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  • Sadiq Khan – 2022 Comments on Supporting London’s Creative Industries

    Sadiq Khan – 2022 Comments on Supporting London’s Creative Industries

    The comments made by Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, on 1 September 2022.

    The capital’s world-leading arts, cultural and creative industries help to drive our economy and inspire young people, but the energy crisis is hitting the sector hard and it is vital that it is supported to become more energy efficient, especially as these businesses are not protected by the energy price cap. This latest investment reaffirms my commitment to placing the environment at the centre of our economic recovery and will help workplaces deal with burden of the cost of living crisis and spiralling energy bills as we build back a fairer, greener city for all.

  • John Hayes – 2010 Transforming Lives Speech

    John Hayes – 2010 Transforming Lives Speech

    The speech made by John Hayes, the then Education Minister, at the British Library in London on 7 September 2010.

    Good afternoon everyone. It’s a great pleasure for me to join you all today in welcoming the launch of Transforming Lives. I also want to take this opportunity to congratulate NIACE and indeed everyone involved in the Transformation Fund projects from which the report has sprung.

    Of course, this project began last year under the previous government. But as many of you can confirm, I’ve been an advocate of informal adult and community learning for long enough to know that any initiative that improves our understanding of adult learners and their needs must be welcomed, irrespective of whose idea it was.

    What matters most is what the project has achieved and what lessons we can learn from it as we look towards the future.

    For me, you don’t need to look further than the front cover of the report to find the key to what follows.

    That’s because, as I hope all of us here today know, learning is capable not just of changing lives, but of completely transforming them.

    I’m not just talking about the fact that learning brings the qualifications needed to get a higher- rather than lower-paid job. It seems to me horribly reductive to express, as I know some do, the benefits of learning only in terms of lifetime earnings differentials. And it seems to me just plain wrong to measure everything that a person acquires during the learning journey only by its effect on the thickness of their pay-packet.

    It makes me sad when, for example, I read about the new graduates who’ve been unable to find the sorts of jobs they’d hoped for this summer and last. And I can assure them that my colleagues and I are working hard to ensure that they can get a foot on their chosen career-ladder sooner rather than later. But at the same time I hope that those young people also recognise how their years of study and the experiences these have brought have transformed them as individuals.

    Since John Henry Newman at least, I think there has been general recognition that a real university education must be about far more than just acquiring a passport to a white collar and a tie, that its value lies also in how much it does to enrich the content of students’ characters.

    That same effect ought also to be evident in patently vocational forms of training. Now some people refuse to recognise that vocational training can have anything other than employment-related benefits. But I’ve certainly seen for myself as I’ve gone round the country over the summer how, for example, apprentices develop not only practical skills, but also a sense of their own achievement, of pride in what they have accomplished, and of self-worth.

    That’s not just good for themselves and their employers. In the long run, it benefits all of us and the society in which we live.

    So the transformational power of learning is shown both in how learning spreads opportunity and in how it spreads civilisation. But it’s also shown in the element of personal choice, personal responsibility and personal empowerment that learning entails. And that’s especially true of the less formal types of learning.

    That is something of which the Transforming Lives report reminds us very forcefully.

    There are three other important messages that I’d like to draw out from it.

    The first is that in this area, a little money can achieve a lot, particularly if we are prepared to innovate and to trust people at the front line to organise learning in ways that suit their needs rather than conforming to some centralised model.

    It’s hardly a secret that money is going to be in short supply, even in priority areas like education as the Government works to bring the public spending deficit under control. And we all know that cuts will have to be made, although details of where they will fall won’t be finalised until George Osborne and Danny Alexander publish the outcome of the Spending Review next month.

    This isn’t a government that believes, like Aeschylus, that “he who learns must suffer”. But it would be idle to assume that some spending decisions won’t have an impact on education, including on informal learning.

    And it follows that, unless we are prepared in future to contemplate a choice between the Scylla of learning for the few and the Charybdis of learning on the cheap – which I for one am not – we should look urgently for more creative ways to engage both learners and providers.

