I am continuing to campaign for the best funding arrangement for our schools in Cambridgeshire.

In October I brought a delegation of headteachers from our local secondary schools to Westminster to put the case directly to the Secretary of State for Education, Justine Greening, and explain why it is essential that we get better funding for Cambridgeshire.

I was joined by Chris Terry (Witchford Village College), Richard Spencer (Ely College), Helena Marsh (Linton Village College), Ryan Kelsall (Impington Village College), and Jonathan Russell (Bottisham Village College), who all raised their concerns with the Secretary of State. She was engaging and receptive to their views. The main issues discussed, in addition to the concept of a fairer funding formula, were social mobility, staff recruitment and retention, the allocation of resources for children with different needs, and the disparity between schools and their individual needs.

The following day I joined Cambridgeshire MPs at a meeting with the Junior Education Minister, Nick Gibb, to make the case further.

This year is also the third year of my inter-school debating competition. The competition kicked off with a day's training by the charity Debate Mate, kindly sponsored by Marshall Aerospace. An internal school round will be followed by the final in the House of Commons and I am delighted that this year’s final is being judged by Lord Finkelstein. I hope that this will help to assist in improving students’ confidence in public speaking.

I am also in the midst of a Christmas card competition, having invited all primary school children in the constituency to design my card this year. The competition is being judged by Chris Elliot of the Cambridge News, and we are looking forward to receiving their entries next week!

Best wishes,

Lucy Frazer MP