The Post has a good article today on the discussions at the Council's Education Scrutiny panel on the performance of our primary schools.
The figures under discussion were the "Attainment results", which highlight youngsters' performance at different ages in Maths, English and Science. In the figures, Reading was compared to eleven statistically similar boroughs and did not place above seventh in any category for primary school pupils. Although progress has been made, it was below the national average on almost every measure.
As I said at the meeting, I think primary education is one of the key ways we break the endemic poverty in Reading. In a town with supposed 100 per cent employment, and in the top ten in terms of economic performance, we still have families that have been on benefits for two or even three generations.
We must give Reading's children the best start in life. The primary schools in our town must get the resources they need, the teachers they need, and must be able to share good practice. Although our children work hard to catch up later on, we should not allow them to get behind in the first place.
It's only through education that today's children will get a share in what we must hope will be a vibrant economic future.
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