Local Voices

My Son -struggled from age 10
If there had been a mental health counsellor in my son’s school he would have had someone to help him understand his thoughts and feelings and hopefully get him help sooner as we waited for three years and during that time it got progressively worse. 
The school had no support in place and merely dismissed any signs that he was struggling. If he felt he could talk to someone at school he may 
have felt in control of his feelings and not gone down the path he did to make himself feel numb, becoming an addict in his early teens. 
 
My Daughter - struggled from age 12
My daughter’s school had a good support system in place for her and her mental health, which she used frequently for three years. Whenever she needed help she knew there was someone who would listen who was not her parents, as like many other kids she felt she would rather not talk to us about it. Although they weren’t qualified mental health workers the support made a massive difference in getting her professional help as well as making adjustments for her during her exams. 

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If my son’s school had a better support system maybe he wouldn’t have ended up in rehab at such a young age. It seems a much better use of government funds to tackle the problem rather than waiting to address the consequences when his life had already spiralled out of control. 

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Thanks to Anna, for helping me and my son get the help he so desperately needed. She helped me write and send off numerous letters fighting to get him the care he needed. Thanks to this he’s in a much better place - I just wish we had help sooner.

I started teaching 16 years ago. Over that time I've seen department budgets cut back further and further. Class sizes have grown and it's now common to have 33+ students in one lesson. The support available for SEN students in class has all but vanished. Its heartbreaking to see students struggling to cope and being too stretched to properly help them.

 

In the last five years my school restructured to cope with funding cuts. This meant that positions for 6 teachers were axed. In this year alone I've used over £200 of my own money to buy students glue sticks, textbooks and pens because there was no money in the budget for these learning resources.

 

Its sickening to think what will happen with further cuts planned under the Tories. Every single school in my borough is losing money next year.

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I know that Anna understands the crisis schools are facing and her pledge to stop school cuts means I fully endorse her as my chosen candidate in the upcoming General Election