Labour is on the side of young people. We want every young person to have a world-class education. By giving opportunities to all young people we can unlock all of Britain’s talents. We are making the greatest change in education in over half a century by guaranteeing every young person up to 18 an apprenticeship, training or a place to study at school or college by 2015.
Labour is on the side of hard-working families, we want to help families achieve their hopes and ambitions. That’s why we have set up over 2,220 Sure Start Children’s Centres, supporting over one million children and their families. Every three and four year old is entitled to a free nursery place and we will extend this to 20,000 two year olds in the most disadvantaged communities by 2011.
Labour’s Children’s Plan aims to make this country the best place for children and young people to grow up in. To create places for children to play safely, Labour will offer local authorities the opportunity to rebuild or renew 3,500 playgrounds. To give young people more things to do we will invest £160 million over the next two years in projects such as skate parks and music workshops.
We will give young people direct influence over an increasing proportion of local authority funding for positive activities – at least 25 per cent by 2018.
To raise standards in all schools not just some, Labour will work with local authorities to meet our ambition that no school has fewer than 30 per cent of its pupils achieving five or more good GCSEs by 2011, backed by £200 million investment to raise standards in all schools.
We have more than doubled the amount spent per year for the typical pupil from £2,500 to over £5,500. The results are clear - young people are achieving some of the best ever results at 14, 16 and 18. We have provided 36,000 more teachers and 172,000 more teaching assistants and support staff in our schools.
To ensure that no talent is wasted, we will offer one-to-one tuition to 300,000 pupils in English and 300,000 pupils in maths. For a world-class education, we need to give young people worldclass facilities in which to learn. Labour will work in partnership with local authorities to rebuild or refurbish every secondary school and half of all primary schools over the coming years.
OUR GOAL IS THAT EVERY CHILD SHOULD HAVE THE BEST START IN LIFE, SO:
• In 2008, we will open 600 more Sure Start Children’s Centres, providing childcare, health-care, early education and family support to almost half a million more children
• By 2010 there will be 3,500 Children’s Centres, one in every community in England.
WE ARE COMMITTED TO INCREASING STANDARDS IN THE CLASSROOM, SO:
• In 2008 on top of their per pupil funding we will give an average of £220,000 directly to every headteacher, and an average £50,000 to every primary school head, which can be used to modernise our schools and expand one-to-one and small group tuition
• In 2009, 20,000 children will receive intensive reading support.
• By 2010-11, we will have rebuilt or refurbished more than 300 schools as part of Building Schools for the Future, more than 200 academies will be open or in the pipeline.