Ed Balls visits the school

The Students, Staff and Governors were delighted to hear that Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families was due to visit the school on June 12th and the day was a great success. It was an excellent opportunity for Mr Balls to see the fantastic new building and facilities and to witness the high quality work produced by our students.

 

On arrival Mr Balls was greeted by Stephanie Carter and Calum Sherwood from our sixth form together with, Steven Beattie and Jennifer Beattie from our student council. Mr Balls then met with Mr Grigg, Headteacher and local MP Dave Anderson to discuss the key areas where Government could help schools in raising achievement and was very open to hearing the views of the school. This was then followed by a tour of the school stopping at Miss Martin's year 12 politics class where Mr Balls met with some of the country's potential future leaders. Next stop was Athena, Lord Lawson's fantastic purpose built hairdressing salon where Mr Balls witnessed first-hand how applied learning both enthuses the students and opens up opportunities that would not normally be available to them.

When Mr Balls addressed the school he was very complimentary about the success of the school and was very keen to support us in sharing our expertise and good practices by working with other schools. He commented that Lord Lawson of Beamish School with around 80% of students achieving 5 or more high grades (A*-C) at GCSE for the last three years and with an average points score per student being among the highest in the country, is ideally positioned to support and compliment the work of the National Challenge.

The National Challenge was launched on 10 June 2008 and will support schools with the lowest GCSE results, so that by 2011 at least 30 per cent of pupils in every secondary school will leave with five or more good GCSEs, including English and mathematics. For further information on the National Challenge go to http://www.dfes.gov.uk/publications/nationalchallenge/

Lord Lawson of Beamish School is an 'Outstanding' school (Ofsted 2006) with an excellent track record of high achievement and we look forward to supporting the National challenge so that together we can raise achievement for all and equip young people with the skills and competencies necessary for life in the 21st century.