Chloe Smith calls for more freedoms for teachers as she takes up school governor post at City primary

Chloe Smith, MP for Norwich North, yesterday in Parliament praised the doubling of GCSE results by Norwich's Open Academy and opposed "hyperactive" reforms which would add a "burden of bureaucracy" for local teachers.

Speaking in the second reading of the Children, Schools and Families Bill last night, Chloe said:

"Great opportunities have been missed. On home-school agreements, instead of empowering schools, the Bill will force head teachers to tailor toothless agreements with each parent. The measure on report cards could have provided parents with a great range of data that could help them to make choices for them and their child. But no, it seeks to condense information, turning sharpness into fuzziness. As to the Rose Review, yes, children need skills for learning, but they also need knowledge. The Bill fails to empower teaching professionals and, given the stream of legislation coming out of the Department, it risks stifling both head teachers and teachers."

Chloe is also becoming a governor of the Heartsease Primary School, and said of the Rose Review of the primary school curriculum:

"In so far as these measures provide an opportunity to teach children basic learning skills, I welcome them, but they must, without doubt, be supplemented by knowledge. This must be a question of skills plus knowledge, and I believe that that is the view of many primary schools in my constituency, including the Heartsease Primary School where I am due to become a governor very shortly."

On Chloe's governor role, Christina Kenna, headteacher at Heartsease Primary School, added:

"We are delighted to have Chloe as a governor at our school. Heartsease Primary School is going from strength to strength, demonstrated by the rapid progress our pupils are making in all areas of the curriculum. We have a very strong governing body, and are also pleased to announce that Paul Baker, Governor of Norfolk and Norwich Prison has recently been elected as our new Chair; staff and governors are united in their vision to ensure that the children at Heartsease Primary School hold high aspiration, positive self esteem and are given the best possible opportunity to succeed."

Supporting moves to make charitable status automatic for academies, Chloe said:

"May I take this opportunity to praise the Open Academy for its impressive achievement in doubling its benchmark GCSE results last summer?"

Chloe along with the Conservatives and the Lib Dems opposed the Bill but the Government carried it through by 81 votes