whose job is it really to educate our
children not teach but educate surely
every local community have to take
responsibility for providing an
outstanding education for every single
child within it after all doesn’t it
take a village to raise a child if our
youngest children spend less than 10
percent of their lives in a classroom
that’s right
less than 10 percent of their lives then
all of us outside that classroom have to
do more to help educate them now I can’t
begin to imagine what skills and talents
there are in this room today but I can
imagine as all coming together and using
our skills and talents and those of the
organizations we belong to and the
businesses we work for and the social
circles we move in to develop the skills
and talents and social and cultural
capital of all our children in other
words really educate them and imagine if
we focused our skills and talents on
those children who need this help most
together we could tackle one of the
greatest inequalities in our society
today like many of you I’m a parent I’m
very lucky I have three beautiful
daughters and whilst I don’t want to
embarrass my husband who’s in the room
today I will share with you the fact
that although we didn’t plan it we did
end up with large age gaps between our
three children and what that’s meant is
that in addition to the 14 years that I
personally spent in school I’ve also
spent the last 19 years experiencing
school through them and I still have
about 12 years to go their formal
schooling has been brilliant I have
absolutely no complaints there and I
genuinely believe that teaching in this
country is very good indeed
unfortunately though I’m convinced that
education in this country it’s
fundamentally flawed why well in my
professional life I work for a charity
it’s a charity that encourages all
children regardless of their background
to get out there and have a go at
structured learning activities that take
place beyond the school curriculum and
outside of the school day so activities
like after-school clubs that teach
children to program computers to take
part in team sports or even maybe to
grow and cook their own food activities
which encourage children to have fun
make new friends and what we term learn
by stealth we know from our work and
from academic studies that if your child
takes part in these sorts of activities
by the time they reach the age of seven
they will go on to perform better in
their school tests at age 11 and we also
know that these activities are directly
connected to the development of social
skills and future aspirations
so I know that formal schooling doesn’t
work in isolation and I think deep down
we all know this as an example how many
of you could put your hand on your heart
and with total and complete honesty say
I got where I am today as an adult
purely and solely based on what I
learned in school not many of you right
let’s face it
exam results will only ever get you so
far they can open doors but they will
never give you the skills and confidence
to walk through them now I know I’m
biased but not only am i daughter’s
beautiful but they are turning into
confident resilient sociable young women
because their formal schooling has been
coupled with out-of-school activities
over the years they’ve done ballet
athletics drama rugby army cadets the
list could go on all great activities
which have helped to develop their skill
set but more importantly than that have
given them the opportunity to get used
to coping with unknown faces in
unfamiliar places but all those
activities cost money so what happens in
our society is this those of us that can
afford to encourage our children to do
this stuff do but if your parents can’t
afford to grant you access to those
sorts of activities then generally you
just don’t get the opportunity to do
them at all and it’s those children who
are denied those opportunities that
to fall behind at school like
self-confidence and failed to develop
career aspirations generally they’re the
ones that won’t fulfill their potential
and they’re the least likely to go to
university or access a skilled career
there are about 900 thousand children in
UK primary schools who are eligible for
free school meals that means their
parents are on really low incomes that’s
a big number and it’s a difficult number
to get your head around so visualize for
me if you will
Wembley Stadium it seats packed full of
children under the age of 12 now picture
for me 10 Wembley Stadium
nine hundred thousand children that’s
ten Wembley Stadium full of children
under the age of 12 and now imagine that
every single one of those children was
likely to be lagging behind already
educationally when they started school
at the age of four and imagine every
single one of them is quite likely to be
in a school that doesn’t have great
extracurricular provision and all of
them so every single one is less likely
than they’re better off friends to
benefit from a rich learning environment
at home what’s really worrying is
experts predict that at current rates it
will take 120 years before disadvantaged
teenagers in this country can expect to
achieve the same qualifications
and therefore faithful same choices and
chances in life as they’re better off
peers in what sort of society is that’s
okay it is totally unacceptable in this
day and age the way you get to in life
depends more on where you come from than
where you aspire to go to so surely
where you come from has to play a
greater role in giving you the best
start in life the reality is we’re not
taking enough advantage of the massive
amount of time our children spend
outside a classroom all the assets we
have in our communities to ensure that
all our children benefit from informal
learning time and we’re certainly not
doing it for those children who really
need it my youngest daughter Ava is six
and before Ava started school we went to
one of those new parents evenings that
you get invited to at that event her
