Friday 15th October 2010

After Mr Clegg had spoken at Spire junior School, we caught up with members of the audience who told us what they thought of the speech.

Irene Birkin is Headteacher of Henry Bradley School:
"An interesting speech, lots of good and valuable talk about what the Coalition is promising, though I'm a bit unclear about how higher tuition fees and raising aspirations for students will gel. I can't see how that will work but I do applaud the need to give exceptional life chances in early years.

"I think though that they need to think more about the implications of University at 18 because of debt. Surely students will pay back fees, by getting better-paid jobs and paying higher taxes. Watch this space I think. I have concerns too about budget cuts on frontline services, if they cut other frontline services to deprived families then this means nothing."


Keith Falconer is a Lib Dem Councillor on Chesterfield Borough Council:
"I'm pleased that the Deputy Prime Minister has come to Chesterfield, to make his announcement - Nick Clegg came to Chesterfield when he was an MEP.

"Great that the announcement centred on investment in Education, particularly in those pre education years. That's the real foundation of a young person's life. What happens early is very important, I'm just glad that, in these difficult times, there's money for Education.’


We also caught up with Andy Knowles who's Headtacher at Parkside.
He felt the speech was "Encouraging. It's putting money where it's most needed, putting in place initial funding which will give children a good start in life too. Parkside is a success story, and this funding will provide a way forward, particularly for youngsters who are disadvantaged."

He told the Chesterfield Post that "Aspiration is important, what we provide as a whole community is important also though. To achieve University places, Funding is a barrier, significant debt can occur, £12,000 pounds is a huge amount of money. What I'd like to see are bursaries and Scholarships so debts aren't such an issue.


Mary Carroll is a retired Primary School Teacher of 38 years.
She missed teaching so much that she has now set up a company targeting under achievers.

One of the people to speak with Mr Clegg after the speech, she "Welcomed the word money, that creates support, if it's targeted then it helps. What's really needed is help for teachers, give them teaching back, forget paperwork and targets."




Paul Holmes was Lib Dem MP for Chesterfield until the General Election.
He had worked with Nick Clegg and welcomed the speech. He told The Chesterfield Post "It was excellent - good to have good news. My background was Education, and Nick was talking about this 10 years ago, so it's good to see it happening,

"I'm opposed to Tuition Fees as Lib Dems are, but we have them at the moment. Within those bounds though, the speech still contained some impressive things today - the threshold for paying back for instance has now risen to £21,000."

We asked him how he was finding life outside Parliament. He told us "I'm relaxed! It's the first time I haven't worked six days a week since I started work. I'm not sure whether I'll stand again in five years, but I'm not leaving politics."

OTHER STORIES

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OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF THE CHESTERFIELD POST -
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NEW LOOK FOR AN OLD FAVOURITE 2 -
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MARCH AGAINST THE INCINERATOR -
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NEW LOOK FOR AN OLD FAVOURITE -
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DON'T MESS AROUND -
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MEADOWHALL CELEBRATES 7,000 OPENINGS -
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JOBS AND TOURISM BOOST - Work has begun today on a new multi million pound hotel development that will bring investment and
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