After months of campaigning, St Albans MP Daisy Cooper has welcomed a major decision which could mean more money for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in Hertfordshire.

The Liberal Democrat MP has been trying to get the government to investigate and fix a huge shortfall in central funding for SEND support.

In 2021/22, funding for SEND in Hertfordshire worked out at an average of £430 per pupil. The average figure for neighbouring counties was £601 per pupil – a huge £171 difference.

Now, after fifteen months of campaigning by Daisy and Hertfordshire Liberal Democrat County Councillors, the government has agreed to look into it.

After first raising the issue in a meeting with the relevant Minister in December 2021, Daisy has spent months trying to secure the relevant financial information from Hertfordshire County Council.

On 9 January, Daisy wrote to the Minister again and asked all other Hertfordshire MPs to join her in lobbying the government.

The Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing Claire Coutinho MP responded to Daisy on 21 February to confirm that an investigation will be launched into the data used to arrive at the funding decisions.

Daisy Cooper MP said:

“I know from my constituency surgeries that parents in St Albans often face an uphill battle to get their children the right SEND support.

“Insufficient funding is a huge part of the problem and it’s just unfair that pupils with SEND in Hertfordshire are missing out – even compared to those in neighbouring counties – because of the government’s flawed funding formula.

“This decision by the government to investigate this is very welcome, and a big step forward.

“Now I’ll be pressing for a meeting with the Minister to ensure that children in St Albans and across Hertfordshire have a fighting chance of getting the help they need.”

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Daisy Cooper has visited a St Albans school to present it with an award that recognised it for its happy, inclusive, and nurturing culture.

St Peter’s School has received the National Nurturing Schools Award (NNSA) after successfully completing a two-year programme.

Headteacher Gillie Young and reception teacher Fiona Boggis led an initiative to effectively embedding six principles of nurture into school life, including the classroom as a safe space and supporting each other through change.

Daisy presented the award at a special assembly for the entire school.

Gillie said: “Nurture is incredibly important to us and at St Peter’s we recognize the whole child – it’s not just about their academic progress and development, it’s about their emotional wellbeing as well.

“We want to ensure that we develop skills in all our children so that they are ready to take the next step to secondary school and beyond. We also want to ensure that we create the right learning environment for the children so that we are building supportive and nurturing relationships between the children and all the staff that work at St Peter’s.”

Fiona added: “Having a nurturing approach is central to our school life, as we know children learn best when they feel happy and secure. We are very proud of the work our school community has done to achieve this award and we look forward to continuing to develop our practice.”

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“It’s not enough for BSL to just be ‘recognised’ as a language of its own right – it deserves to have legal status.”

Daisy Cooper MP joined students from Heathlands School for deaf children at a rally for the British Sign Language (BSL) Bill in Trafalgar Square.

At the rally, four children from Heathlands got on stage to talk about their hopes for the future and the importance of BSL.

Also speaking at the rally was Rose Ayling-Ellis, who was the first deaf person to compete – and win – on Strictly Come Dancing, as well as deaf and disabled rights campaigner David Buxton.

BSL was recognised as an “official” language by the UK government in 2003, but it does not have legal protection. Once the bill is passed into law, public services would be legally required to follow guidance on how to put BSL in place.

On Friday, the day of the rally, the BSL Bill passed its third reading unopposed.

Daisy said: “There’s a really strong and active deaf community here in St Albans, of which Heathlands School is an integral part.

“I’m really impressed with how the school has involved and engaged all its pupils in the Bill’s progress – from making posters and placards for the rallies, to watching Parliamentary livestreams of debates on the Bill.  

“It’s not enough for BSL to just be ‘recognised’ as a language of its own right – it deserves to have legal status. It’ll be a momentous day for deaf people in the UK once this bill is passed into law.”

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“Right now, children who have already missed out on so much school will miss yet more – for every child in England, the tests will take 300,000 hours, or 60,000 school days, to complete. That’s time which would be far better spent by teachers observing children and really getting to know them. These unfair tests must be abandoned now.”

Daisy Cooper MP and the chief executive of a St Albans-headquartered early years association are supporting calls for Reception Baseline Assessments – which are given to children aged four in schools – to be abandoned.

Daisy and Beatrice Merrick, Chief Executive of Early Education, both attended a rally last week in support of campaign group More Than A Score, which is calling on the Education Secretary, Nadhim Zahawi MP, and the  Minister of State for School Standards, Robin Walker MP, to stop the assessments.

