London,
22
October
2021
|
12:51
Europe/London

Have your say on the future of education in Camden

The Council and Camden Learning are asking for views on a plan to help ensure Camden has an education system that is fit for the challenges facing the borough and supports pupils even more now and in the future.

Camden’s new draft education strategy, Building Back Stronger, has been developed by the Council and Camden Learning, in collaboration with local schools and education experts from outside the borough.

The plan aims to ensure education settings in the borough can respond to the current challenges they are facing such as falling pupil numbers and the impacts from the pandemic, as well as ensuring they can be in an even better position to prepare young people for learning and life after education.

Everyone with an interest in education is invited to contribute their ideas and feedback as part of a six-week consultation which is open from Friday 22 October until Monday 6 December 2021.

Some of the key proposals in the plan include setting up ‘Opportunity Centres’ in the borough to facilitate out-of-school learning for pupils, free courses for parents to develop their digital skills so they can support their children’s learning, food in school initiatives to link with wider food poverty work and supporting a more successful transition of pupils between educational settings.

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This is a unique moment, as we come out of the pandemic - a once in a generation opportunity to refresh our ambitions for our education system in Camden.

We know that COVID-19 has touched the lives of every child and every family, but it has also revealed great differences between families’ lives and laid bare huge inequalities and widening achievement gaps. Overcoming those inequalities – ensuring that no child is left behind - is a fundamental element of this strategy. Equity and excellence in education must go hand in hand.
Cllr Angela Mason, Cabinet Member for Best Start for Children and Families
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This is a time of great change and we know that ‘getting back to normal’ is not enough. The policies and practices that have delivered improvements for the previous generation of children will not take us to where we need to be by 2030.

We therefore talked with young people, with schools and many others in Camden and beyond to help us think about the future. This included thinking about the sort of education that will foster young people’s ability to stretch themselves, to fulfil their potential, to be confident in themselves and their identity, to lead happy and fulfilling lives, to find rewarding work and to contribute positively to society.

It included thinking about ways our schools could collaborate to build back stronger. This has all given us an ambitious agenda for change which we want to discuss more widely across Camden over the next few months before agreeing the final strategy in January 2022.
Professor Christine Gilbert CBE, former Ofsted Chief Inspector and Chair of Camden Learning
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