After years of campaigning... finally launching Teach First in Bristol!

I was a bit humbled to be asked to speak at the launch of Teach First in Bristol.

I've learnt in politics that it pays to bang on. and on. and on. and if you're in doubt, bang on again...

Back in 2008, I submitted a report to the organisation Teach First,  which selects high-flying graduates and trains them as teachers to go into the most challenging schools in the country.

I'd seen the amazing effect Teach First had in London and other areas and being a bit pushy for Bristol, wanted Bristol to have some of the action. So I wrote a short report outlining the challenges Bristol's schools faced, and why we needed Teach First to come to Bristol.

To my amazement, they didn't tell me simply to bog off. They told me it was difficult. They'd have to get it right - that expanding without diluting the quality of the offering was important. Lots of things. So meetings ensued and I got people from Teach First to come to Bristol, we set up meetings and got Teach First to meet with some movers and shakers in Bristol's educational world.

Now, around five years down the line, thanks very largely to the superb work of Catherine Hughes, head of St. Bede's School in Lawrence Weston, Teach First has finally come to Bristol and had it's launch event on 16th May.  It was an amazing event for several reasons;  First, it hopefully heralds an exciting time in Bristol education ; second it was the fulfilment of so much work from so many people like Catherine Hughes, and finally, it was a heartening demonstration that if you persist , sometimes things really do work out.

I met an inspiring and superb set of Teach First teachers that evening. I'm so excited they're coming to our Bristol Schools, and wish everyone the very best!

 As ever, more info on my website!

Towards a royal college of teaching?!

I've put together a booklet on the idea of a 'Royal College of Teaching'. Get involved and tell us what you think!

As the daughter of a surgeon, I suppose I've been brought up with a developed sense of just how much the professionalism of people like doctors and teachers matter to our public services. It is easy for politicians to forget that the success of schools and hospitals is not ultimately down to Whitehall Mandarins, officials and politicians, but the doctors, nurses and teachers who work in hospitals and schools, and other public services.

One of my favourite Conservative thinkers and poet, T.S. Eliot wisely warns against trying to 'devise systems so perfect that nobody will need to be good'.   I'm a conservative because I believe in systems that enable people to be good; that bring the best out of people and encourage them to take personal responsibility for themselves, and their professional excellence; not a top-down bureaucracy dreamt up by someone with a swanky degree in a stuffy room in Westminster or Whitehall, and aggressively micro-managed to the coal-face through a series of people with lots of management qualifications but no real life experience of the thing they are supposed to be managing.  Our NHS isn't  a system, it's the people who work in hospitals. Our schools are our teachers.

I was always grateful that it wasn't politicians who told my dad how best to perform a surgical operation, but that the Royal College of Surgeons, as a body of doctors set the standards of what good surgery looked like, was the body that promoted and protected those standards. But that's not the case in education. Over decades the state has steadily encroached into the classroom. I think it's time for teachers to regain ownership and responsibility for their profession and professional excellence.  ( I've written a bit more at length in the Telegraph HERE)

So I've put together, with teachers and professionals, a pamphlet comprising views from all sorts of people within the education profession, (including all the Unions) and from other professionals who have a professional body like engineers and medics, to discuss what " A Royal College of Teaching" might look like; potential pit-falls and other ideas.  We launched it last night at the Royal College of Surgeons and I was really proud to have  Norman, from Brightstowe Academy ( the most improved school in the country last year) speaking at the event!

 We really want to get feedback so if you're interested, please contact me and I can send you a copy, or its available online at www.tdtrust.org.uk/rcot   . There's a feedback page and we'd really welcome thoughts.

The irony of all this is , of course, that such an idea cannot come from a politician like me, but from the teachers and teaching profession itself, and if teachers don't want it, it will never happen. So please, if you are a teacher and have opinions, thoughts on this, get involved!

 There's also a bit more information on my website.

Rookie mess-ups!

It can be quite intimidating for a newbie, Parliament. The air is thick with protocol, and written and unwritten rules. The potential for messing up is gloriously huge.

On Wednesday, I did my first Westminster Hall debate (on Local Education Partnerships, (LEPs) based on the issues I'd seen with them in relation to academies and Elmlea School.)

Hansard records mess-ups beautifully - and I thought you might like to see Hansard's version of one of mine...!

21 July 2010 : Column 140WH
Local Education Partnerships
4.44 pm

Charlotte Leslie (Bristol North West) (Con): Thank you, Mr Speaker. This is my first Westminster Hall debate, so if I mess up the protocol-

Mr James Gray (in the Chair): You addressed me as Mr Speaker, which is flattering, but incorrect. I am not yet the Speaker. Mr Gray is perfectly sufficient.

Charlotte Leslie: Thank you, Mr Gray. That was my first mess-up.

Stoke Lodge Adult Learning Centre Open Day ( or, 'the near death of a parliamentary career')

My parliamentary career very nearly took a turn for the worse today as I almost enrolled upon a French Speaking course, a course in wine-tasting, painting, life-sculpture and a cake-decorating course after some moments of extreme enthusiasm at Stoke Lodge Adult Learning Centre's open-day.

I was shown around the centre, which had on show exhibitions from a number of its varied adult learning courses.

I saw some really impressive pieces of work, saw work from people who started off as a hobby, who are well on their way to making a career out of their skill, and I also saw how adult learning courses like this can be a gateway to further education for those initially a bit intimidated by the formality of an F.E course.

I had also not previously appreciated how the courses take place across Bristol, from St. Pauls to The Greenway Centre in Southmead - it was fantastic to see the talent of local people from across Bristol under one roof - thanks to the organisers, and congratulations to all the contributers. Your work almost inspired me to drift from my parliamentary focus and pick up paint brushes and old french books!

Maiden no-longer

I only just found my maiden speech on youtube... here it is for the benefit of anyone who wasn't, er, sitting glued to the Parliament channel...

Henbury Students' community funday sets the standard!

Here I am with the "BS10 Big It Up" crew, at the superb Henbury Community School Funday, organised entirely by Henbury Students. Now one thing about being a candidate or an MP is that you get to go to a lot, and I mean A LOT of events and fairs. And I can honestly say I have never been to one better organised than this one organised by Henbury School Pupils.



There was food cooked by Henbury school pupils, with the help of the indefatigable ( and looking quite hot) Nick Merrick ; ( There was home-cooked curry as well as fat burgers and sausages), and entertainment and performances by Henbury School pupils.

I managed to get ice-cream all over my face and go berserk on the brick-a-brack stall which was selling off old videos for 10p a go. I spent a humongous £1.10 - and have a large bag of videos I intend to watch at some undetermined point. ( Including an old video of Dangermouse! for 10p! How can you say no to that?!)

Head-boy Ryan told me they'd been working to organise this since before Christmas, and having been behind some event organising myself, I know that something that seemingly flows as smoothly as today requires months and months of preparation. I was just delighted for the pupils that the one thing that couldn't be pre-planned came up trumps :- It was gorgeous weather.

Education Select Committee!

I've just found out I've been elected onto the Education Select Committee! For the first time, Select Committee places have not been determined by the Whips, but by an election amongst the other MPs in the party. I put myself forward for education because of my interest in it, both generally as the area which really dictates life chances, but also because there is so much happening in education here in Bristol; I thought it would be brilliant to be at the heart of things as policy is developed.


I didn't expect to get elected onto the Education Select Committee, but am delighted that I have. What is interesting, is that there is a huge number of new intake MPs elected onto Select Committees- and some really talented new people involved, -There's too many to list here, (and I'd probably mess up by missing someone off!) - but they include people with really valuable experience -including two GPs, which is great.


The great thing about Select Committees is that it is where MPs put aside their party political differences and all come together to work constructively on something. That's my kind of politics. I've always said, if I was into tribalism, I'd have got more into football, not politics!



And on that note, of football and work, I thought I'd share my latest office set-up with you. You can just see the England flag which was waving with gusto yesterday, behind me, and my desk is still relatively clear of stuff. There is suddenly a huge amount of work to do - so I wonder how long that will last...

Elmlea's Fair Field...

This year, the annual Elmlea School Fair had an added significance. If the Council go ahead with possible plans, it could be the last ever Elmlea Fair to be held on the existing playing field.

The Infant school is in real need of rebuilding and improvement and the Council are looking at rebuilding it on the existing playing field, and using the infant school site as the new playing field.

Anyone who knows the site will know that there will, in effect, be a significant loss of playing field land ( I'm sure some clever people are able to re-categorise things to show that there is no loss of land whatsoever, but back here in Real World, it is fairly obvious that there would be a very significant loss of playing field site.)