    That implies, for one thing, making much better use of the local resources we have, engaging a wider range of partners in facilitating learning at community level, and making it easier for grass-roots initiatives to flourish. A good example of the sort of initiative I’m talking about was launched only a couple of weeks ago. The Cafe Culture campaign aims to encourage employers to offer informal learning opportunities at work to their staff. So far, it has involved some 64 companies covering almost two million workers.

    The second important message from Transforming Lives that I want to highlight is that there remains enormous demand for informal learning. And I take comfort from that, because a nation that wants to learn is a nation that is going forward rather than backwards.

    It’s a nation that’s already, by virtue of its people own free will, taking its future into its own hands. Sometimes the State can play a useful role in that, but most often the impetus comes from individuals.

    There’s literally no limit to the range of forms this can take. From the pub landlord who provides space for the local book club to the employer who makes a room available for the lunchtime learning circle. From the housebound person whose isolation is reduced when they discover email or Facebook to the person with depression who finds relief through art or photography.

    These sorts of activities and many others like them make our society a happier and healthier place, and this country a better one in which to live.

    The third and final point from the report that I want to highlight follows from the first two. And it’s that the strength of informal adult and community learning stems precisely from its diversity.

    Like nature itself, in Pascal’s definition, informal learning is “an infinite sphere, the centre of which is everywhere and the circumference nowhere”. Like the internet, with its profusion of interconnected yet free-standing networks, informal learning might have been designed to survive even the biggest catastrophe.

    And that’s perhaps a good point on which to close, because my own long experience of informal adult and community learning has taught me above all else that it has an enviable ability not just to survive, but to adapt and grow. As if to spite those governments that have tried to kill it with neglect as well as those that have tried to kill it with regulation, it not only lives on, but thrives.

    Transforming Lives reminds us of all this and of the essential role that adult and community learning must play in creating a better, more inclusive, more content, more confident and, indeed, bigger society.

    Thank you.

     

  • PRESS RELEASE : Michael Gove’s written ministerial statement relating to new Free School proposals

    PRESS RELEASE : Michael Gove’s written ministerial statement relating to new Free School proposals

    The press release issued by the Department for Education on 6 September 2010.

    Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State for Education, has today laid a written ministerial statement informing Parliament that the first 16 Free School proposals are ready to progress to the next stage of the process and develop a full business case and plan.

    The statement outlines the next steps in the process for the proposers and lists the proposals approved to go forward to business case and plan stage in full.

    Innovation in Pupil Place Planning

    Today I am announcing the first 16 Free School proposals to progress to the next stage of the process and develop a full business case and plan.

    We need to reform our education system if we are to accelerate improvement to keep pace with the highest performing systems of the world and ensure that every pupil growing up in this country gets a better chance of achieving their potential. Free Schools form an integral part of the Government’s education policy to improve choice for parents and raise standards for all young people.

    The proposals I have agreed to move forward to business case and plan stage today represent a diverse mix: there are parent-led, community-led, sponsor-led and teacher-led proposals; there are faith and non-faith proposals; there are proposals for large secondary schools and for small primary schools. All of these proposals have been driven by demand from local people for improved choice for their young people and I am delighted that so many promising proposals have come forward at such an early stage.

    I hope that many of the projects progressing today will become the first Free Schools in September 2011. This is a challenging timescale, and some groups may decide that it is preferable to open at a later date for practical reasons. To support groups in meeting the robust requirements of the business case and plan stage, we will now be providing the proposers that progress to this stage with support co-ordinated by a named contact within my Department. At the next stage, proposers will need to make a fully detailed business case for the new school and set out their plans for opening and operating the proposed school. I will make an assessment based on this final business case on whether to allow a new school to be set up.

    The proposals announced today are just the start of our Free Schools programme. My Department has received a number of promising proposals for 2012 and 2013 and we will be making further announcements about taking these forward in due course. New proposals are frequently being submitted to the Department. We want it to be open to a diverse range of groups to come forward with proposals which meet the needs of their local area, and for proposals to progress at the pace which is right for both proposers and for parents and young people in the local area.

