Supporting Education and Children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)

My Friday constituency visits were delayed last week as I spent the breakfast hours doing the media round, dealing with the breaking news that sacked US ambassador, Peter Mandelson, had failed security vetting but had still been appointed to the role, which allowed him access to top secret Governmen

It was excellent to see so many Essex Members of Parliament, Borough District and County Councillors and candidates for the May local elections gathering at Hutton Hall on Friday for the launch of the Conservatives’ Essex election campaign, presided over by my party’s leader, and Leader of His Majes

There has been a worrying decline in the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people in recent years sparked, it no small way, by the impact of the lockdowns during the Covid pandemic and the vastly increased use of smartphones and social media by young teenagers.I am proud of the previ

Parliament is in recess this week – the equivalent of half term in schools – but, as every good teacher and politician knows, this is a time to plan, update and review.I was in Stapleford Tawney at the weekend giving my thoughts on the unauthorised dumping of waste on private land to Sky News, after

In the last couple of weeks I have visited Kelvedon Hatch Primary School and Brentwood Town Football Club, to meet young students and some of our local footballers.The Kelvedon Hatch Primary School pupils showed me some of the activities they do, including within a forest school environment where li

It was a great start to the new term for the Anglo European School with news that planning permission has been granted for their new school building.The school had to close its Sixth Form Centre in February 2023 after being advised it contained reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) and was a

As Storm Goretti gracefully swept a band of sleet, rain and winds through Essex, I found myself on a muddy footpath a couple of miles from Ongar admiring a sty full of pigs while a flock of geese honked crossly from a nearby shed, angry they were being kept inside to protect them from the latest bir

The Government's decision to remove the Large Programme Uplift from 16-19 funding formula, and the impact this would have on state schools offering the International Baccalaureate, has been raised with me as a cause of concern by many parents of children who attend the Anglo European School in Ingat

Spending time with like-minded politicians and activists at the annual Conservative Party Conference is a key part of my year, and none more so than this year.Since Kemi Badenoch became the leader of the Conservative Party last year, I have been part of a small team working with her on a review of a

As children get back to nursery settings following the long summer holiday, the age old decision about whether they have a packed lunch or eat a nursery lunch needs to be made.Last year, Essex County Council Public Health commissioned ‘Nourishing our Future’, researched by Anglia Ruskin University t