Children’s services on the road

ON becoming Wokingham Borough Council’s Executive Member for Children’s Services, I set myself the mission of visiting all of our Borough’s schools in the next calendar year.

This includes 55 primary schools, 10 secondary schools, two special schools and two pupil referral schools. This also includes a magnificent mix of Local Authority schools, free schools, academy schools, church-aided schools, and colleges.

I have so far been very much welcomed into 16 of the 69 schools. This has already proved to me that each school is individual with a common theme of every child having the opportunity to achieve their full potential.

Our primary schools have mottos such as “Flourish, Nurture, Aspire”; “Roots to Grow, Wings to fly”; “Opening the Doors to Learning & Life”. Our secondary schools use mottos such as “Respect, Equality, Honesty, Dedication, Courage,

Love”; “Enjoy, Respect, Achieve and Excellence for All”.

A motto that has really stuck with me is from one of our

Pupil Referral Schools: “It Takes Commitment to Change Lives”. I witnessed that in action and took that very message back to my council colleagues.

What I am witnessing in all my visits is a unique focus on the outcomes for all of our Borough’s youngsters.

I’ve been seeing first-hand the dedication and teamwork involved throughout our schools and beyond. The forming of clusters of schools to share best practice and support is especially precious.

Only yesterday I was visiting one of our brand new schools. The major theme of my conversation with the head teacher was to investigate how we can build on the opportunity to spread the word about what a special resource our local community has in this school.

Our Borough Schools are truly embracing the ethos of being central to our community. I’ve also seen staff, governors, pupils, and parents all working together to form harmonious communities within the schools themselves.

I’ve asked for two hot topics at every school I’ve visited to enable me to connect and keep the conversation going. Unsurprisingly a common theme is funding.

Money is short and with a view to always spending for teaching other parts of our schools’ priorities are potentially suffering. I’ve been able to reassure them that this Borough Council is pushing for fairer national funding and has a capital programme of repair and renewal that we will not shy away from.

Other topics range from how our Council’s Civil Parking Enforcement will help the traffic around schools to how we can work together to facilitate wrap around childcare for our working parents.

Having completed 25% of my mission to visit all of our Borough’s schools has reinforced my thinking that there are four strands to a complete society.

These are Government, Community, Business and Education in collaboration.

They are equal contributors, cannot stand alone and show that lifelong education is key.

My message is that our Council (the ‘Government’) recognises this and will not stop investing in that vital collaboration with all of our schools across the whole of our Borough.