Morning:
3°c
Our report today on hard-pressed London primary schools puts into stark perspective government claims that educational standards are rising.
Much attention has focused on the secondary years, which still end with more than half of 16-year-olds nationally failing to achieve five good GCSEs including English and maths.
But Sats results for 11-year-olds show that in 85 London primary schools, educating nearly 30,000 children, more than half the pupils failed to pass English and maths.
It is utterly unacceptable that in the capital of one of the world's biggest economies, led by a Prime Minister who says education is his passion, so many children are still failing to master the basics.
Of course, many primary schools struggle with poor parenting, low expectations and very high proportions of children who do not speak English at home.
Riverside, a successful south-east London primary, is one of many which is obliged to provide breakfast for its pupils.
Rapid turnover both of teachers and of pupils adds to the difficulties of making schools run properly, while many headship vacancies remain unfilled for months.
Change is desperately needed: more generous London weighting that allows schools to attract and retain staff for longer, reflecting London's higher living costs; less town hall and Whitehall interference; more literacy provision for parents so they can help their children.
After all, demographic pressures are set to make matters worse. Already, London councils have had to make emergency arrangements for more than 2,000 children who would otherwise have lacked a reception place.
Central government funding does not fully reflect the diversity and higher educational needs of London's population. By 2013, London will need to provide about 12 per cent more reception places than today.
The need to improve schools is getting more urgent by the day. That matters not just to parents but to the city as a whole.
Let down by the Tube
Tube users do not need to be told by the London Assembly what they already know: overcrowding on the Underground is a disgrace.
More than 80 per cent of passengers complain of too little space.
Many admit that the pressure to find room makes them disregard others' needs - while heat levels in summer have on occasion exceeded European standards for cattle transport.
The Public Private Partnership forced onto London by Gordon Brown as Chancellor has brought us the collapse of maintenance consortium Metronet and continuing delays to the Jubilee line upgrade.
Crossrail will increase rail transport capacity in the capital but it will not open before 2017. The Tube needs new signalling systems, new track and more and upgraded rolling stock to cater for the 750,000 increase in London's population expected by 2018.
Meanwhile, fares are set to rise next month, doing little to improve passenger satisfaction. The Tube is letting London down. The London Assembly cannot make that point too strongly.
Give the man his due
It is up to the Dean of Westminster Abbey to decide, but a monument to former Poet Laureate Ted Hughes would be a worthy addition to Poets' Corner.
Great names, from TS Eliot to Blake to Chaucer, are collected here in a unique national tribute to literature.
Hughes, a towering figure and a visionary, deserves a place.
Reader views (2)
Why is it necessary for Riverside School to provide breakfast?
- Albert Hall, Kettering
Fares are set to rise next month because Boris needs to fund wasteful vanity projects like bike hire schemes and replacing pefectly good buses which do what it says on the label "Move millions of passengers with the least number of buses!". The next route to loose bendies will be the 149 a long straight route that is ideal for these buses but dogma comes first. While Boris is not even returning the 149 to Ponders End which is where it ran to before artics were introduced such a move would allow removal of the 349 and mean less buses at less cost.
Yet more millions wasted that could have gone on tube upgrades!
- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex
