00:00Our school system has come a long way. Comprehensive education taking hold in the 1960s,
00:07Jim Callaghan's great debate in the 1970s, and the national curriculum in the late 1980s.
00:13SATs were introduced when I was at school in the early 90s, and it was only then that I was
00:18properly taught times tables. Then came academies under labour in the 2000s. And that journey of
00:24change in our schools still has far to go. Because our system works well for some children,
00:30but not all. Not all. I was lucky. Jack was lucky. These sorts of stories give me hope.
00:37But it's the others that drive me. The children like us, who went off to school every morning,
00:44just like we did, with dreams to do well, just like we had. But who went to different schools,
00:50taught by different teachers, not trained to meet their needs, who weren't included in the
00:56achievement that others enjoyed. They didn't get success stories of their own, just disappointment.
01:03And I'm not content to ignore all of them, to point out a lucky few and to call that system
01:09a success,
01:09because I am for all children. Because despite the heroic efforts of all of our staff,
01:15the disadvantage gap is still wide. Children with send are sidelined. And bright children from
01:23ordinary families are still not achieving all that they should.
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