Chuka Umunna MP

In this video, Chuka discusses Labour’s delivery for children and families in the Streatham constituency outside Sunnyhill School and Children’s Centre, of which he is a governor.

Last month, the Prime Minister and Ed Balls visited Streatham to open the country’s 3,500th centre.

To find out more about the Sure Start programme and the difference it has made locally, follow this link.

School building projects at four local schools could face the axe if the Conservatives win power, it has emerged this week.

Shadow schools minister Nick Gibb has admitted that under a Conservative government, only school building schemes at the ‘financial close’ stage of development would be guaranteed funding.

This would mean that over 750 school building projects across the country could be scrapped, which would include planned developments at St Martin in the Fields, Dunraven, La Retraite and Bishop Thomas Grant schools.

Lambeth has benefitted from more than £280 million in educational funding through the government’s Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme. The money is being used to expand school places, provide new state of the art classrooms and learning environments and facilities for students.

Last year, an innovative and environmentally-sustainable new sports hall at Dunraven School built with former shipping containers and funded through the BSF programme was opened.

Chuka Umunna, Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Streatham said: “The Conservatives refuse to guarantee our programme of improving school buildings in this constituency which is deeply concerning.

“Schools in our area have been transformed since I went to school here myself in the 1980s and our excellent new school buildings and facilities have played a major part in this. If we are to provide the best education for our children, this investment must continue.”

Ed Balls said: “This revelation means hundreds of new school buildings right across the country face the axe if the Tories win the election.

“It’s particularly shocking that even building projects which are already a long way down the track could be cancelled by the Conservatives in just a matter of weeks.”

Labour is expanding the number of school places for local children.

An extra 300 reception class places will be made available across Lambeth over the next three years after the council received £9 million from the government to boost school places – part of a major investment programme helping local authorities under pressure from increases in school numbers.

Classrooms are being created at the most popular schools to meet short-term demand, including Jubilee, Hitherfield, Crown Lane and Immanuel and St Andrew schools.

The Woodfield Centre in Dingley Lame, an unoccupied former special school, is being converted to provide an extra 420 primary school places by 2016. It will operate as a federation with thriving Henry Cavendish Primary School.

In our manifesto, Labour is pledging:

• A choice of good schools for parents in every area.

• An expansion in out-of-hours provision at primary schools, so that childcare and activities are available from 8am to 6pm at a local school for all parents.

• To extend free school meals so that an extra half a million primary school children from low-income households can benefit.

In the above video, Chuka speaks about the upcoming election campaign outside Lambeth Academy – a school which opened in 2004 with state of the art new buildings.

This was shortly after the Prime Minister went to the Queen to dissolve Parliament and officially call the General Election, which will take place on Thursday May 6th.

Across the Streatham Constituency, we have 60 more primary school teachers and 110 more secondary teachers than in 1997, while the number of young people going to university has gone up by 81 per cent. Lambeth has also benefitted from £280 million of funding through the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme.

To find out more about Chuka’s priorities and pleadges, follow this link.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown visited Hitherfield Primary School and Children’s Centre in Streatham yesterday to open Britain’s 3,500th Sure Start Centre, accompanied by Health Secretary Andy Burnham and Children, Schools and Families Secretary Ed Balls.

The Sure Start centre is the tenth to have been opened across the Streatham parliamentary constituency, providing childcare, parenting advice, healthcare, family support and helping parents get back into work or training.

By coincidence, Chuka Umunna, Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate for Streatham, attended Hitherfield nursery in his early years.

The Prime Minister used his visit to Hitherfield to launch new plans to boost childcare and maternity care. The measures include providing expectant parents with a named contact at a local Sure Start Children’s Centre and appointing a panel of specialists to advise on food in nurseries.

He also announced a boost in free childcare for three and four year-olds, increasing to 15 hours per week, as well as a consultation on giving pregnant mothers an assessment of health and social care needs, risks and choices by the twelfth week of pregnancy.

Commenting, Mr Umunna said: “As a governor of Sunnyhill Children’s Centre and speaking to parents on the doorstep, I know the real difference which Sure Start Centres make for families locally.

“As well as ensuring children get the best start in life, the centres help support parents’ aspirations through training and employment.

“I am immensely proud of our ten Sure Start Children’s Centres and that the Prime Minister came to Streatham to open the country’s 3,500th centre. This is an incredible achievement considering that in 1997, there were no Sure Start Centres at all.”

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: “Over the last 10 years we’ve been building children centres in every community. It’s the revolution that we started 10 years ago with children centres spreading to the whole of the country.

Congratulations to Lambeth College on winning a prestigious Association of Colleges Beacon Award. Minister of State for Further Education Kevin Brennan MP presented Curriculum Manager Rachael Brown, Chair of Governors Dame Lorna Boreland-Kelly and student Natalie Harris with the award at Westminster recently.

