Work of the APPG
So far the two ‘headline’ items for the APPG have been countering much of the campaigning materials put out by the ‘abolish private schools’ movement, principally prior to December 2019, and from very early 2020 onwards as news from China started to emerge, ensuring that the voice of independent schools were heard as measures to try to tackle Coronavirus were brought in by Government. The ‘headline’ act for this was a fortnightly virtual meetings between the Baroness Berridge, the Department for Education Minister responsible for independent education, and Julie Robinson, Chief Executive of the Independent Schools Council and David Woodgate, Chief Executive of the Independent Schools’ Bursars Association (with Robin Fletcher at the Boarding School Association also having such a meeting). However, a huge amount of other work that was rather more behind the scenes took place and cemented the APPG’s place in both the consciousness of DfE when it comes to independent education but also the leading schools’ organisations and many leading figures in the independent education firmament.
The APPG has already held several sessions and had Ministerial meetings on subjects such as State-Independent School Partnerships, the impact of changes to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme and guardianship, and I have spoken at several conferences and seminars, both ‘real’ (pre-lockdown) and virtually, raising awareness of the APPG but when expressing opinions being clear that they are mine and not necessarily those of the APPG as a whole.
I look forward to ensuring the APPG both holds the sector to account and promotes excellence and best practice in the challenging times ahead.
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