headmaster stood up and he said this by
the time your child leaves this school
aged eleven they will have only spent
nine percent of their life in school
that means ninety one percent of their
education is down to you ninety-one
percent shocking isn’t it when you start
to view your child’s education in those
terms firstly as a parent you go cripes
gosh I need to do more well this but
secondly you start to think of the
potential
of that village I mentioned right back
at the start to contribute sadly many
parents don’t think learning exists
outside a classroom
so why would it be something that you do
at the weekends or in the holidays yet
there’s a very real thing called summer
learning loss and it plays a significant
role in widening the attainment gap
between rich and poor of course all
children forget lots of what they’ve
learned in a classroom during the
holidays but children from low-income
families especially lose vast amounts of
learning during the summer because they
simply don’t get Fame and Richmond as
other children so for example they might
not go on holiday or get to visit a
local museum or library it really is
time that as communities as villages we
tune into this challenge and we find
more ways and better ways of partnering
with schools and families to make sure
that every child keeps learning when
they’re not in school if we truly
developed asset based community
education with all of us filling that 91
percent with fun exciting inspirational
and aspirational learning activities
then not only would we lessen the burden
on our schools because we’d send back
into the classroom after every break
better and more ready learners but we’d
show off the brilliant assets our
communities have in their people places
and professions and we might just raise
a generation that is so proud of where
it comes from that it wants to stay
there and ensure the next generation
fulfills its potential – we all have
skills and talents to offer so I
challenge you to think about what you
and how with the right support you could
turn those into a learning experience
for local children and imagine if that
became something we all just did a
natural part of the ethos of our village
and imagine if we literally gave our
skills and talents making them
accessible to all families so that no
child ever got left out or left behind
maybe then learning outside the
classroom and the edge that it gives you
and believe you me it really does give
you an edge in life wouldn’t remain the
privilege of the better off view that it
is today there is absolutely no evidence
that suggests that these attainment and
opportunity gaps that I’ve talked about
can’t be closed for all children but the
power to close them live with us so to
end I challenge this very community here
today this village if you like to step
up to take responsibility and to provide
the real education that’s needed to
ensure that every single child
we know succeeds thank you
children not teach but educate surely
every local community have to take
responsibility for providing an
outstanding education for every single
child within it after all doesn’t it
take a village to raise a child if our
youngest children spend less than 10
percent of their lives in a classroom
that’s right
less than 10 percent of their lives then
all of us outside that classroom have to
do more to help educate them now I can’t
begin to imagine what skills and talents
there are in this room today but I can
imagine as all coming together and using
our skills and talents and those of the
organizations we belong to and the
businesses we work for and the social
circles we move in to develop the skills
and talents and social and cultural
capital of all our children in other
words really educate them and imagine if
we focused our skills and talents on
those children who need this help most
together we could tackle one of the
greatest inequalities in our society
today like many of you I’m a parent I’m
very lucky I have three beautiful
daughters and whilst I don’t want to
embarrass my husband who’s in the room
today I will share with you the fact
that although we didn’t plan it we did
end up with large age gaps between our
three children and what that’s meant is
that in addition to the 14 years that I
personally spent in school I’ve also
spent the last 19 years experiencing
school through them and I still have
about 12 years to go their formal
schooling has been brilliant I have
absolutely no complaints there and I
genuinely believe that teaching in this
country is very good indeed
unfortunately though I’m convinced that
education in this country it’s
fundamentally flawed why well in my
professional life I work for a charity
it’s a charity that encourages all
children regardless of their background
to get out there and have a go at
structured learning activities that take
place beyond the school curriculum and
outside of the school day so activities
like after-school clubs that teach
children to program computers to take
part in team sports or even maybe to
grow and cook their own food activities
which encourage children to have fun
make new friends and what we term learn
by stealth we know from our work and
from academic studies that if your child
takes part in these sorts of activities
by the time they reach the age of seven
they will go on to perform better in
their school tests at age 11 and we also
know that these activities are directly
connected to the development of social
skills and future aspirations
so I know that formal schooling doesn’t
work in isolation and I think deep down
we all know this as an example how many
of you could put your hand on your heart
and with total and complete honesty say
I got where I am today as an adult
purely and solely based on what I
learned in school not many of you right
let’s face it
exam results will only ever get you so
far they can open doors but they will
never give you the skills and confidence
