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OPINION 35
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INSPIRING: The mathematical genius of Sir Isaac Newton laid the basis of the industrial revoution. understanding of calculus or quantum mechanics. In the latest world education rankings p ro d u c e d by the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) the UK was shown to have slipped downwards significantly from eighth to 28th in maths and from fourth to 16th in sciences. The head of the OECDs educational programme concluded that the UKs performance was stagnant at best. And if the story is not good for the UK, it is worse for Norfolk. The number of students achieving A*, A and B grades in maths GCSE who go on to take maths A-level is only 23pc compared with a national average of 34pc. And those that do go on to take maths A level do worse: 40pc achieve an A* or A grade compared to a national average of 43.6pc. There are, of course, individual teachers and individual schools who are doing better, but overall the performance of Norfolk is not satisfactory let alone excellent. We must not let this continue. The revolution in the east is raising the tide. If we carry on as we are we will be swamped, and a once-great nation will be left stranded on the mudflats of history as Rome was once stranded in the path of the Barbarian hordes. Our new school must be excellent; it will be academically rigorous; its curriculum will be wider and more demanding than the dumbed-down modular A-levels that students now sit. Our students will go to top universities and we hope that many of them will pursue a career in engineering, sciences, medicine and industry . We must raise our game and shake off our inherited complacency. That is what our new school is all about. In Norfolk we have some world-class science and engineering on the Norwich Research Park (NRP) and the Hethel Engineering Centre; and I am delighted that the chief executive of the NRP and the chairman of Hethel have both agreed to become governors of the new school. In 1919 the great economist Alfred Marshall wrote: The small band of British scientific men have made revolutionary discoveries in science; but yet the chief fruits of their work have been reaped in other countries where industry and science have been in close touch with one another. We are going to build close links between the school and the academic, scientific and engineering community . Our country today needs scientists and engineers more than it needs bankers and hedge fund managers. We hope our school will help produce world-class scientists and engineers and help make Norfolk a true centre of excellence where the technologies of tomorrow are both discovered and developed. This is our dream. It is a dream that may one day see an Autonomy or an Apple or a Google founded in Norwich; or may one day produce a Nobel Prize winner in nuclear fusion or plant biology. This dream can only be realised by unleashing the talent of the young which we intend to do. Anyone interested in the Sir Isaac Newton Free School can visit www.sixthformschool.co.uk
We hope our school will help produce world class scientists and engineers and help make Norfolk a true centre of excellence where the technologies of tomorrow are both discovered and developed