Schools White Paper

Christopher Pincher Excerpts

Wednesday 24th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call Mr Pincher.

[Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con)]

Thank you, Mr Speaker; clearly, I am moving up the batting order in this particular sport.

In welcoming my right hon. Friend’s White Paper, may I ask him to encourage greater vertical integration between primary and secondary schools? One issue that teachers in Tamworth have raised with me is the number of primary school children who do not have the necessary reading and writing skills when they move on to secondary school, and we need to improve that.

[Michael Gove]

My hon. Friend is bang on the button, and one of the reasons we are establishing primary academies and integrating primary schools into academy chains is to deal with precisely that issue. The last Government said the creation of primary academies would send a chill down the spine of every parent, but actually the creation of many new primary academies has meant that parents enjoy smaller class sizes and higher standards and children better prepared for the world of work and further learning. This is a reform that I hope every party represented in the House will now support.