to walk through them now I know I’m
biased but not only am i daughter’s
beautiful but they are turning into
confident resilient sociable young women
because their formal schooling has been
coupled with out-of-school activities
over the years they’ve done ballet
athletics drama rugby army cadets the
list could go on all great activities
which have helped to develop their skill
set but more importantly than that have
given them the opportunity to get used
to coping with unknown faces in
unfamiliar places but all those
activities cost money so what happens in
our society is this those of us that can
afford to encourage our children to do
this stuff do but if your parents can’t
afford to grant you access to those
sorts of activities then generally you
just don’t get the opportunity to do
them at all and it’s those children who
are denied those opportunities that
to fall behind at school like
self-confidence and failed to develop
career aspirations generally they’re the
ones that won’t fulfill their potential
and they’re the least likely to go to
university or access a skilled career
there are about 900 thousand children in
UK primary schools who are eligible for
free school meals that means their
parents are on really low incomes that’s
a big number and it’s a difficult number
to get your head around so visualize for
me if you will
Wembley Stadium it seats packed full of
children under the age of 12 now picture
for me 10 Wembley Stadium
nine hundred thousand children that’s
ten Wembley Stadium full of children
under the age of 12 and now imagine that
every single one of those children was
likely to be lagging behind already
educationally when they started school
at the age of four and imagine every
single one of them is quite likely to be
in a school that doesn’t have great
extracurricular provision and all of
them so every single one is less likely
than they’re better off friends to
benefit from a rich learning environment
at home what’s really worrying is
experts predict that at current rates it
will take 120 years before disadvantaged
teenagers in this country can expect to
achieve the same qualifications
and therefore faithful same choices and
chances in life as they’re better off
peers in what sort of society is that’s
okay it is totally unacceptable in this
day and age the way you get to in life
depends more on where you come from than
where you aspire to go to so surely
where you come from has to play a
greater role in giving you the best
start in life the reality is we’re not
taking enough advantage of the massive
amount of time our children spend
outside a classroom all the assets we
have in our communities to ensure that
all our children benefit from informal
learning time and we’re certainly not
doing it for those children who really
need it my youngest daughter Ava is six
and before Ava started school we went to
one of those new parents evenings that
you get invited to at that event her
headmaster stood up and he said this by
the time your child leaves this school
aged eleven they will have only spent
nine percent of their life in school
that means ninety one percent of their
education is down to you ninety-one
percent shocking isn’t it when you start
to view your child’s education in those
terms firstly as a parent you go cripes
gosh I need to do more well this but
secondly you start to think of the
potential
of that village I mentioned right back
at the start to contribute sadly many
parents don’t think learning exists
outside a classroom
so why would it be something that you do
at the weekends or in the holidays yet
there’s a very real thing called summer
learning loss and it plays a significant
role in widening the attainment gap
between rich and poor of course all
children forget lots of what they’ve
learned in a classroom during the
holidays but children from low-income
families especially lose vast amounts of
learning during the summer because they
simply don’t get Fame and Richmond as
other children so for example they might
not go on holiday or get to visit a
local museum or library it really is
time that as communities as villages we
tune into this challenge and we find
more ways and better ways of partnering
with schools and families to make sure
that every child keeps learning when
they’re not in school if we truly
developed asset based community
education with all of us filling that 91
percent with fun exciting inspirational
and aspirational learning activities
then not only would we lessen the burden
on our schools because we’d send back
into the classroom after every break
better and more ready learners but we’d
show off the brilliant assets our
communities have in their people places
and professions and we might just raise
a generation that is so proud of where
it comes from that it wants to stay
there and ensure the next generation
fulfills its potential – we all have
skills and talents to offer so I
challenge you to think about what you
and how with the right support you could
turn those into a learning experience
for local children and imagine if that
became something we all just did a
natural part of the ethos of our village
and imagine if we literally gave our
skills and talents making them
accessible to all families so that no
child ever got left out or left behind
maybe then learning outside the
classroom and the edge that it gives you
and believe you me it really does give
you an edge in life wouldn’t remain the
privilege of the better off view that it
is today there is absolutely no evidence
that suggests that these attainment and
opportunity gaps that I’ve talked about
can’t be closed for all children but the
power to close them live with us so to
end I challenge this very community here
today this village if you like to step
up to take responsibility and to provide
the real education that’s needed to
ensure that every single child
we know succeeds thank you
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