I HAD the pleasure of visiting Trinity College on Friday to meet sixth formers and to see for myself some of the excellent new facilities at the school.

There was a real excitement in the school and a sense of purpose.

New staff and pupils have really added something.

When the Abbey High School was still in existence, my husband Richard was a classroom assistant for a time, helping students with extra needs and freeing up teachers to allow them to teach the rest of the class.

As a teacher myself for many years, I was always delighted to receive the support offered by a classroom assistant.

I was dismayed this week to hear of the reaction of some professional leaders in education denigrating classroom assistants and refusing to fully recognise their contribution to the education of all our children.

A profession that scorned the help of others and refused to use such resources imaginatively would be sadly lacking.

Most of the teachers - know value the work of classroom assistants and would love for them to do more to allow teachers to carry out their professional duties more effectively.

I hope that teachers will speak out when some of their leaders make mistakes about their members' attitudes and openness to change.

Some other news on education came to light last week.

In Worcestershire, figures confirmed that the schools budget increased by nearly 30 per cent from 1997/8 to 2000/1 and that this year the total spending on schools in the county jumped again by 8.1 per cent.

Nationally, it was announced that infant class sizes are down to a 20-year low.

With early years, literacy and numeracy improvements in place for younger children, the Government is now concentrating on secondary education.

I hope this drive for improved standards for our older children will be as successful.

But one thing is for sure, it will need the dedication of whole teams of people in our schools to deliver changes - teachers, governors, classroom assistants and other support staff - and they all deserve our support.