Warning of cuts threat to improved exam results in Islington
Published: 8 October, 2010
by TERRY MESSENGER
ISLINGTON, once a by-word for educational failure, can now claim 74 per cent of children achieving five or more A-C grade GCSE passes.
That was the proud boast of Islington Council Labour leader Councillor Catherine West to her party conference in Manchester last week. The dramatic rise in standards follows a doubling of the amount spent per pupil under the Labour government, she told delegates.
But she warned that progress is threatened by looming spending reductions and the misguided policies of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition. “After 13 years of progress towards better education, we now face a government that puts ideology before common sense,” she argued.
Free schools, set up by parents dissatisfied with existing institutions, would “reward the sharp elbowed” by “sucking resources and the brightest children out of the local state system”, she said.
Cllr West said the scrapping of the Building Schools for the Future programme would have hit Islington but for the fact the borough’s £130million improvements plan was too far advanced.
“The Tory-Lib Dem emergency budget saw millions slashed from our children’s service,” she said. “With further cuts coming from this government, we know they want to undermine services. But we will keep our focus on excellence and we’ll let our families know that a Labour council will always stand up for education.”