    The 16 proposals approved to go forward to business case and plan stage are (in alphabetical order):

    Bedford and Kempston Free School, Bedford Borough
    The Childcare Company, Slough
    Discovery New School, West Sussex
    The Free School Norwich, Norfolk
    Haringey Jewish Primary School, Haringey
    I-Foundation Primary School, Leicester
    King’s Science Academy, Bradford
    Mill Hill Jewish Primary School, Barnet
    Nishkam Education Trust, Birmingham
    North Westminster Free School (ARK), Westminster
    Priors Marston and Priors Hardwick School, Warwickshire
    Rivendale Free School, Hammersmith and Fulham
    St. Luke’s School, Camden
    Stour Valley Community School, Suffolk
    West London Free School, Ealing or Hammersmith and Fulham
    Wormholt North Hammersmith Free School (ARK), Hammersmith and Fulham (to be known as Burlington Primary Academy)
    I will update the House as these projects progress further.

  • PRESS RELEASE : 142 schools to convert to academy status weeks after Academies Act passed

    PRESS RELEASE : 142 schools to convert to academy status weeks after Academies Act passed

    The press release issued by the Department for Education on 1 September 2010.

    Michael Gove, Education Secretary, today announced that 142 schools have accepted the Government’s offer to become an academy since the Academies Act became law just over a month ago. These schools have made a commitment to work with other schools and share their expertise. This is the first wave of converters in a rolling process that allows schools to convert at any stage.

    The running total of schools that will become academies this academic year is 216 so far. The current breakdown is as follows:

    • 142 schools converting to become academies: 32 are opening this week and a further 110 schools have had Academy Orders signed which means they are on track to convert to academies over the coming months.
    • Of the 142, there are 7 primary schools which become the first ever primary academies to open. The Government has said that special schools will also be allowed to become academies from next year.
    • 64 new academies replace failing schools this September plus a further 10 opening by April 2011.

    This is record progress; it took five years for 15 city technology colleges to open, and four years for the first 27 academies to open.

    Michael Gove said:

    This Government believes that teachers and headteachers, not politicians and bureaucrats, should control schools and have more power over how they are run. That’s why we are spreading academy freedoms. This will give heads more power to tackle disruptive children, to protect and reward teachers better, and to give children the specialist teaching they need.

    This year’s GCSE results saw academy pupils improving at nearly three times the historic rate of state school improvement.

    Heads of new academies today welcomed their new freedoms:

    Patricia Sowter, Head of Cuckoo Hall Primary School, Edmonton, said:

    With the new academy freedoms we will continue to develop our autonomy and take the school forward in what is an area of London that faces significant challenges and disadvantage. We will now have the flexibility to adapt and extend the curriculum, target resources more effectively, deploy specialist staff and above all build sustainable capacity to ensure continued and long term outstanding educational provision, to best meet the needs of our children and wider school community.

    Cuckoo Hall remains committed to supporting and working with other schools to improve children’s achievement. As an academy, Cuckoo Hall aims to build long term sustainable capacity to continue its effective work with other schools, and will seek to widen its impact on overall school improvement.

    Greg Martin, Executive Head of Durand Academy, Lambeth, said:

    Becoming an academy is so important for us at Durand. We are proud to deliver an outstanding education for our pupils, in an area with one of the highest levels of social deprivation in the UK. The freedom that academy status brings will allow us to deliver and develop a flexible curriculum to ensure that these children reach their full potential and achieve the very best. We look forward to using our academy freedoms to work with other schools to raise levels of attainment across the board.

    David Hampson, Principal of Tollbar Business and Enterprise College, Grimbsy, said:

    The benefits of becoming an academy will be enormous – less bureaucracy certainly but also more resources which we ourselves will be able to manage. We are very happy to embrace the requirement to associate ourselves with less successful schools and indeed we already have been working with a number of other schools locally and nationally, sharing our winning ways. In fact, Tollbar, as Tollbar Edge, are the sponsors of another academy which replaces a local school in special measures. We believe that we have already demonstrated our ability to run a highly successful establishment and this fantastic initiative will certainly help us to offer even more to the young people in our care.

