9,818 children in my constituency are in good or outstanding schools - an increase of 3,081 since 2010. This means more children are getting the best possible start life and learning the skills they need to flourish.
Standards in our schools are rising because of changes the Government made to the National Curriculum. In 2010 it was announced that all schools would be required to use phonics to teach children to read, and since then England has risen to joint 8th in the world for reading standards – improving the reading level of pupils from all backgrounds.
The proportion of pupils meeting the expected standard in phonics has risen from just 58 per cent in 2012 to 81 per cent in 2017, with 92 per cent of pupils reaching this standard by age seven.