Let's just hope the Council see sense, think long term, and preserve this wonderful playing field for the future of the children currently at infant school, and for generations of children, and Elmlea Fairs, to come.

Academy conference in Bristol

--I spent this morning at an academy conference, organised by the Merchant Venturers ( who sponsor two very different academies- the Merchants Academy at the old, seriously challenged Withywood School, and Colstons Girls school, an independent becoming an academy.)

Bristol's education situation ( i.e. not good) has meant that it has been a focus for the academy programme, and the city now has 8 academies up and running. Huge amounts of energy, effort, innovation and talent have gone into determining that these academies are a success. I've so far visited the City Academy , Bristol, Merchants Academy, and new Colstons Girls academy and have already blogged about the opening of Brightstowe academy. The thing all these schools have in common is a determination from the sponsors and the heads to make things work, regardless of what has gone before.

Shadow Schools Minister, Nick Gibb (in the middle of me and Trevor Smallwood, the master of the Merchant Venturers) came down to talk about Conservative policy towards academies, to give the sponsors some idea of what they might expect under a Conservative Government. Nick described some of the ways a Conservative Government would halt the erosion of the academy concept by the Brownites ( who always hated Tony Blair's reforms) and return academies to the original model -(which was an idea based on Conservatives' City Technology Colleges) as well as allow primary schools to become academies. Sponsors gave feedback and, most valuably , their perspective on what makes a good school, and what politicians can do to support their efforts.

It was a fascinating day. I have often felt that one of the problems with politics is that policy makers often don't get enough input from the real world, people who live and work in eg. education; and that too much policy is made on bureaucratic theory. Today was a feast of information, experience and expertise for anyone thinking about the future of education - of the city and of the nation.

No to Henleaze School Amalgamation!

Thanks to the intense lobbying, and gathering of petition signatures, local campaigners, headed by Liz Radford (pictured) have managed to get a halt on the proposed amalgamation of Henleaze infant and primary school.

The halt is a triumph for parent power - a campaign run by parents, for parents - and with success.

However, an amalgamation is not completely off the cards - this is simply a delay to the decision. I'll be supporting parents in their campaign when decision time comes.

Lockleaze Primary - bringing Lockleaze together

One of the memories that sticks out for me as a child was being taken to what was then called a "Rumpus Room". I faintly recall the one my parents took me to was somewhere in Bristol and was called "Mr. B's". Does this ring any bells with readers?

It was amazing. You could throw yourself about all over the place and jump around a padded room a lot with a load of padded big objects. Which, for some reason when you're anywhere between 3 and 8 years old, is virtually heaven. I remember pestering incessantly to go to Mr.B's which attained almost mythological status in my 5-year old eyes.

So it was with those memories in mind, that I visited Lockleaze Primary School and their new soft-play area. They described how successful the soft-play area has been and told me of their ambitious, but hugely exciting plans to create a soft-play cafe, in the school grounds.

The whole idea of the cafe would be to provide somewhere for children and young parents to come and have fun and socialise - whether by jumping around in a padded environment with colourful toys, ( the children) or having a nice cup of coffee and a chat while the children let off steam. It would continue the work (already successfully underway) by the school to become a real heart of the community, instead of simply a school building open from 9am-4pm. And it would also become a base for other services to come and meet parents ( eg. advisory services, support services etc) instead of parents having to go to find them.

The Head teacher, Gareth Simons, has already begun transforming the school. I look forward to watching progress and supporting wherever I can in the future!

Bright Future for Shirehampton's new academy!

Today Carrie and David Grant, of Fame Academy - er, fame - helped open the new Brightstowe Academy, sponsored by The Oasis Trust.

For anyone who hasn't been following the progress - Brightstowe is the new Academy that has replaced Portway School. There was an incredible sense of optimism which pervaded the entire event. But as the Steve Chalke, who runs The Oasis Trust, pointed out - dreams and optimism are not enough. You need determination and action to turn your dream to a reality.

And if reports from the parents and pupils I have spoken to are anything to go by, that action has already started. I sat next to parents of a boy in year 8 during the presentations, and they commented on how the new system of dividing the school into houses was working to unite the school in healthy competition.

I also spoke to Courtney, who was celebrating her 13th birthday and guided me round the new school. She told me how the place simply felt different, and what a difference having classroooms of new, fast computers and a good science lab makes. But, as you can hear from Carrie and David, it's not simply a question of throwing money at the place. It's about inspiring each one of the pupils to achieve their best.

