Parents are a key part of the education system and we believe this is something that needs greater recognition. Our education manifesto for the next government is all about making schools work better for children and parents. What would you add to or change about our list?

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* 1. Support special needs properly

All children with special educational needs deserve speedy diagnosis and specialist targeted and continuous support threaded through the school day. Parents should not have to fight to access limited resources. This will benefit both individual children and the wider school community.

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* 2. What is in the best interests of a child should always be in the best interests of their school

Schools should maintain accountability for the performance of children who are excluded or transferred to other schools, further education, alternative provision or home education. In this way ‘off-rolling’ will not be incentivised and it will always be in a school’s best interests to do as well as they can by every child.

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* 3. It should be possible for all children to be certified as having a good working knowledge of English and maths

If a child’s English and maths are up to a working standard, one that employers would regard as good enough, then that is what should appear on their exam certificates. At present 30 per cent of children are labelled as having ‘failed’ merely because of their performance in assessments relative to their peers.

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* 4. Schools should be places where all children find it easy to focus on learning

Discipline and pastoral care policies should be clear and adhered to. No child should be permitted to continually disrupt the education of others.

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* 5. School days should fit better with parents’ work days

Giving schools the option and means of extending the school day would enable them to dedicate more time for studying the arts and other non-assessed creative subjects which are being squeezed out of timetables. It should also be possible for children to stay in school after lessons finish so that their homework can be supervised or extracurricular activities offered. With this as an option, children could return home at the same time as their working parents.

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* 6. Make it easier for parents to find out which schools their children have a good chance of getting into

Parents deserve better, clearer and more user-friendly information about school admission arrangements. This could easily be done with a modern IT system if the base data is collected. Complicated and uncertain admissions policies further disadvantage the already disadvantaged.

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* 7. Parents should be told, clearly and openly, what is going on at school

The best schools often have high levels of parental involvement and influence. This is something which should be actively encouraged in all schools. Every school should routinely keep parents informed about its performance and ambitions both academically and in the wider educational sphere. Ofsted should review how well schools are doing this when they inspect.

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* 8. Parents should find it easy to communicate their views and concerns

There should be a real parent presence in the governance of schools. This would provide parents with a clear route for raising issues about a school and its policies, both with the school and ultimately with Ofsted.

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* 9. Continue the development of links between state and independent sectors

A divided system is not a stable system. Many independent schools are already committed to sharing their advantages with state counterparts, but could arrangements be even more ambitious? Both state and independent schools should be encouraged to establish formal links between their sectors to the benefit of all pupils.

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* 10. Independent schools should focus bursaries on the children who have most to gain

Some looked after children are already flourishing in boarding and day independent schools. We believe this option should be more widely available. Bursaries do most good for the children in the hardest circumstances.

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