Archive for category: Southgate and Wood Green

I had the immense pleasure of visiting Earlham Primary School in Wood Green today to talk to parents and teachers and take a tour of their brand new breakfast club.  

As more evidence of the Government’s Plan for Change, Earlham Primary has been chosen as one of the first to offer free, daily breakfast clubs as part of our landmark scheme that will ensure children are school-ready and parents are better off.  

Labour’s Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which I voted for last month, legislated to create these clubs and put a cap on the number of branded uniform items schools can require. The Bill will save some families over £500 per child, per year.  

That comes alongside the government’s childcare expansion, providing 30 free hours of early years education from September. The measures show Labour is focused on supporting working parents.  

The breakfast club at Earlham Primary is a testament to the school and the Government’s dedication to improving children’s attendance, attainment, wellbeing, behaviour and readiness for school.  

Evidence shows that breakfast clubs can boost children’s reading, writing, and maths attainment by an average of two months’ additional progress. At the same time, the club will save local families on the cost of sending children to school while providing valuable source of childcare for working parents at the beginning of the day.  

Taken together, Labour’s breakfast clubs will boost parents’ work choices and children’s life chances.  

That is why it is such a shame that under the Tories, these clubs were available in just one in ten primary schools. Labour intends to make them available for all our children.  

There’s another important element to this policy: it will help Labour bear down on the levels of child poverty that were left far too high by the Conservatives.  

I believe that children growing up in Southgate and Wood Green deserve the best start in life, nothing less. That is why I’m backing this measure.  

Labour’s promise is to break down the barriers to opportunity for every child so where you’re from, doesn’t determine where you end up and that if you work hard, you can get on in life.  

I know those are principles people in Southgate and Wood Green hold dearly and I know that is what these clubs will help make a reality.  

The Government is wasting no time in rolling out free breakfast clubs in primary schools and I cannot wait to see more parents and children across our constituency benefit from our Plan for Change.