The rally started with a gathering at Parliament Square where Daisy spoke with parents, children, and campaign organisers, and continued to Downing Street to hand in a petition with more than 112,000 signatures.

Reception Baseline Assessments are given by taking children out of the classroom one-by-one and asking a series of questions with right or wrong answers. The results are not shared with schools or parents but are held for seven years and then compared with SATs scores in order to measure schools.

The rally happened the same week as the publication of the results of ‘The Big Ask’ survey from the Children’s Commissioner, which accounted for the views of 500,000 children in England – more than half of whom said that having good mental health was a priority for them.

Daisy said: “Baseline testing means the conveyor belt of testing is now starting at the age of four. Children will have only two primary years when they will not have to face a high-pressure government test.  

“Now the number of statutory tests has been doubled in the current school year. During a week when the Big Ask report has revealed that mental health is a priority for our young people, this petition from More Than A Score reveals the huge number of parents and teachers that feel that this constant testing of children is doing anything but prioritising their mental health.

“Right now, children who have already missed out on so much school will miss yet more – for every child in England, the tests will take 300,000 hours, or 60,000 school days, to complete. That’s time which would be far better spent by teachers observing children and really getting to know them. These unfair tests must be abandoned now.”

Beatrice Merrick said: ““Early Education supports the More Than A Score campaign to scrap the Reception Baseline Assessment, because our members in schools and nurseries across the country tell us that it’s pointless, time-consuming and takes them away from helping children settle in and start to learn. 

“It doesn’t give them any helpful information as it’s not designed to.  It’s just a government box-ticking exercise.  Do we really want to judge primary schools by comparing results from a 20 minute test in children’s first few weeks of school with their Year 6 SATs?  Do we want children’s early experiences of primary school to include being taken aside and asked to do a test of literacy and maths? 

“We say the Government needs to scrap the Reception Baseline and focus on getting children learning.”

Big Ask Survey results: https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/the_big_ask_the_big_answer_09_2021.pdf

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“If the Government is serious about education recovery and levelling up, it needs to stump up the money to fund our children’s futures now.”

Daisy Cooper MP is calling on the Government to provide more funding for schools, which she says are being put in an “unconscionable position” of having to choose between which services to cut. 

The MP, also Spokesperson for Education for the Liberal Democrats, attended a Parliamentary briefing on Wednesday 8th September where a range of MPs met with school leaders from the NAHT to discuss the findings of its latest report into schools funding.

According to the report, one in four (26 per cent) school leaders predict a deficit budget in 2021/22 based on current funding levels. Almost a third (31 per cent) of school leaders reported making cuts to balance their budget in 2020/21, rising to 35 per cent who expect they will be forced to make cuts this academic year.

Daisy said: “It’s clear from the briefing I attended and from the NAHT report that headteachers are being put in unconscionable position. Whether they’re considering whether to cut full-time positions, teaching assistants, or special needs education support – they simply shouldn’t be in that position.”

“Unfortunately, I’m not shocked by the findings of the report – I’ve talked to many headteachers and school governors right here in St Albans during my time as an MP, and the key issues always come down to a lack of funding.

“The Government has already let children down by refusing to fund its own adviser’s education catch-up plan, granting just a fraction of the recommended £15bn, and then again by moving the goalposts on pupil premium funding, which will negatively affect those pupils who are already disadvantaged.

“If the Government is serious about education recovery and levelling up, it needs to stump up the money to fund our children’s futures now.”

NAHT report: https://www.naht.org.uk/Our-Priorities/Funding/ArtMID/724/ArticleID/1223/A-failure-to-invest-the-state-of-school-funding-2021

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“In short, a proper plan, properly funded, will allow as many children as possible to attend school safely without undoing the sacrifices that the British people have made.”

Daisy Cooper MP is calling on the Government to create a ‘rapid task force’ that would keep schools open and Covid-secure. 

Currently, around 375,000 pupils – or one in 20 – are out of school for Covid-related reasons, the highest rate since schools fully reopened in March this year. Most of these children have not tested positive but are within ‘bubbles’ sent home to self-isolate.

The MP spoke about this issue in the House of Commons on Tuesday 29th June and further highlighted the matter in a letter to education secretary Gavin Williamson. Both times, she called on the government to “urgently establish a rapid task force, with a mandate to keep schools open safely.”

