Visit to Towcester Primary School

It was a pleasure to be invited to visit Towcester Primary School on Friday last week, and to see the excellent work that the Senior Management Team has done to achieve such strong Ofsted results in their recent assessment.

I was expertly guided round by two lovely pupils, Jacey and Alvin, who are clearly very proud of their school and their wonderful teachers. I was very impressed with the innovative new science station under construction in an old Routemaster bus in the playground, as well as with the bright and vibrant artwork from all ages that adorns the corridors. As an L.S. Lowry fan myself, I particularly liked the children's take on his famous "matchstick men" imagery.

In what proved to be even more of a grilling than I usually get in the House of Commons during DECC Oral Questions, a group of Year 5 and 6 pupils put me in the hot seat for an "MP's Question Time". I was, as is often the case when speaking with children of this age, impressed with their level of knowledge on a whole range of issues – both local and national – and I am only sorry that there wasn't time to answer more. However I have taken the questions that weren't asked and I shall ensure that full written answers are provided in true Parliament fashion!

I should like to thank all of the staff and students at Towcester Primary for their warm welcome, in particular Head Teacher Richard Camp and Deputy Head Teacher Jo Brown, and I look forward to visiting the school again soon, or even meeting them in the House of Commons...