    Dr John Marincowitz Head of the Queen Elizabeth’s School, Barnet, said:

    We are delighted with our new status as an academy. Greater autonomy brings significant beneficial opportunities. For example, greater freedom to decide the curriculum will enable Queen Elizabeth’s to secure a suitably academic curriculum that is geared more accurately to the needs of our pupils. Similarly, greater autonomy means we can now ensure that the resources and services we purchase are appropriate for the school and more closely aligned to the specific requirements of our pupils. We also look forward to bolstering the support we already provide to local schools as a specialist Training School and especially Northgate Hospital School with whom we have an established relationship.

    Helen Hyde, Head of Watford Grammar School for Girls, Hertfordshire, and President of Foundation, Aided Schools and Academies National Association (FASNA), said:

    I am very excited by the new challenges and opportunities that are created by becoming an academy. We will use the freedoms and autonomy to improve the educational provision for our students as well as form new partnerships with schools who would like to work with us both in the UK and abroad.

  • PRESS RELEASE : Pupil absence statistics for spring term 2010

    PRESS RELEASE : Pupil absence statistics for spring term 2010

    The press release issued by the Department for Education on 26 August 2010.

    Latest statistics for spring term 2010 show a decrease in overall absence rates in both primary and secondary schools compared to spring term 2009. This follows decreases in spring 2008 and spring 2009.

    Authorised absence rates decreased in both primary and secondary schools. Unauthorised absence rates increased in primary schools and decreased in secondary schools.

    Schools minister Nick Gibb said:

    The small fall in the overall absence rate in all schools, and in unauthorised absence in secondary schools, in spring term 2010 is very welcome, but the level of absenteeism in schools is still too high.

    The Government has committed to tackling the underlying causes of absenteeism, raising academic standards and ensuring every child can meet their potential, regardless of their background. It’s crucial that children are not missing out on valuable lessons that could leave them vulnerable to falling behind. We are putting in place a series of measure to raise standards of behaviour, to put head teachers and teachers back in control of the classroom, and to get tougher on parents and pupils who do not abide by the rules.

    We are also introducing the first ever pupil premium to provide additional funding for more disadvantaged pupils so that they benefit from the same opportunities as their more affluent peers. We need to ensure that all pupils have the basic skills of reading, writing and maths before they reach secondary school.

  • PRESS RELEASE : Folic acid added to flour to prevent brain and spinal conditions in foetuses

    PRESS RELEASE : Folic acid added to flour to prevent brain and spinal conditions in foetuses

    The press release issued by the Department for Health and Social Care on 1 September 2022.

    • Defra launches UK-wide consultation on the Bread and Flour Regulations on the amount of folic acid to be added to flour
    • Under the government’s proposals, pregnancies affected by neural tube defects could fall by more than a fifth

    The number of pregnancies affected by life-threatening issues such as spina bifida could fall by more than a fifth as the government moves one step closer to actively adding folic acid to non-wholemeal flour.

    Following a consultation with industry and stakeholders on whether to add folic acid to non-wholemeal flour, a public health policy which has already been successful in Australia, New Zealand and Canada, today the government is consulting on its proposal to add 250 micrograms of folic acid per 100 grams of flour.

    The proposal on the amount of folic acid to be added to flour is part of the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) consultation on the Bread and Flour Regulations, which aims to ensure the regulations are consistent with other food standards legislation.

    Neural tube defects are a rare developmental condition which occurs very early in pregnancy and affects around 1,000 pregnancies each year in the UK. This occurs when the brain, spine, or spinal cord do not develop properly in the womb and can cause life-threatening health issues.

    Women are advised to take a daily 400-microgram folic acid supplement before conceiving and up to the 12th week of pregnancy as it reduces the risk of neural tube defects affected pregnancies. However, as pregnancies may be unplanned or women in the first few weeks of pregnancy may not know they are pregnant, many women may be unaware of this recommendation.

    Adding folic acid will mean foods made with flour, such as bread, will actively help avoid around 200 neural tube defects each year – around 20% of the annual UK total.

    Defra Food Minister Victoria Prentis said:

    It is vital that we consult on this issue to understand views on all of our proposed amendments to bread and flour regulations.

    Folic acid fortification is an example of how we can ensure the public receive the nutrition we require through everyday food products.

