Labour Party Conference

Scarcely believable reports about the infighting going on. Anybody of a remotely moderate or centrist position - pack your bags. With the Tories plumbing new depths of dishonesty and corruption the loonies around Corbyn decide to take on their own. Oh for a Neil Kinnock/Bournemouth 1985 moment.

 

Even more bizarre with their private school agenda.

I get the arguments, but conversely there’s a lot of bright kids out there who thrive due to the better teaching in some private establishments. And whilst money shouldn’t affect your education, it has for decades.

They should simply leave private schools alone and concentrate on actually helping the state schools raise the level. Not lowering level of private schools.

They should be also concentrating on sorting scholarships and funding for bright kids in state schools who can’t afford to go private. Increase opportunities for Those who can’t afford to, to be able to.

 

If you're bright you do well anywhere. I know loads of kids that have got top results at state schools in Barnsley. Don't think theres votes to be lost by this policy tbh.

 

Even more bizarre when you look at where those who want private schools send and have sent their kids.

 

Do you really think private schools should have charitable status?

Great policy announcements on the scrapping of Ofsted today too.

 

There’s lots of organisations who maybe shouldn’t have charitable status. I’m on about the fundamentals here:

1) Raise education standards for all, regardless of background and wealth.

2) If bright kids can do better at private schools, then help them get there regardless of background and wealth. Give them that opportunity if they are truly gifted.

If you close or reduce private schools, you are just increasing class sizes for existing schools in the area at first.

 

Be interesting to hear Dianne Abbott and probably some others going after private schools

 

But point 1 isn't achieved by point 2, and point 2 doesn't work anything like that in practice. Instead is used to top up fees of well paid middle class families who already have access to the most "desired" state schools through the inequalities caused by Ofsted and the school catchment area system. Bright kids are not all being whisked away to private schools free of charge, and when they are its the exception.

 

And to add Angela Rayner hasn't talked about abolishing private schools

 

What exactly is it that you don't like about the policies? As far as I can see, Corbyn is playing the classic social democrat, and there's nothing particularly unreasonable about anything that's been proposed - most of it would be barely worthy of a raised eyebrow in other European countries.

 

It is the exception, but the country should aspire to it. No child should suffer education barriers whether they are the top of their class or the bottom.

But my general point is for the education system, as well as society in general, is rather than tear down the system from the top, raise it up from the bottom.

In my eyes, private schools are less of an issue than the current failures of some schools to educate children properly, especially in socially difficult areas.

Not all kids are academic and we need to blend education perhaps earlier on, to ensure they retain the basic English and Maths, but also introduce different more practical skills such as you’d get by doing an apprenticeship. Keeps them engaged and will to go to school more.

 

I know - more about taking control of them.

But let’s not think state run schools under Labour are brilliant either. They’re weren’t when Blair etc were in power.

 

This is why I'm genuinely excited by the announcement on Ofsted. Between that and SATs the education system has been turned in to a test driven system that does little to raise any standards and impacts on the ability to have a varied and diverse curriculum.

Just to add, the standards in schools in deprived catchment areas are often fantastic, creating successful learning environments by instilling discipline, care and nurture that kids often don't get at home, and achieving excellent results with kids who aren't exposed to reading and writing outside the school gates.

But the biggest impacton those schools' ability to raise educational standards is a lack of funding, which could be helped by getting rid of tax breaks and loopholes for private schools.

 

Correct me if I’m wrong - but isn’t the plan to bring them back under government control and take on the infrastructure too or redistribute them? If that is the case, then the government would be effectively taking on the running costs and maintenance of each one. So any removal of tax breaks and loop-holes is wiped out by the additional costs involved.

Also, isn’t the plan to bring the railways, water and electricity back under government control? Gonna have some work to do aren’t they!

 

Also can we look at the fact that the chairman of the Committee of Public Standards has said that "Boris Johnson has a case to answer" for his previous behaviour, yet we're all still unaccountably talking about Corbyn. Weird.

 

All part of the master plan to make politics a personal based decision, rather than an inheritance based decision. Roll on the no overall majority in the next election

 

All those things make profit. And that will go to the taxpayer rather than to private companies. Is there something wrong with that?

 

They are all private companies with shareholders. There is an enormous cost to bring them ‘back in house’. Billions......

 

Not for the railways.

 

Only because they are contracted out - so the contracts would not be renewed.

You’re still talking Billions for the others.

And as for the railways, they were just as bad for poor stock and reliability when they were state run. British Rail were a joke at times.