The College received the RNIB and Mencap Award for Students with Learning Difficulties and/or Disabilities for its hard work in placing these students in employment. Through workplace and personal skills training, practice work environments and partnerships with employment agencies the College has prepared its students well for the challenges that lie beyond their education.

Chuka Umunna, who attended the opening of the College’s new buildings last year, said:

“It is fantastic that Lambeth College’s work in the local community has been recognised nationally. It is important to equip our young people as best as we can for the challenges that they will face in the job market.

“With its recent expansion and continued development of new teaching methods, Lambeth College can certainly not be accused of resting on its laurels. It is an innovative and growing education centre which is an asset to local residents.”

The Department for Children Schools and Families is currently passing a bill that is set to revolutionise schools in Streatham and beyond. The Children Schools and Families (CSF) Bill will guarantee catch-up support, one to one tuition for children falling behind, and stronger discipline through tough home-school agreements. In the above video, Schools Minister Vernon Coaker discusses the aims of the bill.

The guarantee of one to one tuition for children falling behind in literacy and numeracy has already been backed by £1,254,595 of extra funding this year for schools across Lambeth, with Streatham’s students set to benefit.

Crucially, discipline in schools is set to be overhauled by new home-school agreements with all pupils and parents accepting the school’s rules when they apply for a school place, and clear consequences if they are broken. This will help foster the development of a stable learning environment and orderly schools in Streatham.

Further plans under the CSF Bill include:
• The opportunity for all pupils to study triple sciences at GCSE;
• The opportunity for every primary pupil to learn a musical instrument;
• Every pupil to receive PHSE (including sexual health) education;
• Personal tutors for all secondary school pupils;
• More support for Gifted & Talented pupils and their parents.

Speaking about the Bill, Secretary of State for Children Schools and Families Ed Balls said:

“The Schools White Paper and the Bill build on the huge improvements in schools that have already happened and set out a clear vision for how we will take the schools system from good to great. At the heart of that vision are the pupil and parent guarantees.

“It is no longer enough to have a system meeting the needs of most children most of the time. These guarantees mean that all children and their parents, know what they should expect from their school and will have the powers to ensure those expectations are met.”

Chuka Umunna said:

“Schools in Streatham have been transformed over the last twelve years with the building of four new schools, our best ever exam results, 160 more teachers and an 81% increase in our pupils entering higher education.

“I am right behind the government’s CSF Bill, which reflects our commitment to protecting and improving front line services.”

The Prime Minister has praised Louis Desa for helping turn Bishop Thomas Grant School (BTG) into one of the most improved schools in the country.

Mr Desa was among 150 headteachers invited to a reception at 10 Downing Street to recognise their innovative approaches to education and their commitment to raising achievement in their schools.

Over the last five years BTG has improved significantly scoring exceptionally and consistently high in its latest Ofsted inspection and achieving excellent exam results.

Congratulating Mr Desa, Chuka commented “Successes in Streatham like these need to be constantly recognised and celebrated. This particular achievement highlights how schools in our area are aiming and achieving high”.

Congratulations to our local residents whose contributions on a local and national level were recognised in the Queen’s New Year Honours list.

To find out more about their fantastic achievements, follow this link.

The contribution of four local residents has been recognised in the Queen’s New Year’s Honors List: Lesley Morrison CBE, Gloria Bailey MBE, Ilene Ming-Deans MBE and Jean Roberts MBE. They are truly inspiring people who have made a real positive impact both locally and nationally.

Ilene Daisy Ming-Deans has been made an MBE for her services to Clapham Youth Centre. The centre is part of the Knight’s Association of Youth Clubs, which have been pioneers of youth work in South London.

Aiming to inspire and help develop young people in constructive and innovative ways, the centre works on projects such as the ‘Summer Uni’, which raises young people’s aspirations.

Lesley Morrison, Headteacher of St. Martin-in-the-Fields High School for Girls in Tulse Hill has been made a CBE for her contribution to education.

Mrs Morrison, who has been head of the school for seventeen years, has overseen the launch of a new and successful sixth form and excellent exam results across the board.

Interviewed in the Streatham Guardian she said: “It is a real honour, but it feels bizarre getting something for just doing your job.” She added “no man was an island” and that her success was because she had a “great team of staff helping her”.

Mrs Morrison’s positive ethos “values all our individuals. It places emphasis on high expectation and the fact that if our pupils believe they can do it, they can. We want our pupils to fly and they do fly,” she told BBC News.

Gloria Bailey is well known for her work with the Streatham Darby and Joan club where her Make a Difference Group is based – she has been made an MBE for her services to the community in Lambeth.

As well as fostering more than 100 children, she has run recruiting drives for foster carers in Brixton and also launched the Godparents initiative to provide opportunities for local youngsters.

Jean Roberts, a ministerial messenger for the Department for Transport, also becomes an MBE.

Congratulations to all those who received honours – we are truly proud to have such inspiring local citizens.