all pupils to study triple sciences at GCSE;
• The opportunity for every primary pupil to learn a musical instrument;
• Every pupil to receive PHSE (including sexual health) education;
• Personal tutors for all secondary school pupils;
• More support for Gifted & Talented pupils and their parents.

Speaking about the Bill, Secretary of State for Children Schools and Families Ed Balls said:

“The Schools White Paper and the Bill build on the huge improvements in schools that have already happened and set out a clear vision for how we will take the schools system from good to great. At the heart of that vision are the pupil and parent guarantees.

“It is no longer enough to have a system meeting the needs of most children most of the time. These guarantees mean that all children and their parents, know what they should expect from their school and will have the powers to ensure those expectations are met.”

Chuka Umunna said:

“Schools in Streatham have been transformed over the last twelve years with the building of four new schools, our best ever exam results, 160 more teachers and an 81% increase in our pupils entering higher education.

“I am right behind the government’s CSF Bill, which reflects our commitment to protecting and improving front line services.”

The Prime Minister has praised Louis Desa for helping turn Bishop Thomas Grant School (BTG) into one of the most improved schools in the country.

Mr Desa was among 150 headteachers invited to a reception at 10 Downing Street to recognise their innovative approaches to education and their commitment to raising achievement in their schools.

Over the last five years BTG has improved significantly scoring exceptionally and consistently high in its latest Ofsted inspection and achieving excellent exam results.

Congratulating Mr Desa, Chuka commented “Successes in Streatham like these need to be constantly recognised and celebrated. This particular achievement highlights how schools in our area are aiming and achieving high”.

Congratulations to our local residents whose contributions on a local and national level were recognised in the Queen’s New Year Honours list.

To find out more about their fantastic achievements, follow this link.

The contribution of four local residents has been recognised in the Queen’s New Year’s Honors List: Lesley Morrison CBE, Gloria Bailey MBE, Ilene Ming-Deans MBE and Jean Roberts MBE. They are truly inspiring people who have made a real positive impact both locally and nationally.

Ilene Daisy Ming-Deans has been made an MBE for her services to Clapham Youth Centre. The centre is part of the Knight’s Association of Youth Clubs, which have been pioneers of youth work in South London.

Aiming to inspire and help develop young people in constructive and innovative ways, the centre works on projects such as the ‘Summer Uni’, which raises young people’s aspirations.

Lesley Morrison, Headteacher of St. Martin-in-the-Fields High School for Girls in Tulse Hill has been made a CBE for her contribution to education.

Mrs Morrison, who has been head of the school for seventeen years, has overseen the launch of a new and successful sixth form and excellent exam results across the board.

Interviewed in the Streatham Guardian she said: “It is a real honour, but it feels bizarre getting something for just doing your job.” She added “no man was an island” and that her success was because she had a “great team of staff helping her”.

Mrs Morrison’s positive ethos “values all our individuals. It places emphasis on high expectation and the fact that if our pupils believe they can do it, they can. We want our pupils to fly and they do fly,” she told BBC News.

Gloria Bailey is well known for her work with the Streatham Darby and Joan club where her Make a Difference Group is based – she has been made an MBE for her services to the community in Lambeth.

As well as fostering more than 100 children, she has run recruiting drives for foster carers in Brixton and also launched the Godparents initiative to provide opportunities for local youngsters.

Jean Roberts, a ministerial messenger for the Department for Transport, also becomes an MBE.

Congratulations to all those who received honours – we are truly proud to have such inspiring local citizens.

Lambeth has been awarded £9 million by Schools Minister Vernon Coaker MP to help expand the number of primary school places in the borough to help meet growing demand for places.

The additional school places are being funded as part of £300m of new investment from the government, helping local authorities which are under pressure from increases in pupil numbers.

This means that the council can create a planned total of 300 new reception class places across Lambeth over the next three years.

Councillor Paul McGlone, Lambeth Council Cabinet Member for Children and Young People’s Services, said: “Our hard work in getting the best possible deal for Lambeth’s children has paid off.

“This is a fantastic result, and the next step is to talk to our schools and local parents to make sure we provide school places and new schools in the areas where they are needed most.”

In the short term, the council has added temporary classes at schools to provide additional places in some of the most popular local schools. In Streatham this year extra classes have been added at Jubilee, Hitherfield, Crown Lane and Immanuel & St Andrew’s primary schools.

Additionally in Streatham from September 2010 further reception classes will be provided at Immanuel & St Andrew’s school. Lambeth Council’s cabinet has approved plans for permanent expansions, including ten more forms of entry by 2012.

Schools Secretary, Ed Balls, said:

“We’ve listened carefully to concerns from some local authorities, particularly in London, facing specific issues around rising demand for reception-age pupils over the next few years.

“Overall, more than 4,000 primary and secondary schools, at an average of 25 a week will have been built, rebuilt or refurbished by July 2010 since 1997 – the biggest sustained period of school building for decades.