    The government’s Bread and Flour Regulations consultation proposes adding 250 micrograms of folic acid per 100 grams of non-wholemeal flour.

    Minister for Public Health Maggie Throup said:

    Neural tube defects can have a devastating impact on life expectancy and quality of life.

    This simple step will ensure more women who might be pregnant, or who are trying to conceive, will have increased intakes of folic acid, leading to a large reduction in the number of foetuses affected by NTDs each year.

    I want to encourage anyone with an interest in this issue to participate in the consultation and help us deliver life-saving changes.

    The proposal forms part of a UK-wide consultation on the Bread and Flour Regulations which aims to support UK industry, help lead to improved public health outcomes, assist enforcement authorities and protect UK consumers. It will ensure the regulations are consistent with other food standards legislation, covering the specifications of vitamins and minerals added to foods.

    The consultation opens on Thursday 1 September and closes on Wednesday 23 November. It is open to everyone and is available here: https://consult.defra.gov.uk/food-compositional-standards/bread-and-flour-consultation-2022

  • PRESS RELEASE : Government extends Horizon Europe financial safety net

    PRESS RELEASE : Government extends Horizon Europe financial safety net

    The press release issued by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on 1 September 2022.

    • Government extends Horizon Europe guarantee scheme, protecting funding for UK researchers, businesses, and innovators
    • association to EU programmes remains the UK’s preference, with the government’s priority to maintain support for the UK’s research and development sector during ongoing period of uncertainty
    • guarantee will now be in place to cover all Horizon Europe calls that close on or before 31 December 2022

    Today (1 September 2022), the government has announced an extension to the financial support provided to Horizon Europe applicants, originally launched in November 2021. The extension will ensure that eligible, successful UK applicants will continue to be guaranteed funding, supporting them to continue their important work in research and innovation.

    The guarantee will now be in place to cover all Horizon Europe calls that close on or before 31 December 2022, with the majority of grant signature dates expected before the end of August 2023. This extension will protect and support the UK sector during the ongoing delays while we continue to encourage the EU to formalise UK association, including through the recently launched consultation process.

    Eligible, successful applicants will receive the full value of their funding at their UK host institution for the lifetime of the grant. Successful awardees will be able to remain in the UK to receive this funding, which will provide reassurance for future collaborations, and support UK researchers whether association is confirmed, or otherwise.

    The UK cannot wait indefinitely for association to EU Programmes, and in parallel to these measures, we continue to develop plans for a bold and ambitious package of alternatives. The government released a publication on 20 July setting out further detail on these plans.

  • PRESS RELEASE : Gove – Building Schools for the Future sample projects get go-ahead and further confirmation given to academies

    PRESS RELEASE : Gove – Building Schools for the Future sample projects get go-ahead and further confirmation given to academies

    The press release issued by the Department for Education on 6 August 2010.

    Education Secretary Michael Gove today announced the go-ahead for a series of new school projects. 33 local authority ‘sample’ school projects in 14 council regions will now proceed in Barking and Dagenham, Blackpool, Camden, Derby City, Ealing, Halton, Hartlepool, Hertfordshire, Lambeth, Oldham, Poole, Somerset, St Helens and Wandsworth.

    Another 119 academies – schools being given new sponsors to raise attainment for the most disadvantaged – are also intended to go ahead. Ministers have been working with sponsors to ensure they can move forward with their academies, each designed to raise standards in areas of particular need. The 44 academies at the most advanced stage in their capital planning with Partnerships for Schools will receive capital now. Capital allocations for the remaining 75 will be decided in the Spending Review. Sponsors of these academies will be working with the Department to reduce costs over the next few months.

    To ensure best value for money in school projects, the Government has begun working with major companies from the construction industry to help reduce building costs, which, alongside the independent capital review will provide a genuinely robust, efficient and fair system for future school building projects.

    As the Coalition Government has made clear, deficit reduction and continuing to ensure economic recovery is the most urgent issue facing Britain. That’s why the Government has taken the difficult decisions necessary to equip Britain for long-term success. In the long term, and following the wider capital review, the Government wants money to reach a local level quicker, so that money reaches the schools that need it the most.

