Opinion: Pleasure and privilege to support children

My fellow Labour councillor in my Dogsthorpe ward, Katy Cole, elected in May of this year, is truly trying to make a difference.

Katy said: “As a teacher myself, I know that in recent years it has become increasingly difficult for schools to provide resources the children need. This is due to a gap in funding between what the government and local authority provides to schools and what school leaders and staff know they need to provide the highest level of education. But provide they do, increasingly from their own pockets.”

Thanks to Labour’s parliamentary candidate, Andrew Pakes, I was able to secure sponsorship of £600 from National Gas which is currently working on a project in Peterborough to replace old compressors with new ones that will make them run more efficiently with much lower emissions, which is much better for our city and the planet. So, it’s win/ win all around.

As her fellow ward councillor, I was delighted to be involved. Back in 2020, when the Tories cut the funding for school meals for children during the height of the pandemic, I was proud to deliver meals to schools, paid for by local suppliers, during the October half term break.

At Christmas of the same year, the group raised funds again and, together with a generous donation from the now defunct Old Dogsthorpe Residents’ Association, we also provided books for schools across the city.

What was salutary, for me at least, is that not only did we try and give every child a book as a Christmas gift, but there were also children who have never received a gift at Christmas. To see teachers on the verge of tears as we delivered the books to them was one of the most uplifting things I have ever done, never mind as a councillor.

This term’s recipients were those four-year-olds who are starting school for the very first time. The books for the schools and a tiny ‘reading bug’, for each child to watch them read.

Katy has certainly ‘walked the talk’ and taken a job in a school in the ward she represents.

Born and bred here in Peterborough, I admire her commitment to the city and her work with victims of domestic abuse, along with her volunteering at the local food club, supporting families from across the city is continuing a solid Labour tradition.

As Katy said: “The one moment I can remember from those first precious days in school in Bretton at four years old was listening to my teacher reading a story at the end of the day. Straining to see the pictures and always wondering what happened next once the story had ended. Thanks to my wonderful teachers my

imagination began to grow”.

For me, it remains a pleasure and a privilege to support and nurture our children. They are our future and the more that we invest in them now, the better the return for them, their families, and the communities they grow up in years to come.