CAMBRIDGESHIRE County Council leader Nick Clarke continued his ‘tour’ of the county this week with a visit to Burrowmoor Primary School in March.

The new leader has been visiting schools and children’s centres across the county as he settles into the job. And it seems he was impressed with what he saw on Wednesday.

Writing on his blog, Cllr Clarke described the school as “a well-run establishment dedicated to the local children. A happy place with lots of space both indoors and outside and activities going on all over the place”.

However, he added that he was able to get a “much better understanding of the issues facing the families in Fenland”.

He said: “Interestingly, it seems that part of the reason that children do not aspire to higher education is that they can all find work, with or without a GCSE. There is also a strong community spirit that acts against children going “away” to university.

“Perhaps more distance learning might be the answer. More thinking out loud.”

It’s an interesting idea but much more awareness is needed in Fenland of such courses.

Cllr Clarke’s blog sparked a reaction from Martin Field, a teacher at Neale-Wade Community College in March and a Labour candidate in last month’s Fenland District Council elections, as to why University is not the preferred choice of most.

Writing on Twitter, Mr Field said: “Many students do have high aspirations but a mixture of very few parents with university experience put children off.”

But with tuition fees now as high as �9,000 a year in already uncertain times, it sadly seems that Mr Field’s hopes of seeing more of Fenland’s population going to university for up to three years is as minimal as ever.

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