Angela Rayner condemns Government over children educated in sheds
Paxton Academy, a primary school in Thornton Heath, has been left in portakabin-style temporary buildings for four years after the Conservatives failed to make sure a permanent school building was available.
Local MP Steve Reed has led the campaign in Parliament to get Government ministers to intervene. Recently, a Conservative Education Minister simply failed to turn up on the date of a planned visit to see the school. Today Steve brought Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner MP to see for herself how desperate the children are for a permanent building.
A visibly shocked Angela Rayner has joined Steve in calling for urgent action from the Government.
In a joint statement they said:
It’s unacceptable that children are spending years of their education in temporary sheds instead of in the permanent school building they deserve. It’s unacceptable that the Conservative Government thinks they can just abandon these children to their fate. Every child deserves the best start in life, and we will work together to force the Government to act.
Steven Reed is Labour MP for Croydon North and Shadow Minister for Children and Families. In 2018 his private member’s bill on reducing violent mental health restraint became law. In June 2019 he launched Labour’s civil society strategy outlining radical plans to empower citizens and communities.
Steve chairs the Cooperative Councils Innovation Network, co-chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group for London, was Leader of Lambeth Council 2006-12 where he led the council’s children’s services to become best-rated in the country and pioneered the public-health approach to tackling violent youth crime. He worked in publishing for 16 years and was an elected trade union branch secretary.