    Michael Gove, Education Secretary, said:

    I’m delighted that the sample schools and academy projects are going ahead, and I hope that local authorities and schools will welcome this news. This is good news for those schools.

    I know how hard councils and schools have worked on these projects and I have been anxious to ensure we can do everything we can, in difficult economic times, to support the crucial work of raising educational standards. Planning for these projects is well advanced and we are keen they should proceed without further delay. I’m determined that we press ahead with the Academies programme and want all those schools identified as future academies to enjoy the freedoms and benefits academy status brings.

    We will also work with councils, sponsors and the construction industry to ensure we bear down on costs and bureaucracy so every new school is built in as cost-effective and efficient a way as possible, and I am delighted that they have already responded so positively to this challenge.

    Speaking today, John McDonough, of Carillion plc, said:

    The private sector welcomes the opportunity to apply its experience and skills to demonstrate how it can reduce costs and improve value for money in the delivery of public sector building projects in the future, and we look forward to sharing our knowledge and experience with the Capital Review Team.

    Tim Byles, Chief Executive of Partnerships for Schools, said:

    I am very pleased that today’s announcement means the continuation of all the Building Schools for the Future sample schemes. Schools, local authorities and the private sector have worked hard to progress these projects and this will be welcome news for communities across the country.

    Major academy sponsors also welcomed today’s announcement, saying they stand ready to take on more projects over the next few years.

    Dan Moynihan, Chief Executive of the Harris Federation, said:

    We know from direct and hard-won experience that the current method of getting new school buildings is unwieldy, over bureaucratic and too expensive. We welcome the Government’s commitment to getting better value for money from the process and we are delighted that ministers are pressing ahead with the Academies programme. Academies have a great track record in turning round under-achievement and today’s announcement means more children will benefit from the freedoms and excellence academies embody. We look forward to the programme going further and faster in the months ahead.

    Sir Ewan Harper of the United Learning Trust said:

    The Government have been working closely with us and other academy providers to raise standards and get better value for taxpayers’ money.

    We’re in a position now to go forward, giving more children in disadvantaged circumstances a better education at a faster pace than ever.

    Cllr Edward Lister, Leader of Wandsworth Council said:

    We’re delighted that all the sample schemes now have the go-ahead. The Building Schools for the Future model has forced councils to waste millions jumping though bureaucratic hoops before any building work could get underway. At Wandsworth we have some very good ideas about how to meet the challenge of ensuring value for money for the taxpayer and are looking forward to giving evidence to the review team in the weeks ahead.

    At the time of last month’s capital announcement all projects past the financial close stage of BSF were given the go-ahead to proceed, with other schools earlier in the process stopped.

    A further group of schools and academies required more detailed assessment because they were at crucial points of development.

    The sample schools, pilot projects in local authorities who have yet to commence wider building programmes, are BSF projects at an advanced stage which had not yet reached ‘financial close’.

    These discussions have been bolstered by the positive contribution made by leading construction companies, who have agreed to ensure they bear down on building costs wherever possible over the next few years.

    The Government has been clear that the end of the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme does not signal the end of new school buildings. BSF accounted for just a third of all the money spent on education capital investments. The Government is committed to ensuring there is a fairer, more effective and more efficient system for allocating capital money to schools, to best meet the need of the schools system.

    Last month the Government announced the creation of a capital review led by Sebastian James, Group Operations Director of DSG International plc, to look at all areas of the Department’s capital spending.

    The aim of the review is to ensure that future capital investment is better value for money, less bureaucratic and more cost efficient. It will give priority to schools with the greatest need and seek to address rising primary school numbers.

    Today, Sebastian James issued a call for evidence to inform his review. Views are being sought from all interested parties including schools, local authorities, construction industry and academy sponsors.

    Sebastian James said:

    I believe that there is a chance for us all to make a real difference to how hard we can make any available capital work for us, and the speed that we can change the learning environment for our children.

    I am excited to be working with a team with great experience and commitment and the views that we can harvest from this call for evidence will be extremely helpful in shaping the thinking for the future. I hope that we will see a strong response from a wide range of people.

