Your MP Writes for the Chronicle Extra

March 2008

I visit lots of schools in my constituency and I never fail to be impressed by the work I see going on there.  We have some of the best schools in the region and North Tyneside has rightly won praise for its pioneering work as a local education authority.  There’s one area, however, where more needs to be done.

Every school has benefited from investment in new equipment and better facilities.  But there are plans to go further.  Some of our schools are scheduled to be rebuilt, others are due for a complete refurbishment.  The money will come from a government programme called Building Schools for the Future, with more than £200 million lined up for North Tyneside schools.  However North Tyneside is currently in a later phase ironically because our LEA has over the years invested more in schools resulting in some other areas being deemed to be in more urgent need.  I am hoping to change that.

My colleague Stephen Byers MP and I have been lobbying Government Ministers to move North Tyneside up the queue and deliver earlier than planned.  Our argument is based on North Tyneside’s proven record on delivering new schools on time and on budget.  That includes new primary schools in Whitley Bay at Marine Park and Coquet, and making a start on a brand new High School to replace Monkseaton High.

Schools are very different places now.  A different curriculum is taught in different ways.  Parents and pupils expect schools to have things like sports halls and better dining facilities.  New schools are often designed more like shopping malls, with more glass than concrete.  We need better schools fit for the 21st century and that’s why we need them to be delivered sooner rather than later.