Zoomchat with Bridget Phillipson - Thursday 28th September 11-12

[NicolaDMumsnet]

Hi all,

We’re pleased to announce a Zoomchat with Shadow Secretary of State for Education Bridget Phillipson this Thursday from 11am-12pm. You can book your place now by registering for free here.

Bridget has been the Labour MP for Houghton and Sunderland South since 2010. In April 2020 she joined the Shadow Cabinet under Keir Starmer as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, before being appointed Shadow Education Secretary in November 2021.

Please post your questions below ahead of the chat. Please note that we will be closing the thread on Thursday morning so please ensure you have posted your questions before then. If there is time, there may also be an opportunity to ask additional questions live.

If you join the Zoomchat, your camera will be turned off by default. Your screen name might be visible, so consider whether you’re happy to use your RL name or want to use your MN posting name or something else entirely. The Zoomchat will be recorded so you can catch up if you’re unable to attend on the day.

Please stick to the usual guidelines - one question per user, keep it civil, and if one topic is dominating, please don't continue to post what's effectively the same question or point (we'll be deleting questions that are repeated multiple times). We'll be limited for time so do keep questions as short as possible so that we’re able to ask more of them - as always, we'll try to make sure we cover the topics that we know are important to Mumsnet users.

Thanks,
MNHQ.

Hi Bridget,

Will Labour now reconsider its harmful proposal to levy VAT on private school fees? I don’t believe there is any justification or benefit to society by taxing education.

this pop up to post a question here is bloody irritating how do I get rid of it?

Will the new Labour government scrap Ofsted? Or at least seriously reform it?
And brace yourself.

What will schooling need to look like in 10 years, particularly the number of places? And what’s the plan to get there?

I’d like to understand the plan.

Why should private schools retain charitable status?

What are your opinions around the education reforms proposed by the Tony Blair Institute. And what steps, if any, would Labour take to implement these recommendations?

(Apologies this is my follow up question as don't think anyone else has asked ) Will you impose a safeguarding duty on local authorities to create a register for children who are home educated/withdrawn from school, and for them to monitor to ensure that children are protected and educated to minimum standards? I know there is a cost that will need be funded but think this would be my number one priority because of potential risk to missing children.Thank you

Please tell me your plans for senco provision. There's huge underfunding, especially in primary and it means kids get so little help. There seems a drive to not let children apply for an EHCP. My son is 7 and nearly 2 years behind, despite us doing reading, exercises, maths and writing practice with him at home on a rolling daily basis. He cannot do work at school because he's too far behind and doesn't understand it (although attendance is excellent, he's only missed half a school day in over a year). It feels like he's missing his childhood while we spend time teaching him 1:1 at weekends and evenings. We suspect autism, it will take 3+ years for a diagnosis. He falls just outside of criteria for being "off-curriculum" (he managed a score of 87 in sats, cut-off for outside curriculum was 85), dyslexia, dyspraxia, cerebral palsy. He's so upset and stressed and I'm worried he'll have severe mental health needs (very happy at present). We feel disadvantaged that our home input has probably prevented diagnoses. I'm usually on a 6 figure salary and have had to take 2 years out of work to help him. This is so short-sighted from a health economics perspective and the missing taxes the government is not getting from me and the future support my son will need if he continues to receive so little support at school during these formative years.

There seems a lack of political will to both mention or address how current covid policy is really affecting education.

Main reason for absence is illness, yet children are encouraged in when positive which causes more illness. Tens of thousands of kids have long covid. Many teachers can no longer work.

Research shows infection can impact behaviour, cognition, trigger anxiety and depression, affect the immune system, impact any organ, make people more susceptible to other illnesses and viruses.

More children are pushed into poverty when a parent has to join the ‘unable to work’ statistics - because of school acquired covid. Children have to also cope with the non-financial impacts on their quality of life when a parent or sibling becomes ill long term, along with the loss of the parent or sibling they knew.

The benefits of addressing indoor air - increases attendance, reduces asthma, improves concentration, removes/reduces viral load, reduces allergens.

Since covid arrived, government buildings such as DfE and parliament have had indoor air addressed. Will labour put this in place for schools - even if it’s just HEPA - and when?

Will Labour acknowledge the issues covid is causing in education? If so, when and what are their plans to address them? If not, what plans will be put in place to address the costs of policy staying as it is?

Hi all,

We wish we could have asked all your questions but we chose a selection that we thought best represented the topics raised - including private school fees, RAAC and childcare. You can watch the video here.

Thanks again for your brilliant questions!

MNHQ.