Guest Post: "Education is about partnership – and we owe it to all our children to work together in their best interests" - Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson MP's back to school message for parents

[SophiaCMumsnet]

I love back to school week. Sending my children off to school on their first day back, I’m always sad (and maybe a little relieved!) to see them go, but I think forward with such excitement to what the new school year will bring for them. New friends, new experiences, new opportunities.

You all know that familiar mix of feelings as they walk through the school gates once again – nervous, excited, hopeful. If you’re anything like me though, overall, you just want them to do well and be happy.

As parents, we all want the best for our children, both in school and beyond. We want them to grow up happy and healthy, to get a good job, and to be able to buy a nice house.

I understand those aspirations – I share them for my own children and, as Education Secretary, for yours. That’s why this job is the greatest privilege of my life. I want to make sure each and every child gets the best start in life, to ensure that where you’re from doesn’t determine where you end up. By breaking the link between background and future success, we can break down barriers to opportunity and give all children the skills they need to thrive.

Education lies at the heart of this change we all want to see. And education means more than maths or English or science, as important as they are. An excellent, whole-childhood education journey builds a lifelong love of learning, nurtures a sense of belonging, and creates connections that last for years to come. A good education gives our children strong foundations and sets them up for work and for life.

High and rising standards in all of our schools is at the heart of our plan. My offer to you is this: I’ll support your children taking their first steps into learning. I’ll put 6,500 new expert teachers in classrooms across the country. I’ll introduce free breakfast clubs in all primary schools. I’ll improve professional careers advice and work experience. I’ll expand support for families by rolling out funded childcare. I’ll review the curriculum, making it richer and broader, setting all children up to thrive now and in the future. I’ll boost mental health support across our schools and reform provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities.

I’m ambitious for our children and for our country. But government can’t achieve all this in isolation. I want to work in partnership with you to deliver the very best life chances for our children. We all have responsibilities – you as parents, us as government, and schools do too. I want to reset these relationships, rebuild trust and work together for the benefit of all our children.

I need all parents to play their part too. Every child is different and you know your child best. I know that every child has different needs, but one thing that can have the biggest positive impact for children is making sure they go to school. When things are working well and children have the right support, ambition, opportunities, belonging, all come from being in school. However excellent our teachers, they can’t teach children who aren’t there. As I put in place measures to drive high and rising standards in schools, children who are absent won’t feel the benefit of them.

Attendance from day one really matters. Children who miss a day at the beginning of a new term are much more likely to be persistently absent for the rest of the school year. So my ask of you for this back to school week is simple, but crucial. If you make sure your children are where they belong - in school - schools are there by your side to support you in this, and so is government.

Education is about partnership – and we owe it to all our children to work together in their best interests. As a new September rolls round, let’s use this moment to fix our foundations, begin the work of rebuilding Britain. Happy back to school week!

For everyone who is worried about VAT on private schools or anyone in the state sector in a sub standard school. The government has 33 state boarding schools ( they won't include VAT in these fees) and over a 130 grammar schools you can apply to, the grammar schools need your children to sit an entrance exam ( which is bizarre as these are meant to be non selective state schools) but education is for all apparently.

you love back to school week you say! It’s a shame you ruined it for all those families who are now worried about paying the extra 20% on the school fees from January. In areas near the private schools, the staye school parents are worried the class sizes will get even bigger.. shame on you, and your government.

If you’re concerned about children’s mental health why are you adding VAT on school fees? (NB this is not ending a tax break, no other education has VAT yet and in no other countries do they charge it). It is cruel to force children to move schools part way through year. Why bring it in mid year? Have you considered the mental health of these children or do you not care about them? This is a very unfair tax that will not raise the money you think and will have knock on effects on the economy, state schools & people’s lives & jobs. Can the state schools cope with the flood of children needing spaces especially those with SEN? I don’t believe this has been properly thought through. Please do a proper assessment and find another way. Just because it was in your manifesto it doesn’t give you free rein to do this. People voted for labour for lots of reasons and will understand this was not economically viable in the end.

