Opening of Tremains School Nursery

The week before last I officially opened the new nursery at Tremains School, Brackla.

The nursery will enable the school to offer free nursery places to children at the school where no provision had previously existed. It will also increase the number of nursery places available to families in the Brackla area.

I was delighted to open the new Nursery. Parents and young children in the area need access to good quality education and this development will be of great benefit to the local community.

A huge amount of work has been done to make this possible and it shows the dedication and commitment of everyone involved that the original decision has been made a reality.

I very much enjoyed the ceremony – the children were lively and attentive. Early years education is vital for the development of our children and the investment made at this age range more than pays off in later years.

Keep the school gate open :

YOUR local school will stay open for the whole community after the school day comes to an end if Welsh Labour wins on May 3rd.

By 2011 Labour wants all maintained schools in Bridgend to stay open for childcare, sport, fitness or academic pursuits for our youngsters, adults and the elderly. This will keep our kids off the streets and give us all more time and space to get fit, stay active and meet together.

If we only keep schools open during the day - we're under-using a great community resource, Labour wants to reverse this.

Labour wants to see schools full of evening classes for adults, ante-natal classes, aerobics, fitness lessons and weight watchers all year round - and the sports pitches opened up to local youngsters so young and old can get on their way to a healthier and more active lifestyle.

The extra time and space we could give community support groups would be invaluable to the most vulnerable groups in Bridgend - like disability groups and children with special needs.

Schools will stay in control of any local plans by drawing up their own policies and local education authorities will receive extra funding to appoint Community School Managers.

All the evidence shows that if schools open up to the local community, they perform better, stand to gain more resources that benefit pupils and actually suffer from less arson and vandalism. At the same time, keeping young people busy is shown to reduce incidents of anti-social behaviour, under-age drinking and petty crime.

Labour's answer to the need for safer stronger communities is to give the whole community the resources to meet together and use the resources right on their doorstep.

A community school would be a healthier, safer, stronger and better school and will build an even healthier, safer, stronger, better Bridgend.

Welsh Labour’s mission to build a better, safer, tidy Bridgend

WELSH Labour will build a better, safer, tidy Bridgend.

I very much welcome the party’s early Assembly election pledges, launched at the beginning of the Labour Party Conference here in Llandudno yesterday.

The key message from the Party’s annual get together to the people of Bridgend is that Labour has the ideas to lead Wales after May’s Assembly election with plans to make local communities fairer, safer and more prosperous.

The plans include:

- Organise specialist skills academies which allow people in employment to upgrade their skills
- New high quality vocational courses for 14- 19 year olds in Wales
- Ensure that all people who want an NHS dentist, can have one
- Provide free parking at NHS hospital car parks for patients requiring treatment for chemotherapy, radiotherapy and renal dialysis; and better season ticket arrangements for those who want one
- Continue to provide prescriptions free of charge
- Provide free childcare for two year olds in our most disadvantaged communities
- Introduce a new ‘Tidy Towns’ programme: extra funding and new requirements on councils to keep towns and villages free of litter and graffiti, involving local people in environmental clean-up and increase fines for litter and graffiti
- Provide a £100 million fund for safer local roads
- Provide sprinklers in all new school buildings and extend that provision in existing buildings
- Ensure all children can use a sports or leisure facility or swimming pool free of charge at weekends

These commitments from Welsh Labour will send a clear signal to the people of Bridgend that we stand for fairness in all aspects of society, prosperity at work and communities that are safe and tidy.

People in Bridgend want towns they can be proud of, and Labour is standing by local communities by taking a zero tolerance approach to litter, graffiti and anti-social behaviour.

Welsh Labour stands for fairness and investment in healthcare, support for those most in need and a quality health service available for free and to all. Making sure everyone who wants an NHS dentist gets one will be a real help to people in Bridgend.

Labour stands for the very best jobs for Bridgend workers. We’re helping people to get more and better skills so that we can bring more and better jobs here.

