Laura Sandys MP welcomed the Secretary of State for Education, The Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, to Thanet on Friday. During his visit, Mr Gove went to Cliftonville Primary School and later discussed issues surrounding looked after children.
Laura said: “It was great to have the Secretary of State in Thanet, and to show him the excellent work being undertaken at one of our local primary schools. I know that he was very impressed with the work going on at Cliftonville Primary. Mrs Troth, Headteacher, and Mr Somers, Executive Head, provided Mr Gove with a tour of the school emphasising their work on literacy from an early age and the special programme in place to teach English as an Additional Language for children from Eastern European backgrounds.
“I was also pleased to have the opportunity to discuss issues surrounding looked after children with the Secretary of State. The Margate Taskforce provided him with a very comprehensive overview of the challenges in the area and we all put forward our concerns about the placing of vulnerable children in inappropriate surroundings. This is an issue which I have long been pushing on and the discussion we had was extremely productive.
“The Secretary of State very much enjoyed his visit to the constituency and I will be following up with him on several of the points we discussed in order that the concerns raised are addressed”.