Ladyman’s Thanet

More evidence has emerged that our children are doing better than ever at school. Last year we learned that the Target of 60% of 15-year-olds getting five A* to Cs was reached a year early and last month we learned that tests taken after the first three years at secondary school show that this year an additional 100,000 pupils reached the expected level in English, 95,000 in Maths and 80,000 more in Science than was the case in 1997, so the strong GCSE performance of recent years looks set to continue.

Older children are also doing better and the skill level of young people in England has never been higher. Figures published this month show that 73.9% of 19 year-olds reached level 2 (equivalent to 5 higher level GCSEs) and 48% of 16 year-olds reached level 3 (equivalent to 2 A Levels). This means that 31,000 more 19 year-olds have level 2 qualifications and 18,000 more have level 3 qualifications than did so a year ago.

We have also learned in recent days that truanting from schools is falling and overall absence is at a record low so efforts to turn the tide on poor school attendance look like they are bearing fruit. Between 2004 and 2007 over 30,000 penalty notices have been issued to parents because of their child’s high level of unauthorised absence and over 19,000 parenting contracts were agreed to improve attendance. Quite right too – there can be no excuse for not making sure children attend school when they are fit and well.

These great results were achieved thanks to the hard work of teachers, learning assistants and all the ancillary staff of our schools and colleges and, of course, thanks to the hard work of the children and young people themselves. We are always so quick to condemn young people and there are always those who will try to denigrate their achievements but the fact is that most kids are fine, hard working people and now, at long last, they are being backed with the resources they need to do well.

These results are a big step towards the Government’s aspiration to have at least 90 per cent of our young people achieve the equivalent of five higher level GCSEs by the age of 19 with at least 70 per cent achieving the equivalent of two A levels. Unskilled jobs are becoming rarer and to remain prosperous in the world of the future we will need a workforce that is more highly skilled than ever. That means more people with degrees, more people achieving good GCSE standards and more people undertaking high quality vocational training.

Here in Thanet a significant proportion of our local population have traditionally relied on unskilled and semi skilled jobs being available. Those jobs just won’t be there in the future. We should be grateful that so many of our young people seem to have got the message and are trying to make the most of their days at school.