Dr Neil Hudson MP for Penrith and The Border visited Samuel King’s School and Alston Primary school on Friday 1st of April. Dr Hudson met both with pupils from each school and their Head Teacher, Gill Jackson, and discussed the issues of being a rural school and having limited access to opportunity.
Alston Moor Federation has around 200 hundred pupils that reside in both Alston Moor and Weardale and teach ages 4-16. Due to the size of each of the schools being small, Alston Moor Federation comprises of three schools: Alston Primary School; Nenthead Primary School; and Samuel King’s School. Alston Preschool, Alston Primary School, Samuel King’s School share a building that is located in the centre of the town.
Dr Hudson spoke with the pupils who asked questions such as current issues about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, honesty and integrity in politics, his veterinary career before he became an MP, and what made him want to become an MP. The main discussion points were the issues of mental health awareness and support and post-16 transport and the impact this is having on young people accessing further and higher education.
As a result of legislation introduced in September 2013, the law now requires that young people must continue in either full-time education, start an apprenticeship or traineeship, or spend 20+ hours a week working or volunteering alongside part-tine education or training. However, there have been issues with students from Alston Moor since this was implemented as the law due to a lack of access and funding to help pupils pursue their academic aspirations. Pupils from Alston Moor are within the catchment area to attend sixth form at William Howard school but there are issues with spaces on the school bus and pupils have been told to either rely on their parents for transport or to ask their friends who have recently passed their driving test. With no transport to schools or colleges that the pupils would like to attend and the numbers being too low for Alston Moor Federation to have its own sixth form or college, pupils are penalised for living in a rural area and therefore have less opportunity.
Dr Neil Hudson MP said: “It was fantastic to visit the students and teachers of Samuel King's School and Alston Primary School today and meet with their head teacher Gill Jackson. The questions that both the older and younger pupils asked were really interesting and thoughtful. The issue of post-16 transport is huge and is a real roadblock for young people. It is really disheartening that those young people who want to pursue courses that will open doors to their future career goals are being boxed into a corner. Some pupils have felt that their careers are already being determined as they cannot access the courses they want to follow. We should not be asking these young people to be responsible for their own travel, including challenging driving for young drivers on our rural roads. Rural isolation has a real impact on people’s mental health and I have triggered an Inquiry on the EFRA Select Committee, on which I sit, on this very issue. We should be supporting our young people to ensure that their life chances, their mental health and well-being are not being neglected due to where they live. I will work with the Headteacher, Gill Jackson, to try to ensure that our talented young folk on Alston Moor are able to determine their own futures.”
Headteacher Gill Jackson said: "It was great to welcome Neil to the school and for him to spend time with the pupils from both the primary and secondary school. It was wonderful to see the children interested and engaging with international and national issues. It is so important that Neil was able to listen to the concerns of these pupils and agreed with the issues that they raised as being students of a rural school. Neil understood the problem of post-16 transport and how utterly important it is to ensure that everyone has the same access to pursue their further studies."
