CAROLINE ANSELL MP: This week has been focussed on education issues

I have voted to pass important legislation in the House of Commons this week in the form of the Trade and Immigration Bills, both central to our future as a sovereign nation.
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With my team, I have continued to champion local people’s access to support, and whilst I still can’t host my public surgeries, I’ve moved online with direct calling for anyone in Eastbourne and Willingdon who needs my help.

This week has had a particular focus on education and I have been undertaking a lot of work with heads of schools across Eastbourne and Willingdon about a safe, phased return to lessons. As I write, I am set to speak with the Schools Minister, Nick Gibb, and will raise their questions and any concerns to help everyone through the transition. Schools of course have been open throughout the lockdown period for the children of critical workers and for vulnerable children and I would like to thank all the heads, teachers and support staff who have done so much to help during this crisis.As a former schools inspector myself, I understand something of the challenges they have faced. Heads and their staff have been effectively running three schools all at once: face-to-face classes, online education and additional support for disadvantaged and vulnerable children.

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But despite all this great work, some figures show that fewer than 30 per cent of children in the UK have engaged consistently with online education.

One challenge is access to technology and the inequalities created by the digital divide, a defining issue I raised in Parliament last month. This has been recognised by the government in their targeted provision of 4G routers, laptops and tablets for disadvantaged Year 10s and some of the most vulnerable pupils in other year groups across the UK. But tech only facilitates.

School is more than the lessons of the timetabled curriculum and interaction with their teachers and peers is vital learning for our young. It’s painful to write but school is a protection too and at least one good meal a day for children at risk of abuse or neglect.

Our heads have my 100 per cent support as we move to take small steps on the road to recovery; there are genuine concerns and important measures to put in place but the same science that said we should close schools, now says we can begin to open them up further. Denmark has shown the way and that this can be done.

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There will already be a legacy from lockdown to address, most especially for Year 10 with exams essentially just two terms away. The Department for Education is looking at ‘catch up’ summer camps with Teach First and having in a past life mentored training teachers at Brighton Uni, I will be volunteering to be part of it and reaching out to others to join in.