Testing time ahead for Blair's school reforms

Or the parents in Warndon who petitioned the county council to try to prevent the reorganisation of their school earlier this year.

But how much clout do mums and dads really have? Well, if Tony Blair has his way, perhaps a little bit more. He has called the Government's White Paper, detailing his planned changes in education, the most pivotal reform of his term in office.

The newspaper headlines said how children would be able to pick their own teachers, how councils would be stripped of their power and, perhaps, most controversially of all, how big businesses could plough money in to set up their own schools.

It is all about choice, with the Prime Minister wanting to see what he calls 'independent state schools'.

Where once local education authorities controlled most parts of school life, power has been moving away for some time - ever since the schools were handed control of their own budgets.

In the words of the White Paper, local authorities will become 'champions of parents and pupils'.

But don't be so quick to imagine that County Hall will lose all its power, says Liz Eyre, the Conservative councillor in charge of what is now called Children's Services at Worcestershire County Council.

She says there is still a desire among headteachers to have a local authority to fall back on.

"We had a meeting with all headteachers in Worcestershire and we asked them, do you want the local education authority to help you or not and they all said, 'Yes, we want the LEA to stay supporting us,'" she says.

"They told us how we could do things better with this and that but we will still be there supporting in different ways, and letting teachers do what they do best, and that's teach."

Mrs Eyre says she is very excited about a new portfolio which encompasses, not just education, but social services too.

"It's very early days but it's clear that the direction we're heading in is to give more autonomy to schools," she adds.

"The local authority is not averse to this independence but there are areas where headteachers are happy that we are supporting them so it's a double-edged sword."

Parents across Worcestershire, of course, have always invested time and energy to bring about the best for their children at school.

Mark Brookes, a father-of-three from Warndon, in Worcester, has been at the forefront of a campaign to stop the county council merging Warndon infants and junior schools.

"Like most parents, I want the best education possible for my children," he says. "I'm outspoken and I speak to the parents out in the playground, so we manage to get across their views and opinions.

"But, after all, the LEA are ones with the expertise and you can't really ask somebody to come off the street and run a school. They don't really know what's going on behind the scenes.

"I'd be concerned that all the recommendations in the White Paper would do is keep the bad schools bad and the good schools good."

Helen Donovan, from Evesham, is another parent who has spent hours to get the best deal for her children.

The mother is one of Worcestershire's leading campaigners to get better funding for education in the county.

"The problem is not really that the LEA is bad and schools and parents need more power, it's that the money is not there in the first place," she says.

"We've actually got an excellent LEA in Worcestershire, but imagine what we could achieve with a bigger budget."

So, the debate has begun. But it may be some time before we notice a difference.

While students are judged on the marks on the exam papers every summer, it's this autumn's White Paper that might really determine the success of the next generation.

BLACKBOARD

Boys are falling further behind

BOYS fell further behind girls in reading, writing and mathematics at primary school this year, according to the latest test results.

Just 51 per cent of 11-year-old boys in England reached the level expected of their age group in the three core subjects, compared with 63 per cent of girls.

This marked a one percentage point drop in boys' scores and a one point rise for girls from 2004.

The Government statistics came in an update to earlier figures which were released in August. They showed a gulf opening up between boys and girls in writing.

But the latest figures demonstrated that the growing gender gap is a much wider problem.

Effort needed with citizenship

THE chief inspector of schools, David Bell, has called on headteachers to bring citizenship teaching into history and geography lessons and criticised a lack of commitment to the subject.

Mr Bell said headteachers had "misunderstood and undervalued" citizenship as a subject and it was not taken seriously enough.

He said that history often failed to address Britain's diversity and the legacy of the empire and decolonisation.

He said: "In looking at the past through the eyes of historians, pupils also learn about issues such as human rights, a key feature of the citizenship curriculum."

Last chance in Sunday school

A YELLOW card system for disruptive children has been put forward by a leading Christian charity following reports of bad behaviour in Sunday schools.

Sunday school teachers have complained of children throwing stones, flooding toilets and setting off fire extinguishers, according to the Scripture Union.

New guidelines suggest a yellow card system followed by exclusion from Sunday school as a last resort.

THE PROPOSALS

l Big business, charities and parents can set up new schools

l New Trust Schools with freedom to set their own budgets and run affairs as they want.

l Encourage successful schools to expand to create more places in more desirable schools.

l Free buses laid on, up to a distance of six miles, for children from low-income families.

l The greater independence of schools will not allow them to select pupils on ability.

l A more clearly defined set of rights for teachers to impose discipline.

l Struggling children - and exceptionally bright ones - will get more one-to-one tuition.