A fair criticism of politics is MPs make decisions about things they know little amount about. Certainly we are briefed well, and MPs specialise in areas that we understand better, through select committees. But it is a truism of life that everyone knows well the immediate world around them, but practically nothing about the wider world.
I try to address this in my approach to being an MP. I have spent time with the armed forces, a day with Kidderminster fire station, and on patrol with the police. A couple of weeks ago I spent a day shadowing a teacher at Baxter College.
Baxter is a school that in its former incarnation as Harry Cheshire, failed badly. But under principal Dave Seddon has successfully turned around. Baxter faces challenges with perhaps the widest profile of student – from troubled to Oxbridge candidates
My day started at 8 am, with the senior management team meeting, followed by the staff meeting. After year 8 assembly, where I answered a few searching questions about my job, I joined Laura Lane to shadow three of her science classes, teaching a variety of pupil profiles. Laura is an outstanding teacher, sensitive to the needs of her pupils and to their level of understanding. She enthuses them, yet keeps discipline in an extraordinarily sublime way. It was a delight to watch her.
Later, I saw another side of the school – that of how to bring frequent truants back into education. This is the very tricky side of things – how to make sure that kids from challenging backgrounds get the education they need to break the bad the cycles and achieve opportunity in life.
Baxter is an incredible institution. I know it well and have nothing but respect for the school and those who work in it. The same applies for all our schools across Wyre Forest. These schools, and those who work in them, believe passionately about the power of a good education to boost life chances and break any cycles of social deprivation.
This story ends on an incredibly happy note. Last week, Laura Lane received the Pearson prize for best teacher in the region and goes forward to the finals for best teacher in the country. That we can attract that calibre of teacher locally is a tribute to the principals who run our schools across Wyre Forest.