Tessa Jowell MP

Local MP Tessa Jowell has revealed new figures published this week that show that children across Lambeth and Southwark will benefit from a total of £2,447,135 of funding for one-to-one tuition in state schools.

Tessa Jowell has welcomed the announcement of this extra funding which will help to provide 10 hours of one-to-one tuition in English and maths for children at primary school and in the early years of secondary school who are falling behind in literacy and numeracy.

Tessa Jowell said:

"Thanks to the hard work of pupils, teachers and teaching assistants, together with record investment from the government, far more children in Lambeth and Southwark are leaving primary school having mastered the 3Rs than a decade ago.

"In Lambeth the number of children getting to the expected level at the age of 11 is up from just 56% in 1998 to 79% today in English and up from 47% to 78% in maths

"In Southwark the picture is similarly impressive. The number of children getting to the expected level at the age of 11 is up from 54% in 1998 to 80% today in English and up from 46% to 79% in maths

"But we want to do more to ensure that every child makes good progress. That’s why the government is now ensuring that children who are falling behind at primary school or in the early years of secondary school get the extra help they need to catch up and get back on track.

"This extra funding will mean thousands of children across Lambeth and Southwark will get one-to-one tuition in English and maths. But all this would be put at risk by the Tories, who want to cut school budgets from next year and oppose our guarantee of one-to-one tuition for children falling behind.

"Instead of intervening early the Tories have said they want to force 11 year olds who don’t make the grade to stay behind and repeat the last year of primary school. That would mean bigger class sizes in primary schools and make it impossible for parents to plan ahead. Parents rightly want their children to get the extra help they need before it’s too late, not be held back while their friends move on."