Some troubling news for one of Brentwood and Ongar’s secondary schools this week; the Anglo European School has had to close its sixth form building and three science labs at very short notice after an inspection of the building’s roof recommended some essential precautionary work to ensure health and safety standards are met.
Clearly, as Year 13s are preparing for their final school exams in the summer, the closure of this block will cause some disruption. I am having regular conversations with the headteacher, Jody Gee, who is doing excellent work in a very difficult situation, and with the responsible minister in the Department for Education to try to ensure the needs of pupils are met, and the school has all the support it needs from the Government.
In better news, Warley Primary School pupils visited Parliament this week, and I was very pleased to be able to catch up with them at the Palace of Westminster’s Education Unit prior to their workshop and tour looking at the way in which Parliament works and the history of the building.
The Education Unit is a brilliant facility for schools, and I know many local primary and secondary schools make visiting Parliament a regular part of their school year. For those who have left the school system, the free Democratic Access Tours of Parliament can be booked through my office, and those who have taken part have never been disappointed. I always point visitors to the wonderful “New Dawn” artwork in Westminster Hall, created to celebrated a hundred years of suffrage and changing colours as the River Thames, running outside, rises and falls.
I hope too that the Warley Primary School children noticed a new plaque on the floor of Westminster Hall, dedicated to Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth who lay in state in the ancient building last year.
