I’m a governor at the Lambeth Academy secondary school near Clapham Common.  I spent the morning at the school with the Principal Stephen Potter and the Chair of Governors (and well known writer and broadcaster) John O’Farrell.   Having helped set the school up five years ago, it’s been a real privilege to see it grow and develop over recent years. 

This year the school has, for the first time, its own sixth form.  Inspection results are showing solid improvement and the schools has high expectations for its foundation students – the school’s first-ever intake – who are now old enough to take their GCSE exams this summer. 

John showed me how the school has developed international partnerships so, for instance, their students learning Chinese have a partner school in China they can communicate with online.  The school has also raised money to help build a primary school in Africa.  We went into a few classrooms, chatted with students studying politics, history and languages, and talked to the teachers.  The school really seems to have a strong sense of community and a solid learning ethos.  Given the high number of children with special needs at the school, I was pleased to see how professionally the new learning support unit operates. 

Lunch was good too – the young people at the school have a choice of nutritious, healthy and very tasty meals to choose from.  I went for the vegetable frittata with a side salad and enjoyed eating it alongside the students and their teachers in the school canteen.  Sometimes people ask you why politics is worth bothering with.  Well, when you get to play even a small part in helping a new school go from just an idea to a building and finally, as it is now, a thriving community giving young people the education they need to build their futures on, that really does make it all worthwhile!