Member

I worry that that is not the overwhelming experience of those going through our education system today. I worry that children are going through the day with little or no food in their bellies, I worry that schools are having to cut clubs because they no longer have the time or the resources to hold them, and I worry that the performing arts, such as music and drama, have been seen for too long by previous Governments as expendable and an unimportant luxury without recognition that they provide children with the skills and confidence to stand up on large stages—dare I say, in parliamentary Chambers—and be heard. If you are a child with special educational needs or disabilities, well, good luck with that, because the system is utterly, tragically, devastatingly broken. But I also take hope from the wind of change that blew just a couple of months ago. We know that there will be difficult choices ahead, but my hope is that we recognise that investing early on and giving children the best possible start can pay much greater dividends in the future.