More money for all local schools

Since the start of the pandemic Government has helped our schools and Essex County Council to provide a phenomenal amount of additional support for families.

The BBC is to deliver the biggest education offer in its history across more of its platforms. It will bring together BBC Two, CBBC, BBC Red Button, BBC iPlayer and online to deliver a new education offer to children, teachers and parents as a third national lockdown begins.

In another step towards delivering on the Government’s pledge to invest a total of £14 billion over three years, the Department for Education has today (17 December) published school funding allocations going to every local authority in England.

It feels very much as though lockdown has caused Christmas to come early in certain households. I noticed a great many households rigging up their festive lights before the 1 December watershed this year. And given what everyone’s had to contend with, why not?

The Government are committed to levelling up opportunities across the UK. People shouldn’t have to leave their local area to get on in life, or to further their career. 

During the Conservative Party Conference 2020, the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson MP, set out his new plan - Build Back Better.

It’s been a strange and unsettling year for all of us, but for school-age children the coronavirus pandemic has caused them to miss months of school and be separated from their friends and teachers for lengthy periods.

Let me begin this week by congratulating all those A Level and BTEC students from Brentwood and Ongar who got the results they needed to get into the University, college or apprenticeship they wanted.

Students in England will receive centre assessment grades for this week’s GCSE results and last week’s A and AS level results, the Government and Ofqual have confirmed this week.

I write my weekly article for the Brentwood Gazette a few days ahead of its publication each Wednesday. As has happened so often throughout the coronavirus pandemic, by the time it's in the paper things have moved on.