“Building Schools for the Future (BSF) is the biggest single government investment in improving school buildings for over 50 years, rebuilding or renewing every secondary school in England. BSF is
expected to improve the life chances of 3.3 million young people.”

The government has launched a new careers strategy to modernise careers education and make sure every that young person, whatever their background, can aim for the top.

The scheme was launched in collaboration with football legends Sir Alex Ferguson and Ryan Giggs.

It aims to make a real difference for children in Streatham by offering them support and guidance beginning earlier, at primary school.

The proposals include the following initiatives:

- Providing a £10 million fund to support innovative ways of delivering careers education.

- Every young person will have access to a mentor – two new national mentoring champions will help increase mentoring opportunities between schools, businesses and higher education.

- Moving careers advice into the 21st Century with better online access to careers advice through Facebook, You Tube, blogs and forums and a new dedicated online mentoring scheme from 2010 to enable young people to contact professionals online.

The scheme aims to give more help to disadvantaged and disabled young people in accessing work experience so that all young people – regardless of their background, ethnicity or gender – can realise their full potential.

Every young person will get careers education up to the age of 18 in line with raising the school leaving age.

The new strategy has been endorsed by Manchester United player Ryan Giggs:

“Mentoring was very important to my career, Sir Alex has been a mentor to me since I started out and has helped me not only in football but in my life. If young people can receive the kind of mentoring that I did it, it is sure to give them a good start in their chosen field and lead them to success.”

A key emphasis of the government’s scheme is the partnership of schools, businesses and parents, on which Sir Alex Ferguson said:

“All sorts of people can influence children in their career choices, but it is important that teachers, parents and businesses spot talent early on and nurture young people to achieve the best they can.”

Chuka has joined forces with the National Union of Students (NUS) to call for the abolition of up-front student fees and oppose the possibility of new higher ‘top-up’ fees in the future.

Both Chuka and the NUS are calling for an end to student fees charged up-front and are instead backing alternative plans for a progressive graduate tax linked to earnings, with graduates contributing according to the benefit they have gained from their time in higher education.

Crucially, this would mean students would not have to pay until they start working: the graduate tax would only be levied once an individual earns over a threshold of £15,000, and payments would be spread out and therefore be more affordable.

The graduate tax proposals would generate more funding than the current fees system and would allow for the creation of more university places as well as increased financial support for poorer students.

In Streatham, we should be proud that the number of people going to university has increased by more than 81% since 1997. Increased funding for more student places and support would allow this figure to rise even further.

The Lib Dems recently abandoned their commitment to scrapping student fees at their party conference while the Conservative Party under David Cameron has also dropped its pledge to end fees.

President of the NUS Wes Streeting commented: “NUS is delighted to receive Chuka’s backing on the number one issue facing students ahead of the next general election.”

“With a review of the current tuition fees system due to be announced within a matter of weeks, this intervention could not have come at a better time.”

Chuka said:

“Given the advantages that a university education gives graduates, it is right that students should contribute towards the cost of going to university. A graduate tax linked closely to earnings is the simplest and fairest way of achieving this.”

Follow these links to find out more about the NUS’ Funding our Future plans and get involved in the campaign against fees.

I would like to congratulate our A-level and GCSE students on their exceptional exam results.

Every year we are subjected to national headlines of alleged dumbing down and dropping standards when the results come out. This, frankly, is an insult to our young people who work very hard, to their families who support them through what is a stressful period and to our dedicated teachers and school staff.

Across Lambeth we have seen success. Dunraven’s Sixth Form Centre, for example, was opened in 2003 to address a lack of A-level places in the borough – this year 70% of its A level students received A-C grades.

Likewise, the percentage of Lambeth’s pupils obtaining 5 or more A* to C GCSE grades has soared from 62% last year to 71% this year – well above the national average. I am proud that La Retraite, in this constituency, achieved the highest 5+ A*-C grades with 93%.

None of this would have been possible without the extra sums the Labour government has put into our schools. In this constituency alone, a plethora of new school buildings has been built and there are 100 more secondary school teachers since 1997. It is essential this investment continues.

So, for once, lets cut the negativity and celebrate local pupils’ achievements. I will be shouting from the roof tops about it for weeks to come!

Chuka Umunna
Labour Parliamentary Candidate for Streatham

This is a quick post to wish everyone (and their extremely supportive families), who will be collecting their A Level and GCSE results this Thursday and the next, the very best of luck!

No doubt there will be the usual so-called experts popping up in the media over the next fortnight claiming it is easier to hit the grade but I know – having spoken to many pupils, parents and staff in this constituency – just how hard our young people work. That hard work is reflected in the recent results here:

- the percentage of pupils achieving 5 A*-C grade GCSEs in this constituency’s schools has risen by 32.9% to 69% since 1997 (which is 7% above the English average); and,
- the numbers of young people from this constituency getting the grades and going into higher education has increased by 81.7% in the last decade.

I have absolutely no doubt that our GCSE and A Level students will continue to do us proud this fortnight.

Best wishes,

Chuka