    The call for evidence runs from 6 August to 17 September 2010 and can be accessed at the Department’s consultations website. The Capital Review Team will report to ministers in mid-September and a forward plan for capital investment over the next spending review period will be produced by the end of the calendar year.

  • PRESS RELEASE : Government welcomes the Premier League’s comments on free schools

    PRESS RELEASE : Government welcomes the Premier League’s comments on free schools

    The press release issued by the Department for Education on 4 August 2010.

    The Chief Executive of the Premier League, Richard Scudamore, said that the Premier League is looking at Michael Gove’s education reforms and could envisage the day when there is a Premier League school.

    Mr Scudamore commented:

    I can envisage the day when there is a Premier League school or perhaps a sports school in London where a number of sports get together and have a school for elite athletes, whether it be swimmers, runners, rugby players or footballers. We are working with our clubs and we are taking a look at Michael Gove’s education reforms.

    If you have an elite athlete why not work on their education? We need coaching, schools and schooling to be very closely embedded for football.

    In response to Mr Scudamore’s comments on the Government’s Free Schools policy, which will enable teachers, parents and charities to set up schools in areas where there is local need, a spokesperson for the Department said:

    We want every child to have a premier league education and would be very happy to talk to the Premier League about setting up schools in communities across the country, where there is a local need.

    We would be delighted if they joined the hundreds of passionate and talented groups that care about raising standards for all children and are interested in setting up new schools.

    Football clubs are already linked to a number of academies across England:

    Watford Football Club is linked to the Harefield Academy. The sponsors are all former directors of Watford Football Club and the academy is also home to the Watford Football Club academy for young players. This means the talented youngsters have a sound education and all the students at the school benefit from world-class football coaching.

    Bristol City Football Club is linked to the City Academy, Bristol, which specialises in sport and is sponsored by John Laycock, former Chairman of Bristol City Football Club. The City Academy, Bristol, is also the home of Bristol City Football Club. Together the partnership has made enormous strides in raising the attainment of young people.

    Reading Football Club is linked to the John Madejski Academy Reading. The lead sponsor is John Madejski, Chairman of Reading Football Club. Its specialism is sport and the delivery of the whole curriculum is underpinned by a sporting ethos of participation, motivation, aspiration and achievement. In partnership with Reading Football Club, the Sixth Form offers a unique opportunity for elite footballers.

    Free schools will enjoy the same freedoms as these and other academies, which are publicly funded independent schools, free from local and central government control. Other freedoms include setting their own pay and conditions for staff, freedom from following the National Curriculum and the ability to change the lengths of their terms and school days. All Free Schools will have to comply with the admissions code that governs all publicly funded schools.

    Ministers welcome applications for Free Schools from a diverse range of groups.

  • PRESS RELEASE : Call for evidence for the review of the early years foundation stage

    PRESS RELEASE : Call for evidence for the review of the early years foundation stage

    The press release issued by the Department for Education on 2 August 2010.

    Dame Clare Tickell is today launching a call for evidence to inform her independent review of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). Announced on 6 July 2010, the EYFS review is looking at how best to protect young children’s safety and welfare and support their development and learning.

    Speaking about the call for evidence Dame Clare said:

    I hope those with a passion for Early Years education take the opportunity to respond to this call for evidence. I want to hear from parents, professionals, carers and other Early Years experts about their experiences and views on the EYFS. I particularly want to hear from those who are delivering the EYFS on a regular basis and can advise on where we could make improvements. These views will help shape the future of the EYFS and will be invaluable in helping me to identify the best parts of the EYFS, as well as the parts that may have to change. I look forward to hearing from you.

    The review will cover four main areas:

    scope of regulation – whether there should be one single framework for all Early Years providers
    learning and development – looking at the latest evidence about children’s development and what is needed to give them the best start at school
    assessment – whether young children’s development should be formally assessed at a certain age, and what this should cover
    welfare – the minimum standards to keep children safe and support their healthy development.
    The call for evidence runs from 2 August to 30 September 2010 and can be accessed on the Department’s consultations website.

    Dame Clare will provide a final report on the EYFS review in spring 2011. The Government will then consult on any proposed changes before they take effect from September 2012.