WITH CHILDREN'S futures at stake, education will always be a hot topic across the county.

With a rising population and a new school in the pipeline to accommodate it, as well as passionate parents petitioning to set up their own, our borough is no different.

So we have asked the four main parties for their views and why education in Ealing is safe in their hands.


CONSERVATIVES

Ealing Conservatives are passionate about improving the quality and choices for education in the Borough.
Since taking control of the Council in 2006 we have overseen remarkable improvements to educational attainment in Ealing. Our schools are getting better results than ever before with 70.8% GCSE students achieving five A* to C results, up from 61.8% in 2006. Our schools have been assessed as being the best in London when it comes to helping young people between ages 11 and 16 improve.
For younger pupils the emphasis on the synthetic phonics teaching method for reading has helped improve English results, and we have reversed the decline of results at key stage 1 level.
Perhaps the biggest challenge we face in Ealing is the significant increase in the birthrate and the resulting need for more school places. In face of the extra demand for places, we want to ensure that parents can continue to get their children in to a school near their home. That is why we have embarked on a £57 million primary school expansion programme.
In delivering our promise from 2006, we have identified a site and work has begun on delivering a brand new high school in Greenford. This will greatly relieve pressure for places across the Borough and ensure more parents and pupils can get into the school of their choice.
We are also committed to seeing through the ‘Building Schools for the Future’ programme which could mean a £300 million upgrade of our schools throughout the Borough. We will ensure the money is spent wisely on much improved facilities to give all our children access to the best opportunities available.
Conservatives also recognise that education must offer more choices beyond narrow academic schooling. Some young people are more suited to learning practical skills – and that is why as a Council administration we have programmes to cater for young people who want to learn trades through the Borough Apprenticeship Scheme and Diploma Centre. We are pledged to expand the Apprenticeship Scheme to give more young people the opportunity to gain skills whilst working in real jobs.
We have achieved a lot in education over the past four years, but we still have a lot to do. A vote for Conservatives is vote for more opportunities in education for Ealing residents.


LABOUR

In 1997, schools were literally crumbling. Thanks to Labour, the majority of schools in the Borough have been rebuilt or improved, like John Perry, Acton High, Brentside, Featherstone and Greenford High; the list goes on and on.
It’s very easy for the Tories to shamelessly steal credit, but the fact remains that the Labour government are providing the funds to build and improve our schools. A Labour Council launched the “Building Schools for the Future” scheme in 2004, and a Labour government has invested £300 million for new school building.
The Conservatives however have pledged to cut £4.5 billion from Building Schools for the Future, putting at risk the long awaited new High School in the north of the Borough. Last time the Tories were in power, they closed a High School in Ealing, and If the Tories get power, the plans to rebuild Cardinal Wiseman and Dormers Wells High Schools will be under threat.
Over 15 schools in the Borough will benefit from Labour investment, the Tories will put this investment at risk.
Since 1997, Labour has invested £1,700 more for each pupil in Ealing, ensuring that standards can rise with more teachers and smaller class sizes.
Locally the Tories have yet again ridden roughshod over local opinion with no real engagement with parents over how to deal with the growing number of children who need primary school places. Whilst they have made a u-turn over building temporary huts on the playground of Derwentwater Shool in Acton, parents across the borough are still waiting for them to end their plans to shoehorn more children into packed schools.
Whether it’s the Education Maintenance Allowance that has enabled more young people to stay on in education and gain skills, or building Children’s Centres in every community to support young families, Labour has transformed early education.
In these tough economic times, only Labour has promised to ring fence education from funding cuts, and only Labour have promised guaranteed one to one tuition to any child that needs it.

LIBERAL DEMOCRATS

Education in Ealing is facing some serious problems. There is a critical shortage of school places, because forecasts of pupil number have been wrong. It is the single largest item in the Council budget, but receives less attention than many lesser services.
Liberal Democrats believe the quality of provision of both primary and secondary schooling in the borough can and should be significantly improved by better policies and practices. These include
Better planning, so that future demand is understood and co-ordinated with other areas of Council plans; new housing developments should be refused unless there is adequate future school provision
Targeting smaller classes and school sizes should be a priority, to ensure children get the individual attention they need. Increased demand should be met by new schools, not by enlarging existing ones. We oppose the loss of open space and where head teachers become chief executives rather than teaching professionals who understand their pupils
Admissions policy should be flexible enough to allow siblings to attend the same schools, especially at primary stage.
Catchment areas should be designed to have a good social/economic mix.
Attracting and retaining good teachers is essential.
Staffing “Affordable” key worker housing should be provided for teachers in new developments alongside other school provision plans. Obligations should be laid on developers to ensure these are ready BEFORE new houses are built.
Basic skills mentoring schemes should be introduced. Volunteer assistants should be used to provide listening support, but attention for children who lack basic skills should be provided by specialist teachers
Central government Targets should be reduced, with more decisions left to teachers.
Better discipline Council support is needed to help protect teachers from disruptive and sometimes violent behaviour. More pupil referral units should be provided, and encouragement for greater involvement of parents through home/school contracts.
Liberal Democrats will also press for the restoration of adult education across the borough. This should be provide
more recreational courses, linked to wider arts and leisure facilities
vocational courses in conjunction with local industry and commerce, to match skills to job demand.

GREEN

The Green Party believes all children have the right to a good, local school and all adults must have the right to appropriate further and higher education. For Greens, education is not just equipping people with certificates so they can compete in a global market place. Instead, education is about the whole person. And it should be free.We want schools to help children with the three Rs, but also to develop them into responsible, confident and respectful adults. We want schools to teach healthy lifestyles and instill a love of learning. We support the integration of special needs children in local schools as far as possible and in keeping with these children’s wishes. We believe all children should have the benefit of healthy free school meals.
We are against SATs and league tables. They put too much pressure on schools and pupils, restricting what and how children learn. Instead, we think schools should be accountable to a local education authority, and teach a broader curriculum that allows children to develop their strengths. We would cut the bureaucracy that teachers and lecturers have to endure and thus enable them to do their jobs as professionals.
We believe that schools should be governed in the interests of children and their parents. We would phase out City Academies and Trust Schools, because we think it is wrong to allow individuals, businesses or other outside organisations to have too great an influence over schools.
Across Ealing, education is under pressure. We need more schools, but not at the expense of access to outdoor space. Our young people in particular need further and higher education without fearing a lifetime of debt. We would abolish tuition fees and ensure that colleges and universities have sufficient funding to provide education and training to the best international standards.
Our policies would be paid for through a reworked tax system, cutting red tape and a change in government priorities to spend money where it is really necessary - for example, through scrapping the Trident missiles.
Please vote for us if you support first class, local, free education.