As shared on her twitter handle on Wednesday, read below
This is how
we will use Brexit to build a country that w
orks for everyone, not just a
privileged few.
This week,
schools across England return from the summer break to start a new academic
year. Infants will experience their first day at school. Teenagers will make
the transition to college. For all, this is a time of excitement and promise.
Parliament
also returns this week. The biggest single item on our agenda is the
legislation to make our withdrawal from the European Union a reality and a
success. But the result of last year’s referendum represented more than just a
vote to leave the EU – it was a vote for change here at home, too.
I am
determined that the Government I lead will deliver that change and make Britain
a stronger and fairer country as a result.
That starts
with building a first-class state education system, which gives every child,
regardless of their background, an excellent start in life. The children and
young people starting back at school or college this week will benefit directly
from seven years of successful school reform from Conservative Education
Secretaries.
There are
1.8 million more pupils being taught in good or outstanding schools today than
there were in 2010. Our new, more rigorous GCSEs and A-levels are raising the
standards we expect of our young people, so they can match the best education
systems in the world. As this summer’s excellent exam results showed, teachers
and students have risen to the challenge.
Despite
having to take difficult decisions to control public spending and reduce the
deficit, we have been able to protect the core schools budget since 2010. But I
know that more now needs to be done to ensure our schools are fully resourced
for the future.
That is why
in July, I announced an additional £1.3 billion for our schools over the next
two years. This new deal protects per-pupil spending in real terms, so school
budgets will increase as the school-age population rises.
More money
has to be accompanied by a continuing determination to improve standards and
outcomes. English secondary schools are the best-performing in the United
Kingdom, according to international assessments. In devolved parts of the UK,
where reform has not been as rigorous, we can see the consequences in poorer
outcomes for young people.
Free schools
in some of the most disadvantaged areas of England, such as Dixons Trinity
Academy in Bradford and the Reach Academy in Feltham, have produced outstanding
results this summer.
Some 52 new
free schools will open their doors this term, bringing the total number of free
schools opened since 2011 to more than 500. I want us to build on this success
and ensure that there are even more good school places available in communities
across England.
A rigorous
education is the right of every child. So we will ensure that the vast majority
of children study the English Baccalaureate combination of academic GCSEs. But
as they get older, a more technical route might suit some pupils better. So our
T-level reforms will reverse decades of drift and neglect by creating a new,
high-quality, vocational equivalent to A-levels.
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