Polly has welcomed sweeping reforms to the national curriculum that will equip every child with the knowledge and skills they need to thrive.
Polly has been campaigning strongly for a renewed focus on creative subjects in schools, said she was delighted to see arts GCSEs being restored to an equal status in education.
Polly chairs the all-party group of MPs for Art, Craft, and Design in Education. In February she organised a letter from MPs, backed by the National Education Union, calling on the government to reverse disastrous Conservative education reforms that had seen creative subjects sidelined.
The Tory policy had resulted in a dramatic reduction in the take-up of arts subjects including Art & Design (-6%), Dance (-46%), Drama (-29%), Media/Film/TV Studies (-35%), Music (-24%), and the six Design and Technology subjects (-65%). The reforms left arts increasingly the preserve of the privately educated, with state-educated students denied vital development and career opportunities, as well as the wellbeing benefits of creativity in education.
The creative industries are one of the government’s eight priority industrial growth sectors and contributed 1 in every 14 jobs and £125 billion to the economy in 2023. However, Sutton Trust research suggests that young adults from working-class backgrounds are 4 times less likely to work in the creative industries compared to their middle-class peers.
Responding to the Curriculum and Assessment Review led by Professor Becky Francis, the government is also overhauling the curriculum to ensure strong foundations in reading, writing, maths and oracy – especially in primary and the “lost years” at the start of secondary school.
The reforms deliver on Labour’s manifesto promise and are central to the Prime Minister’s target of two-thirds of young people participating in higher-level learning by age 25.
They also come alongside measures introduced by Labour to ensure that every child has the opportunity to achieve, regardless of where they come from, and to provide more practical support for families. This includes the delivery of 30 hours of free childcare, free breakfast clubs saving parents £450 a year, a cap on branded uniform items, and £1.4 billion to fix crumbling classrooms.
Polly said:
“I’m delighted the government has listened to my campaign and put arts subjects back at the heart of the curriculum. Creativity isn’t just good for young people’s mental health and wellbeing, but is also a huge growth sector for jobs and opportunities in East Thanet.
Under ill-judged Conservative reforms, state-educated kids were locked out of creative education for a generation, while their privately-educated peers continued to enjoy the benefits of learning an instrument, taking to the stage, or creating a visual masterpiece.
The arts aren’t just a nice-to-have for those who can afford them. With Labour’s reforms to our national curriculum, young people in Thanet will now all be able to learn and thrive through creative subjects, no matter their background.”