This is nothing but a vindictive policy of envy. No one will be better off as a result. It will
not generate the revenue it claims (and let’s face it, having listened to the excellent Lords debate today, even if it did generate the alleged 1.5bn that is a drop in the ocean on the overall 60bn education budget, it’s never going to move the needle). The 7% of children to whom you show open disdain and disregard will suffer, as will their parents, their schools and their teachers. Worst still, the 93% of pupils in state schools will be faced with bigger class sizes and even more over stretched teachers. To portray parents of private school children as the ultra wealthy is plain wrong. They are already saving the taxpayer huge amounts by funding state education that they do not use. Many will now face financial hardship as a result or be forced to move their child mid year (which is doubly cruel). Never have I wanted to leave this country so much and a large number of wealthy people will do just that. For all these reasons, you are grossly overstating the financial gain and grossly underestimating the downsides of this policy. This is a human rights violation and violates every principal of gold taxation. to become the only European country (or US state) to tax education is shameful. It is an ideologically driven vendetta.

You certainly don't support my friend's DD. She's moved private to state this week due to your VAT policy. She's crying in her bed missing her friends.

It's a disgrace and immoral what you're doing TAXING private education. What about all the SEN kids who can't get support within the state system. My child is visually impaired has no EHCP but is supported at school but when we applied to state schools in Y7 we were offered nothing due to catchment. Unless she has an EHCP we were told she can't get a school place locally. Shame on you discriminating against the disabled and all the other hard working parents who are saving the state money! Good luck in wrecking an already broken system pushing even further into despair!! Class sizes will increase, still with less resources. No one wants to stay in teaching. You will also force smaller independents to close and people will lose their jobs! Why did Greece abolish this system when it was implemented? Because it didn't work and put too much strain on the state sector!

“the one thing that can have the biggest positive impact for children is making sure they go to school.”

OK, so how does this work for the children who have been priced out of their independent schools by your 20% tax on their fees, and live in an area where there are no spaces in state schools. That’s right - there are children, right now, who have been left with no school to go to because of this ridiculous, ill-thought through policy.

Independent schools take pressure off state schools. You should be encouraging their use (in the same way that you encourage the use of private hospitals to ease
pressure on the NHS), not discouraging it.

It’s absolutely crazy.

“Children who miss a day at the beginning of a new term are much more likely to be persistently absent for the rest of the school year. ”

OR perhaps

children who are persistently absent from school are much more likely then others to miss a day at the beginning of a new term.

don’t confuse cause and effect!

Good luck but im not sure you have understood the severity of problems in SEND. I’m one of the lucky ones who managed get an EHCP for my son. But even with an EHCP, the school couldn’t teach him to write. The school had no resources to give any support. The EHCP will only fund help for writing if its recommended by an Occupational Therapist. The NHS cannot provide the assessment - there is a 2 year wait for childrens OT so they will only deal with severe problems like difficulty swallowing. I could pay for a private assessment but i would still have to wait 2 years for a tribunal to force the council to provide the support. So instead I pay for it myself. But the school wont allow my private therapist in the building. If I take ny son off the premises they will mark him absent . Its a total mess.

According to the office of national statistics, there are 468,693 teachers in the state schools in the UK. (assuming this number excludes private school teachers)

Adding 6,500 teachers that the government claims to be possible by charging VAT on private schools, will result in a new total of 475,193 teachers. (Note, lots are leaving the profession.)

This is a rise 1.3% extra teachers in the state system.

Another way to look at it, is that there are 21,853 approx state schools.

If the newly hired 6,500 teachers were to be evenly distributed to the 21, 853 approx state schools it will result in an average of 0.3 teachers added to each state school. Quite absurd!

