Frank Field: My objective is for young people's needs to triumph

Apr 20 2011 Birkenhead News

THE MAJORITY of young people in Birkenhead are only going to lead more fulfilling lives if schools in the town can help improve their performance.

But there are challenges.

Chairing the new Academy gives me a chance to help this revolution.

Before the Academy open- ed I argued for a new build.

If Wirral's chief officers had performed in their duties we would have gained two new buildings. Their failure to get even one led me to call for their sackings.

Worse still, there aren’t enough 11 to 16-year-olds to run our existing schools as they are.

How can we work together to protect all our schools until the numbers of young people rise in 2015? This is one of the aims of the meetings I now have with all Birkenhead schools.

We're going to have to think outside the box if there are to be no more secondary school closures. Will the reactionary forces in education win, with more job losses as a result?

My objective is for young people's needs to triumph.

The Academy is aiming to plan for the very best education for all our pupils.

Steve McMahon, the Academy's head, and I will announce in stages our route march to our official opening in September.

We will need to change the current Education Bill so that we have the power to genuinely craft the 11 to 18 syllabus around each pupil.