Lib Dems criticise decline in Suffolk Education standards since Conservatives came to power

8.15.00pm GMT Mon 4th Jan 2010

At a meeting of next week's Cabinet Suffolk County Councillors will hear that GCSE results have fallen behind the national average since the Conservatives took over the running of schools in the County.

Commenting on the findings Lib Dem Education Spokesperson Councillor Penny Otton said "I am very sad to see that after so many years of progress when the Liberal Democrats were involved in running the council, Suffolk's results have now been below the national average at GCSE level for the last 3 years under the Conservatives."

Mrs. Otton added "The Conservatives seem to have focused most of their efforts on abolishing Middle Schools when they should have been directing their attention to deprived areas. There is a huge gap in educational achievement for children in less well off families. The five worst performing secondary schools in Suffolk are all in deprived areas. Three are within the two tier education system in Ipswich and Felixstowe. The other two poorly performing schools are in the three tier areas of Haverhill and Lowestoft. This shows that poor performance is more to do with deprivation than school structure."

Lib Dem group leader Kathy Pollard commented "This report makes very depressing reading. Liberal Democrats have opposed the closure of Middle Schools as we knew that it was the areas of deprivation in the County that needed attention rather than the schooling structure. Some of the best performing schools in the County are in 3 tier areas and the Cabinet paper states that the outcomes for primary schools in the two tier system have dropped a greater amount than those in the three tier system."

"By concentrating all their efforts on changing the school structure we feel the Conservatives have taken their eye off the ball. They now need to concentrate on measures to improve performance in all schools as they are failing the County's children."

See below quotes from the paper:

p. 42 para 19 The most important performance measure, the percentage of children gaining the expected level (Level 4+) in both English and mathematics fell by 3% from 69% in 2008 to 66% and is well below the national average.

p. 43 para 30 At Key Stage 4, 51% of students not taking free school meals gained 5 or more GCSE grades A* to C including English and mathematics. For students taking free school meals this was achieved by 23% giving a gap of 28%.

p. 65 para 24 At Key Stage 2, the gap between schools in the two-tier and three-tier system has remained broadly the same for English and English and maths combined. The gap for maths has narrowed. The outcomes for primary schools in the two-tier system have dropped by a greater amount than those in the three-tier system.