26 October 2005
The Prime Minister sent the following email to education subscribers to the Downing Street website on the day the latest White Paper was launched.
Read the Prime Minister’s email
Dear subscriber,
I am writing to you because I know you are interested in education. And like you, I believe nothing is more important for the future of our country than providing all our children with a high-quality education that allows them to make the most of their talents and potential.
We have, I know, a long way to go until this ambition is met. But as the latest Ofsted report (Ofsted welcomes ‘encouraging picture’ in schools) has underlined, there has been substantial progress over the last eight years.
We have the best ever primary, GCSE and A-level results with the fastest improvements in our inner-cities (PM welcomes biggest rise in GCSE results in over a decade) . I visited two such schools last week, in London (PM praise for South London School) and in Birmingham (PM pays tribute to ‘incredible’ Midlands school) both of which have shown great progress.
Record numbers of young people are going onto higher education. There are over 30,000 extra teachers in our schools supported by 130,000 more classroom assistants. The standards of teaching and the leadership of our schools are improving steadily. Record and sustained investment has transformed school buildings in every community. There are far fewer failing schools and far more high-performing schools, according to Ofsted.
All of this shows our country’s school system is moving in the right direction. It is not much use, however, to parents if they are forced to send their child to a failing school. So I know there are many challenges ahead. We must do better tackling the pockets of deep educational disadvantage: do better in lifting schools from average to good and do better in enabling good schools to become centres of excellence.
In a speech that I made on Monday and in the education White Paper on Tuesday, the government set out how we intended to meet these challenges. Our proposals build on the strong foundations and the lessons learnt from, for example, the success of Specialist Schools and academies and the widening of choice for parents and freedom for good schools to continue improving.
You can read a summary of my speech on my website (PM reflects on ‘pivotal moment’ for education), or the full version (Speech on education at 10 Downing Street).
The White Paper is available on www.dfes.gov.uk if you want more information. I hope it shows that the government is determined to improve education for all our children.
Yours ever
Tony Blair
Visit the new education section on the Downing Street website
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