And the school is immensely lucky to have Julie Winterman continuing as head teacher - providing an invaluable sense of stability and experience.

Over the past years, Shirehampton has been stripped of so many of its facilities. It was heartening to see such drive and determination to succeed focussed on Shire and Avonmouth. At end of the event, we all went outside to let fly hundreds of biodegradable balloons into the sky - and I think all of us were hoping for a soaringly successful future for Brightstowe. With a team like that in place, ready to work hard to thrive, there is every sign that the new academy really will fly high.

The sky's the limit for Brightstowe Academy...

SEN: The truth about Inclusion

You may have recently read in the The Observer (National) or the Daily Telegraph about a report I co-authored for The Bow Group on Special Educational Needs and inclusion. I looked at the results for children educated in mainstream schools, and the results were shocking. Whilst inclusion is right for some children with SEN, under the current system, Inclusion for many actually means exclusion.

The report found that children on the 'School Action Plus' scheme ( for children who would previously have been likely to have statements before the Government started pushing to reduce statementing) are twice as likely to truant as any other children with SEN, and a FIFTH of them are persistent truants.

When it comes to exlcusions, although children with SEN make up just 17% of the school population, they account for 67% of all expulsions.
And for the first time, in secondary schools over half of all suspensions were of children with SEN.

When it came into power, the Labour Government pushed for a reduction in statementing, and accordingly, statements fell by a third. Even assessments for statements fell by a third so many children didn't have the chance to find out whether they were eligible for statements. Special schools were strangulated and we have lost 9000 special school places since 1997.

One of the Government's ideas, set out in the 'Inclusive Schooling' document in 2001, was to put children with SEN into Pupil Referral Units, (PRUs), to keep pupils in mainstream schooling, or instead of special schools. Accordingly, numbers of SEN pupils in PRUs has rocketed by 70% since 1997.

What a mistake. In it's last annual report, (para. 290) Ofsted found that PRUs were the worst place for children with SEN, and no substitute for a special school. No wonder. Over half of all pupils are suspended from PRUs, and 3/4 of those are children with SEN.

Of all children with SEN who go to PRUs, two thirds end up suspended.

This is the alarming result of the Government's 'Inclusion' policy. We all believe in inclusion, but inclusion must be judged not by which building a child is educated in, but by the standard of education and life they receive. And on that measure, the Government's inclusion policy has failed.

Speaking at Conference

I don't know if anyone heard Iain Duncan Smith's speech at the Conference about fixing social breakdown? It was nothing short of inspired. I had the unenviable task of following on from that speech, with a speech of my own from the floor.

I spoke about boys - how the under-achievement of our young men is one of the main underlying factors behind the so-called 'broken society'. Over a quarter of boys don't get a single good GCSE, a fifth of them will have a reading age of half their years by the time they are 14, 80% of all expusions are of boys- and they will make up some of the 30,000 children who don't even get to take their GCSEs in an average year.

I called for a real technical, practical, manual curriculum for those who want it, so they can access good levels of literacy and numeracy through more hands-on means. I called for an unwrapping of the cotton-wool culture of health and safety from our school, I called for real competition to be allowed on the sports field and in the classroom.

I also pointed out the good work that Avonmouth National Smelting Boxing Club does in providing an alternative to hanging around on the street for young men in Bristol. I told the Conference they are in need of funds to expand - so let's hope that there were some rich donors in the audience who had not fallen asleep by the end of my speech...

No News is bad news

Hold onto your hats. I've got news for you. News that might change the way you think forever... are you ready? Brace yourself, new studies out today show that:

1. Lots of e-numbers make children hyperactive.

2. Lots and lots of booze when you're a teenager is no good for you and lands you in with the wrong crowd.

Phew. I know. Earth shattering isn't it? What's so amazing about the two sets of headlines today (and most of today's papers carry the additives and e-numbers story on their front page) is that surely it is common sense? Or at least if not common-sense, old news?

I remember my mum whittering on about the dangers of e-numbers ( I wasn't entirely sure what they were) when I was about ten. ( As a result, my first major act of rebellion when I went to university was to go to the newsagents and buy a large bag of bright blue penny sweets and eat them before lunch.)

Surely consuming huge amounts of alcohol when you're 13 indicates that something is not quite right at home and your mates are probably not the best influence on you, and all that home-brewed Snake-bite will inevitably do some pretty hefty liver damage?

