00:00Well very good to see you all this morning. Welcome to Downing Street. We often say in our country that
00:08every child goes or should go as far as their talent or ability will take them. And it sounds a
00:13good thing to say. But it's honoured in the bridge. For so many children they're held back by a system
00:20that doesn't work for them.
00:22So I've got examples in my own family. So I'm sitting here with the great privilege of sitting here as
00:28Prime Minister having come from a working class background. My brother Nick who sadly died of cancer a year ago
00:35at Boxingham had difficulties learning at school.
00:39And he was put to one side. He had to fight even to be seen, to be counted. And his
00:46life was very different from mine. He spent his adult life wandering from one job to another in virtual poverty
00:52because the system didn't work for him.
00:54He couldn't be seen. He couldn't be acknowledged. Now I'm not saying for a moment there haven't been huge improvements
01:00since then. But our same sense is still there of children that cannot find the opportunities and the chances that
01:09they need to go as far as their talents and their ability will take them.
01:12And we have to hold on to that principle. And we have to hold on to that principle. It is
01:14really important that every single child, every single child could go as far as their talents and ability will take
01:20them, wherever that may be.
01:21I don't have a prescription for where that should be. And as parents, Vic and I don't have that for
01:26our own children, as long as they can go as far as their talents and ability will take them.
01:31Today is the chance that we get together, which is why there's been a buzz in the room, to change
01:36that and to seize the issue of a better education for every single child.
01:43And I want to start by saying thank you to everyone around the table, because this has been a really
01:47interactive, inclusive, engaged process.
01:51And I know that your fingerprints are on a lot of what we've done. We've engaged really broadly across the
01:57political parties as well, our own backbenchers and engagement throughout other sectors.
02:03Because this is very much a change that we want to do with parents, with those who provide, with those
02:10who know what they're talking about, not to them.
02:12And I think that's the way we'll make a real success of it. And thank you to those of you
02:16this morning that have reflected back to me the open approach that Bridget and Georgia and the team have taken.
02:23There are a number of strands, you'll be familiar with them, starting obviously with high quality trusts.
02:27This is all about high quality. Standards should not be compromised for anything.
02:34And so we start with high quality trusts, with an enrichment opportunity, which includes a broader curriculum, which I am
02:41very keen on.
02:43Giving children the chance to do things they wouldn't otherwise have the chance to do.
02:47Including a broader curriculum that allows them to play music, to study art and drama,
02:54to be included in other things that allow them to build the confidence that they need.
03:01We're recruiting 6,500 teachers, much needed, and absolutely driving on attendance.
03:08This has been a major concern, by the way, of the pandemic, which is the number of children who aren't
03:12attending school.
03:13We say we want better education. We say we want every child to have the best opportunity they can have.
03:19That cannot happen if they're not even in school.
03:23We've made huge advances already in the last 18 months or so.
03:29We want 20 million extra days regained by 2030.
03:34That means 20 million more days of children in school learning rather than out of school where they're not learning.
03:40We want to focus on entrenched disadvantage.
03:43And we've got Mission North East and Mission Coastal, which is all part of that special focus.
03:50But it's important that we address this this morning.
03:52You can't have high standards if you don't have inclusion.
03:56They're two sides of the same part.
03:58And therefore we have to reform special educational needs.
04:03This is the issue that's come up with Prime Minister's questions more than any other from all political parties in
04:09all parts of the country.
04:10That is really unusual.
04:12And that tells you something about the fact that the system does not work as it is.
04:17And so we're bringing about major changes.
04:19The first is to make sure that the provision is actually there for all the children that really need it
04:25rather than having an individualized system where parents have to fight, fight, fight the individual plan for their particular child.
04:36But there's no sense of a provision for all of the children that need it.
04:41Without that fight, we're actually working together.
04:43Of course, it's not just parents who are fighting, local authorities are in that fight as well.
04:48Secondly, inclusive is the principle.
04:50So doing it in mainstream schools.
04:51This is so important with so many advantages to children as they grow up to be in the mainstream school.
04:59The grades they get are better.
05:00But it's much more important than that because we want them to go from school to an inclusive society to
05:06be able to have an enriched life.
05:08And that starts by having an enriched life in school, which is where inclusion and doing this in the mainstream
05:15is so, so important.
05:16And then thirdly, and really importantly, because people, when you want to, most people say, I do want it to
05:22be better.
05:22I do want it to be reformed.
05:23I don't think it's good enough.
05:25But I'm a bit anxious about changing.
05:27What we're thinking is the principle that we'll do the change first, so the system, the new system's in place,
05:33before we make the necessary changes to the current system.
05:37And therefore, what is there that is better is in place by the time the change happens, rather than saying
05:45to parents and carers now, well, we'll take you on a journey and ask you to take a leap of
05:51faith with us.
05:52I don't think that's fair.
05:53I don't think that's right.
05:54And so that's the third principle.
05:56So today is about moving forward on those changes.
05:59I want to thank Bridget in particular for her leadership on this and leadership in every sense of the word
06:05from the absolute determination that she holds that every child should go as far as their talent and ability will
06:12take them, which is a very important driving value for Bridget, but also the way in which she's conducted her
06:18team to ensure that it's a place where ideas, voices, experience can be brought in to the reform rather than
06:27left out of the reform.
06:28So I'll pass over to Bridget, but thank you again, all of you, for being part of this, and through
06:33all the other people as well.
06:35So you're here in your own right, you're here also as representatives of the very many people who've helped us.
06:40But it is important today that we start the next stage with you sitting around the table with us.
06:45So thank you very much.
06:46Bridget, over to you.
06:47Great, thanks so much.
06:48I won't say much because I want to hear from all of you, but I just want to say a
06:52massive thank you to everyone around this table.
06:54We took the decision, I took the decision last year that we needed to pause on where we are to
06:59make sure that the reforms that we bring forward command the confidence of parents, command the confidence of all of
07:04you who have expertise working across education, social care and the charity sector.
07:09And I'm glad we did that because I think the reforms that we're setting out today are not only stronger
07:14for that engagement, stronger for your input, I think will deliver better life chances for children.
07:20And that has been the driving principle behind all of this, how we make sure that every child in our
07:24country can achieve and thrive.
07:27And I'm confident that what we're setting out today gives us that opportunity and will give the next generation a
07:32better chance than those who have gone before.
07:34There's a lot we need to change in the here and now as we build up that system to make
07:38it better for children currently going through education.
07:42But this is such a big opportunity for us, the kind of opportunity that only comes about once in a
07:47generation.
07:48So thank you for all of your input.
07:49I think this is really something that we can seize together, make happen and you can all feel proud in
07:55the years to come that you were a part of changing the system to make it better for children.
08:00So thanks so much and please extend my thanks to all of those working with you and behind you to
08:05make that happen.
08:05Thanks a lot.
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