Daisy said that reports that the Government might stop bubbling and self-isolations altogether were “alarming”, saying: “In that situation, transmission could go through the roof, opening up the whole country to the risk of new variants.”

The task force, she said, would be asked to develop guidance by the end of July and give school leaders sufficient time at the start of the autumn term to ensure measure are in place at the start of September, before pupils return.

Daisy added: “The rapid task force should consider a number of issues the Liberal Democrats have raised previously, including the need for proper ventilation within school settings; as well as regular testing, contact tracing, face coverings and a review of bubble sizes to make them as small as possible.

“In short, a proper plan, properly funded, will allow as many children as possible to attend school safely without undoing the sacrifices that the British people have made.

“I understand that the Association of Directors of Public Health has separately already indicated that it wants to see a root-and-branch review of current measures to develop a plan for what Covid-secure schools look like with the Delta variant.”

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“The Government keeps talking about how ‘no child will be left behind’ and the importance of ‘levelling up’ – but yet, the amount of education catch-up funding announced amounts to just £310 per pupil over the next three years”

Responding to the news Sir Kevan Collins is standing down, Daisy Cooper MP said: “Many people, including me, will be sad but not surprised that Sir Kevan is standing down. The education recovery commissioner resigned in a row over the Government’s £1.4bn catch-up fund for children – just a tenth of the £15bn package that Sir Kevan proposed.

“This pitiful offer of £1.4bn to support a generation of people who have lost months of learning was an insult to both him and to our young people.

“The Government keeps talking about how ‘no child will be left behind’ and the importance of ‘levelling up’ – but yet, the amount of education catch-up funding announced amounts to just £310 per pupil over the next three years, compared with £1,600 in the United States and a whopping £2,500 in the Netherlands.

“Education has to remain a top priority with a long-term focus if children have any chance recouping the time and opportunities they lost over the pandemic. But with the Gavin Williamson still in his post as education secretary that doesn’t look likely.

“From a lack of guidance on online learning, to forgetting BTEC students, to last summer’s A-level grading fiasco, to failing to provide adequate free school meals over lockdown, and the delays to getting laptops to children who needed them, Williamson’s track record speaks for itself – which is to say, against him.

“As Liberal Democrat Education Spokesperson, I’m calling for him to step down now, for the sake of our young people, and their futures.”

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I was so pleased to be invited to open this fantastic new playground – I hope it gives the children at Maple Primary School many happy hours to play, explore and exercise, now and for years to come.”

A long-awaited new playground at Maple Primary School in St Albans has been officially opened by Daisy Cooper MP.

The children and teachers of Maple Primary School in Hall Place Gardens, St Albans, celebrated the grand opening of their new playground equipment after a massive fundraising effort organised by the parent-teachers association (PTA).

It took more than two years to plan and raise funds for the playground project, with progress hindered due to the pandemic.

The entire school watched the event in their class bubbles as Daisy Cooper cut the ribbon, helped by the oldest and youngest pupils of the school. 

The apparatus includes a trim trail for the ‘junior area’ – formerly an unused muddy area – and a log climber for the ‘infant area’, which replaced 20-year-old equipment.

The fund-raising drive included a ‘Reindeer dash for cash’ before Christmas in which the children wore reindeer antlers and ran as many laps of a running track as they could to gain sponsorship from their friends and family, raising as much as £4,000 in the process.

The grand opening on 16 April was the end of a special week for the school. Mrs Shanti Johnson completed her first week as interim head teacher, following the departure of Mr Timothy Bowen at the end of the last term after a 20-year tenure as head. 

Mrs Johnson said: “It was a pleasure to welcome Daisy Cooper to our school to celebrate the new playground equipment and the beginning of a new era.” 

Also in attendance were Abigail Mellor on behalf of Maple School PTA and Mr Matt Withers, assistant head.  

Daisy Cooper MP said: “I was so pleased to be invited to open this fantastic new playground – I hope it gives the children at Maple Primary School many happy hours to play, explore and exercise, now and for years to come.

“A big well done to the PTA for their heroic fundraising efforts – and an even bigger well done to the children who helped, some of whom ran as many as 100 laps during the ‘Reindeer dash for cash’.

“Considering the school has only 250 pupils, raising £4,000 in sponsorship for one event alone is impressive indeed.”

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