To suggest that this new policy will have a material impact on the state educational system is disengenious. This policy is not only morally reprehensible, it's impact will be around 1% improvement at best, and at worst, closer to zero impact.

Your claim of working in partnership with parents is ridiculous and doesn't stand up to the facts

I’ll put 6,500 new expert teachers in classrooms across the country.

Where are you getting them from ?
What changes are being made to ensure they want to stay?
What changes are you making to ensure teachers are given the autonomy to use their skills, training and experience to actually spend their time and energy teaching children rather than being constantly harangued for pointless "evidence" that they are jumping through this year's 'hoops'?

What about the crisis in SEND ?
What about acknowledging the huge increase in numbers of children with significant and complex SEND and working on a plan to stop them being dumped in classes of 30 just expecting the staff to get on with it ?

What about restoring the LAs that were totally broken by the Conservatives ?

What are your plans to get rid of OFSTED and replace with a fit for purpose inspectorate, and with SUPPORT to improve for schools who aren't doing well in some areas rather than a public flogging ?

I think the other comments have got the broad sweep of the impact of this well covered now (particularly regarding the half a million students who are about to have their lives turned upside down) so I'm just going to to go right there and ask for a roadmap.

Just one for one of your ludicrous claims. Pick one, any one. One single method for how you aim to achieve any of these.

Rules: You can't steal money from anyone else and your maths has to add up.

The half baked woolly plan hinges on stealing.

I agree with a lot of what you say. Children with good attendance do well academically. Adding VAT on education, I definitely do not agree with.

Most parents have high aspirations for their children. I struggled through school with undiagnosed dyslexia and the damage to my self esteem was immense. With my parents encouragement, I became a teacher and after 20 years am now a dyslexia specialist.

My children’s needs (ASC) were ignored in state school because they were achieving above expectation. They were bored, they were struggling socially, they were suffering with poor mental health. We made/make huge sacrifices to send our boys to independent schools and they are far happier. We cannot afford an additional 20% VAT and my boys, having recovered from the trauma of their early school life, will now have to deal with change.

The debate in The House of Lords highlighted so many areas where this policy will go wrong and your legacy will certainly not be good. It will be as disastrous as the Liz Truss stint.

listen to people’s voices. ALL children will be impacted by this policy. Ridiculous policy of envy!

It's great to have a forum where you Bridget and your team can't redact and delete comments as you do on social media.

LISTEN to the house of Lords

Look at the facts and address your knowledge gaps your impact assessment is lacking

51% increace since 2003 is 2.21% a year this is in no way anything like 20% in a single year.

My anger of your lack of though and compassion of the Impact your proposal will have on children who's lives and futures will be severly impacted as they are forced to leave their school.

I had a feeling the issue of VAT on school fees might turn up. But TBH, although I regard this government of principle-free, dissembling virtue signallers with deep suspicion, I can’t object to that change.

What bothers me much more is the appalling, patronising mush of the post. With respect, Minister, why can’t you talk to parents as sensible adults? Why dress up education policy as some sort of cosy friendship between parents, children and you?

Some straight and honest talk from government about the dire state of standards and expectations in much of Britain’s state education system would be very welcome.

State school parents and teachers DO NOT WANT all these independent school pupils to head over to the state sector. How do you not understand this?

How can you say all this when the children at private schools are being discriminated against in the most despicable way… Ordinary children, SEN children, military children, children who can’t manage in large classes and who need more personal attention, children who are good at sport or music or drama or art, children whose parents work long hours, children who need to board, children whose parents save and sacrifice to pay the fees that are big enough already. One size ‘comprehensive’ education doesn’t fit all. Private schools cater to the individual. The Lords today called Labour ‘cruel’, ‘wicked’ and ‘stupid’. I thought those days were gone but clearly not. They also accused Labour of ‘levelling down’… And, if you think parents won’t take kids out of their private schools - I’m definitely not taking my daughter out 6 months before her GCSE’s - you need to factor in ALL the kids that don’t start. There’ll be loads to fill your precious state schools…