And I am delighted that under a Labour Welsh Assembly Government, children will be able to use local leisure centres for free at the weekends. This is great news for Bridgend families.

The choice for the people of Wales is clear. Only Welsh Labour offers Wales a Tory-free government. The Liberal Democrats and Plaid Cymru have refused to rule out serving under the Tories. Welsh Labour is the only party that can offer people the safer, prosperous and fairer future they deserve.

Make Bridgend a Fairtrade County and make Wales a world first

Everyone in Bridgend should get behind the bid to Make Bridgend a Fairtrade County and schoolchildren can lead the way.

I am urging local shoppers, schoolchildren, local businesses and Bridgend County Borough Council to back the campaign and support Wales’s bid to become the world’s first Fairtrade country.

Fairtrade guarantees a fair price and safe working conditions for producers of things like tea, coffee, chocolate or fruit in poor countries. It gives us the peace of mind that no child labour was used to make the products we use at home.

Making Bridgend a Fairtrade county means committing ourselves to buying, selling and using Fairtrade products as much as we can, and raising awareness across the local community, in schools, churches, council meetings and any get-together.

I am always impressed by the grasp Bridgend schoolchildren have of global poverty issues and I would like them to have their efforts to promote fair trade recognised by gaining Fairtrade School Status. Our children’s pester power will get us all buying Fairtrade.

Schools in Bridgend can become Fairtrade schools by following the advice on the http://www.fairtradewales.com/ website, all local teachers and pupils should take a look.

This Labour Welsh Assembly Government is committed to encouraging Fairtrade and leads by example - using only Fairtrade tea and coffee for its meetings and is encouraging all businesses and public buildings in Wales to follow suit.

The Bridgend and Porthcawl Fairtrade groups do a great job in encouraging local communities to do more for fairtrade and we can all get behind them during Fairtrade fortnight and make a real effort to make Bridgend a Fairtrade county and make Wales the first Fairtrade country.

For more information, please go to http://www.fairtradewales.com/

Archbishop McGrath School visit

Today I welcomed 6th Form pupils from Archbishop McGrath Comprehensive on their very first visit to the National Assembly for Wales.

During the visit the pupils were given a briefing on the work, role and responsibilities of an Assembly Member and in particular, how the new powers given under the Government of Wales Act which will begin as from May 2007 will impact upon their work.

After the briefing the pupils were treated to a tour of the Senedd after which they were given the opportunity to watch First Ministers Question Time from the public gallery.

It has been a delight to welcome the pupils here today. Indeed, I was very impressed by their standard of behaviour and in the manner in which they conducted themselves.

What really impressed me was the understanding that the youngsters had of the many issues facing their generation, such as climate change, or having a smoking ban in public places. I have thoroughly enjoyed meeting the pupils, and explaining the work undertaken at the National Assembly, and I look forward to meeting with them again in the near future.

In the meantime, I would personally like to wish them the very best for their forthcoming summer examinations, and in their future careers that lie ahead.

School standards higher than ever

Bridgend schools are making progress in just about every area of education and training.

The Annual Report for 2005-06 of the Chief Inspector of Education and Training in Wales (Estyn) shows that school children and teachers are reaching higher standards than previous years.

Labour Education Minister Jane Davidson welcomed the findings which showed that across Wales the number of primary schools reaching the top two inspection grades increased by 31 per cent and secondary schools were up by 13 per cent.

I am delighted with these results, which are a testimony to the hard work of teachers, support staff and governors in Bridgend schools.

I am particularly pleased for Oldcastle Juniors and Penybont Primary School which have received the top grades and a resounding thumbs up from the Inspectors and everyone involved with these schools should be justly proud.

These results go to show why investing more in our schools helps to drive up standards, and this Labour Assembly Government is making the money available to do exactly that.

Labour is committed to making sure all schoolchildren in Bridgend can benefit from better quality schools. Through the Assembly’s RAISE plan, £32m is being made available to disadvantaged pupils and schools facing particular difficulties.