Sadly Greenwich has been in the bottom 10 in the country for most of the last 8 years and the worst in London for most of that time at Secondary level. Conservatives think that after nearly 40 years the Labour run Council has had enough time to try to improve the schools. In Primary education one of the main concerns remains that, despite having some very good schools the overall level remains very poor, suggesting many schools are well below an acceptable level. In addition, truancy remains high.

Conservatives would look to improve schooling across Greenwich:

Conservatives in Greenwich and nationally have clear plans to support our children in doing better at school. In the 2009 league tables, Greenwich Secondary Schools have the worst results in London at 5 A* to C grades for GCSE. Also only 14.5% of Greenwich GCSE students achieve a ‘traditional’ education of C grade or above in English, Maths, Science and a foreign language. At the same time fewer students are getting places at the schools their parents choose, with almost 1 in 10 primary children not going to a school of their choice.

The long planned move of the John Roan School to the Peninsula has been halted. The School Governors decided that as there was no definitive timetable for the completion of the school that the school will stay on its current sites.

In September, children who previously attended the newly built Charlotte Turner School in Deptford have been faced with having to move to new schools as Greenwich Council had  taken the decision to close their one.

Conservatives have condemned Labour’s handling of the new schools programme for Greenwich Schools. The Labour Council stated that new and refurbished schools would open in Sept 2009, but only 2 out of 5 had been started at that point. Labour had yet to submit a plan for three schools including Plumstead Manor by at the start of term. Leader of Greenwich Conservatives Spencer Drury said: “There are fears that the new schools programme will be cut, so our Council’s incompetence will have a major impact on our children.

Greenwich Conservatives have been pressuring Labour about their failure to keep their  promise to build new secondary schools for our children. Labour had said all the schools would be open in September 2009, but not a single one has been built.
 

Legislation introduced by the Labour government could be used to stop children living in Greenwich attending good schools in other boroughs. In January Labour’s schools adjudicator decided to stop around 70 students in Rugby crossing the boundary from Northamptonshire to Warwickshire because it undermined comprehensives in the former county. This ruling could be applied to Greenwich, where in 2008 nearly 800 students fled the borough secondary schools at age 11, with 590 going to Bexley alone (Welling School took 106, Bexley Grammar 52 and Beaverwood 38).

It’s a sad fact that Greenwich isn’t blessed with many good state maintained schools. Yet education is the most powerful means by which our children can be given the freedom to shape their future.

Yet again Greenwich secondary schools have come bottom of the league tables for GCSE results in London.  New figures published today show just 40.2% of our children gain 5 or more GCSEs at grades A*-C - this compares to 61.7% in neighbouring Conservative Bromley, 56.6% in Bexley and 46.2% in Lewisham.

The results have been released of the key stage 2  test scores in English, Maths, and Science, taken by all 10-11 year olds (last year of Primary School) for May 2004. Greenwich, as a local education authority was ranked eighth from bottom in the country.