Dear Bridget. Autistic children are 28X more likely to attempt suicide. One study showed that 15% of autistic children had suicidal thoughts compared to 0.5% of typically developing children. Children with ADHD are more than 4 times more likely to commit suicide, with more than half of them experiencing depression, severe anxiety or self harm. I urge you to read about it as there are multiple scientific papers documenting it. https://www.governmentevents.co.uk/high-suicide-rates-among-neurodiverse-individuals-why-it-matters-and-what-can-be-done-about-it/

As a mother of two children with SEND who will now have to move to the state sector where they couldn't cope, I dare you to totally abandon these children and unsettle them as you are planning to do... The consequences of your actions will be far worse than you anticipate and the world will judge you. The SEND community is judging you already and it's much bigger than you appreciate. Much bigger than 7%. Children with special needs also have parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts and family friends who care about them. I hope you will soon realize that you will upset a group much bigger than the 7% you "don't care about"

There is an unfounded idea in the UK, born out of jealousy, that anyone who sends their child to a private school is part of a set of wealthy elite who have Trust funds and wealth passed down from one generation to the next. This could not be further than the truth for me.

I am a single Mother of a 11 year old daughter who was born deaf in one ear . How will a state school with 32 kids work for her? She's been wearing hearing aids for 5 years but can still only hear certain words accurately.

After constant complaints in a state primary school, when it came to secondary school, I took into consideration her hearing difficulties, how much she had struggled making friends in primary school ( hearing loss makes you feel isolated) and how she learns best and decided on a small independent school in which is 15 minutes drive away from where we live. This school was chosen because of the small class size, the sense of belonging they instill and the fact that all the children are assessed and then taught based on that assessment i.e teaching tailored to a child's style of learning.

As you can see, private school is not a vanity project or a luxury; for my daughter, this is a need - she was born with hearing loss and it is so severe that she can't hear hybrid or electric cars, mis-hears words - if you say cloud, she may hear allowed, and would not cope in a big school with 32 children in a class. Background noise interferes with her hearing.

By introducing school fees, I will struggle to pay past Year 8.and will result in the opposite of the very thing you say you are trying to achieve - fulfilling my aspiration as a parent to get the best education for my daughter.

This is a callous, insensitive and cruel policy with no consideration of the children who are at the centre of this. When did Labour become so heartless and vindictive?

We will not forget - roll on 2028

What a great post… were it not full of contradictions.
We all want the best for our children - to an extent this is true. This is true for those working parents who make sacrifices to make better choices for the betterment of their children’s education. Perhaps parents like me who after a period of state education chose to move their child to an independent school making the required sacrifices in order to do so…. Parents like me who suffer a high rate of income tax which contributes to state education but they have made a choice, based on their human rights, to move their child to independent school, which better caters to their child needs.. Parents like me who put education and ambition and potential at the forefront of their family values.
However, there are families for whom education and ambition is not a priority. Not everyone has an equal footing or has a desire to prioritise education. Those who want to prioritise education and ambition should not be penalised through the addition of 20% VAT based on their choice, whilst still contributing towards state education through their income tax contributions.
those have bettered themselves through sheer hard work and grit, so that they may be in a position to pass on those ethics to their children, for their betterment Should not be Penalised.
there will never be equality and opportunity for all that is the very nature of human society and indeed the animal kingdom it is survival of the fittest. Anyone can turn their life around and provide an opportunity for their family. Should they have the desire to do so. Those who are better at it than others should not face penalisation. a simple example of this is myself I was brought up in a working class family I studied hard and gained at a grammar school. I continued to study hard and better myself despite various family and personal challenges some which many would struggle to grasp. I continue to work hard my career and study and after a 20 year career I am fortunate Enough to be in a position where I can make the relevant sacrifices to provide my daughter with an independent education she is thriving due to the potential she has. These are all my choices but the position I was unable to put self into through my own hard work. Whilst in the meantime contribute to the economy by paying an average of £40,000 of income tax a year having been widowed at the age of 33 I’ve never been a financial burden on the state.
Therefore to now incur a further penalty to merely be able to spend my net post tax income on the betterment of my child is absolutely atrocious.
it is nothing short of the politics of envy. Instead the culture of the UK needs a hard looking at where the culture is such that it is better for people to not have ambition and fulfil their potential because the government will pay them universal credit thereby being stuck in that benefits cycle and being those that choose not to take part in that cycle and not be a burden on the state.
after contributing to the economy for over 20 years, many like myself I’m more than happy to take our skill set and knowledge out of the UK and with it all of the income tax and VAT that we contribute into the economy out of the UK to another country where hard work ambition is valued .

