We have a great chance to ensure every young person can attend a good school

Last updated 16:17, Monday, 26 May 2008

In some parts of the country, notably London and the South East, parents have been planning how to get their child into a ‘good’ secondary school ever since it was born.

This can involve moving house or becoming a dedicated attendee of a local church.

In Carlisle this has never been a problem.

Whilst estate agents will tell you that some areas are more popular because of the schools, most people have made their choice and that’s it.

This is because there has been lots of room in our schools. Some have been quite full and others very empty, and this is because overall we have had so many ‘surplus places’, or empty desks and classrooms in our secondary schools.

Most people know these empty places cost money. During the recent school reorganisation consultation on secondary education in Carlisle, much was made of this.

We are spending money on empty buildings which should be spent on the education of the young people. The Government criticised Cumbria County Council a while ago for exactly this.

But there is another more important issue. When there are spaces parents have lots of choice. They send their children to schools way out of their local area. If, that is, they have the financial means to do so, and if they really value education. So those children who remain tend to be from more deprived backgrounds and lack home support for their education.

Bluntly, we allowed a two-tier system to evolve. And no-one in Carlisle was under any illusions about which were the ‘best’ schools and which were the ones to avoid. There are grammar schools in some parts of the country. Recently there has been a move by some politicians and ‘think tanks’ to reintroduce them.

Grammar schools evidently provided the wonderful chance for bright working class young people to go to university and become a doctor, lawyer or MP.

Of course they were mainly populated by the children of the middle classes while most other children went to the secondary modern down the road.

This was a two-tier system by Act of Parliament, but with a similar result to the one we have in Carlisle.

Some ‘working class’ children did go to grammar schools, when their parents were prepared to make financial sacrifices, and when they really valued education.

Over the next few years the number of surplus places in Carlisle secondary schools will drop sharply as new buildings go up with less capacity than before.

It all begins now as schools, looking to the future size of their buildings, cut back their admission numbers.

Parents are understandably concerned when they are offered a place for their child in a school they see as unpopular and less effective.

There will be appeals against admissions decisions, and a lot of anxiety about the change, especially if children have to go to a different school than some of their friends or family have attended.

But the schools in which they have been offered places will be new schools and not like the ones they will replace. There will be a different mix of pupils in them and a new approach to teaching, learning and support for young people. And within two years there will be new buildings with superb facilities and equipment.

These will be places where good young teachers want to teach and where pupils want to learn.

Change is difficult. At the moment we are going through the most challenging time.

It’s important that the new schools do well straightaway and that the difference is felt from September.

The chance is there to reinvent secondary education in Carlisle so that every school is a good one and every young person has the opportunity to go to one.