But in an age of information over-load, it seems that we can't realise something is the truth until we have some statistics. Parents and teachers could have told you that fizzy drinks and booze is bad for kids years ago. ( I have visited a school for disengaged boys where banning fizzy drinks and giving the boys bottled water in lessons to suck on improved behaviour dramatically.) But now we need a 'report' to prove it.

Of course policy should not be decided on superstitious whim, or fashion fad. Of course in-depth reports are important. Of course policy should be based on evidence. But today's headlines are not a sign of an evidence-based society, they are a sign of a statistics-based society. ( And we all know the old adage about lies, lies and damned statistics.) This time, the statistics paint a picture of the truth. But it is truth we should have known long ago. The real news to shock you is that all this should be news at all.

Lost Boys

Trevor Phillips today highlighted the problems of youth crime and the prevalence of violence amongst black males. He reported that 12% of the prison population are black, compared with 2% of the general population, and discussed issues like family breakdown and educational under achievement that make up the vicious spiral to a life of crime.

Last week the Bow Group published research on the underachievment of boys at school, by Chris Skidmore, on which I wrote a comment piece in the Telegraph. (Read my opinion piece here) The findings are shocking:

It demonstrates the challenge we face in engaging all our boys in education. Over a quarter of all boys don't get a single good GCSE, a fifth of boys aged 14 have a reading age of half their years, and just 36% of boys stay on to take A levels, compared with 44% of girls.

But it is when it comes to the discipline statistics that you begin to see why youth crime is such a problem amongst young men. In the latest exclusion figures, boys accounted for around three quarters of all suspensions and expulsion, and over half of all permanent exclusions were of boys between 12-14 years old.

The report also showed that on the free-school-meals measure at least, white males on free school meals face some of the greatest challenges at school: Of all white boys eligible for free school meals, only 37% get the expected level at Key Stage 3 English, compared with 57% of girls. And on this measure, 46% of black boys on FSM and 50% of Asian boys on FSM reach the expected standard in KS3.

Trevor Phillip's report is timely and important. Youth crime is one of the most worrying issues facing us today. Educational achievement, crime and life-chances are all integrally connected, and at the moment, boys and young men at school, from across the ethnic spectrum, are losing out because they are not engaged with the kind of education we are offering. A more practically engaged curriculum which is less wrapped up in cotton wool, more competitive sport and a less politically correct environment that says competition is a dirty word are the kind of changes we should be looking at.

Safer Routes for Schools for...

Read about the Conservatives' campaign for Safer Routes for Schools in the Evening Post by clicking here!

When was the closest you came to getting run-over? Most people have had at least one near miss- the moment when your mind has been wandering and a vehicle whisks past your nose, or knocks the back of your bag. Then you can't help but think of the terrible sequence of ifs. IF you had been one inch more off the curb. IF the vehicle had come a second earlier... The last time that happened to me was when I was on my way to Westbury-On-Trym School's 'Red Squirrel Day'. Anyone who has been to Westbury-on-Trym Church of England School knows that you are taking your life in your hands if you go at drop-off or pick-up time. But amazingly, earlier in the year, the Council retracted on its promise to give the school funding for the 'Safer Routes to School' programme. The reasons why beggar belief:

More than 2,000 children died on British roads last year, while around 100 children in Bristol were injured or killed on the roads in the same period. What were the Council waiting for?!

1. That the school had been so successful in encouraging parents not to take their cars to the school gates that it was no longer necessary. ( you only have to go there at pick up time to see that's not quite true! said the Head to me)

2. That it was too expensive. Despite the fact the school had requested cheaper measures than the Council originally insisted on being put in place before they retracted the offer.

3. That it was not necessary because no children had yet been injured! More than 2,000 children died on British roads last year, while around 100 children in Bristol were injured or killed on the roads in the same period. What were the Council waiting for?!

You may have heard my interview on Original FM, supporting Conservative Councillor Geoff Gollop's petition to the Council meeting on 24th July. The petition received huge support and I am pleased that the Council took Geoff's petition seriously and is referring the matter for further investigation.

The School had originally requested quite modest traffic calming measures to put in place, but the Council had instead insisted on a more expensive version, which it later said would break the bank. Hopefully now they will at least let the school have the modest traffic calming measures it said it originally wanted. Before a near miss becomes a tragedy.