the U.K. Goverment welcome foreign university students and welcome the fact they can bring family over with them
Our private school often host many children whose parents are studying here
if these schools close down will you be providing state school places for these children.

Many children will also be home schooled and just fall off the radar I am sure the government haven't factored in the cost of a special team who will have to monitor and check on home schooled parents and children.

Really glad you are enjoying back to school week…because we’ve spent the holidays drilling it into our kids that they will soon be leaving their current school because of this crazy tax. It absolutely won’t raise the money you want, because most working parents (like us) will do exactly the same thing - wait for the opportune moment to move the kids out. Those looking to start private education just won’t.

For us that means next September and the year after our kids will be a burden on the state system for the whole of their secondary education rather than us paying for them. We will bear the strain until then (alongside all the other tax rises that will undoubtedly pinch us even further) by cutting right back - so less money going into the economy. But hey, who cares if the figures don’t add up, the class numbers are swell and the mythical teachers don’t appear, as long as we’re all working together to bring the education system down?!?!

I really hope people wake up and oust your Government before the 5 years are up, but either way I certainly don’t think you’ll be getting a second term! Let’s just hope the next Government can undo all the damage you’re causing. There’s only so much you can pinch from Peter to pay Paul before Peter says ‘screw this’!

You are attacking families who are saving every penny for private education. We are not wealthy families. We are making sacrifices and choosing to pay for education instead of holidays or houses in more expensive areas. You are broadening the divide between the rich elite and those who are aspirational. We already pay tax, and do not take up precious spaces in state education. You are pushing out those most in need of state education by encouraging more to move to areas close to state schools with good reputations. I want to see excellent education for all children but this will not achieve that. Look at the outputs of private education in terms of those successful in sports or the arts; there is a better way to level up than this race to the bottom. Make your policies about requirements to share resources and facilities, not this destructive envy politics.

I know a child who is persistently absent, he has ASD and is in a massive school with classes of 30 and he can't cope. I know other kids who have SEND and their parents have made sacrifices and a decision they didn't think they would ever make and their children are thriving in private schools with lots of sport and small classes. What I am trying to say is there are lessons that can be learned and applied better to support these children in state schools.

My area has no secondary schools, so all children have to travel by bus to other areas and nearby towns to attend school - my nearest school has been in every failing category since it opened, the best schools locally require very high pass rates at 11+ or necessitating a change in religion- hence why many turn to the private sector as we are failed by our council on a good secondary school.

No other countries tax education- it's immoral and wrong and the fine balances that exist in complex school areas in London and the Home Counties and in other areas is going to be massively upset with unknown consequences, and in certainty houses near good schools will go up in price. Children will be moved out of schools they are settled and happy in. And parents will be denied the choice of education for their children as you will make private schooling unaffordable for many. People won't be able to choose it and also people will lose their jobs - people with kids in both state and private schools. State schooling needs a lot more than 1/4 of a teacher. SEND provision needs huge improvement- why not work in partnership with the private sector to help children who are struggling with large classes? Classes which due to this policy of envy will only get bigger. Your policy will cost tax payers money and won't improve anything - find another way.