Great to meet the triumphant team from Excelsior Academy - to Everest and on to much much more

Last week I popped in to the Excelsior Academy in West Newcastle, to meet hundreds of the students, do a Q and A on life as an MP, and also meet the specific students [pictured] who I helped sponsor in their trip to the Everest Base Camp. They are a great bunch and their trip was a huge success. At 17,500 feet they certainly needed the woolly hats I bought them! If you have not been to Excelsior, and if you have any doubts about Academies, I urge you to go - it is an outstanding school, with a turnaround story that needs to be seen to be believed. This school is local proof that Academies really work.

Busy Thursday ahead: business visits, surgeries, school Q&A and more

Sprinting for the 8 pm train tonight as Thursday is a packed 14 hour day
- starting with a business breakfast with Onboard Pro, which is based in Newburn, but run by a constituent, and employs lots of locals. Will be meeting the team there before ...
- I then have a Q and A with the Excelsior Academy, and a chance to meet the pupils I sponsored on their recent Everest trip.
- then off to Prudhoe for surgeries and the relaunching of the Falcon Pub
- then Ponteland where I have school visits, and a Q and A with the Richard Coates School Council
- then back to Hexham for meetings and more surgeries
- and then a dash to Newcastle for a Christmas Party.

"Education breaks down barriers that holds young people back" Bishop of Newcastle spot on

Could not agree more with the Bishop of Newcastle who has said today:
"Education is the only means to break down some of the barriers that hold young people back. To build an aspirational culture that values, encourages and equips every child it has to permeate all that we do, so that we can overcome the disadvantage in which our children find themselves and enable each of them to be the best that they can possibly be."
Full story here:
http://www.thejournal.co.uk/news/north-east-news/bishop-newcastle-must-solve-education-6848362

Educational improvements are the key to aspiration. I go regularly to the Excelsior Academy in west Newcastle, which is an inspiration to many.
Really welcome news about the rail academy in Newcastle today as well.

With the Everest Excelsior pupils for fundraising and a Question Time event

I  donated £80 for hats for these plucky adventurers when I met them last Thursday. Then on Friday, myself, North East Conservative MEP Martin Callanan and North West Tory MEP Sajjad Karim fielded questions from the pupils and fellow students from Newcastle College at an event in Newcastle’s Beacon Centre.

Among the issues debated were racial discrimination, religious intolerance, youth unemployment, the Scottish independence vote, an EU referendum, dyslexia in education, affordable housing and car insurance for young drivers.
We encouraged all those there to use their vote at elections, whoever it was to be for, to make a difference to their lives.
It was great to meet the eight Excelsior students bound for Mount Everest base camp in October - their enthusiasm was genuinely wonderful to see. It will clearly change their lives

Excelsior Academy, Mount Everest and the Asian Business Connection

Excelsior Academy is an outstanding school; it is proof that education can transform lives. On Thursday I was asked to attend the presentation on behalf of the 8 students chosen to go to Nepal for a Mount Everest trip this autumn. In addition, there were awards in favour of young and not so young entrepreneurs, who have been encouraged and supported in their efforts to start or grow businesses or local community projects. It was an inspiring evening. The event was sponsored and supported by the Asian Business Connection [ABC]. This is a group who do so much for their local community. There was also food afterwards in the form of a delicious Curry Night. You will not eat better food in restaurants.

I have paid £80 to buy each of the 8 kids a special woolly hat to combat the cold. They are going to need it. I was really impressed by the school - this was my second visit. There is no doubt that Academy Schools with everything that they do, the freedoms they have, and the educational transformation, are transforming lives. It was a wonderful evening.    

Tynedale diary and plans this weekend

Today I am visiting the Ponteland Medical Group, followed by meetings at the Hexham Fire Station, both to meet the local fire fighters and to discuss the possible move of the Fire Station to the Hospital with Alex Bennett, the Chief Fire Officer. I then have a meeting with Northumberland Credit Union, followed by a working dinner at the Excelsior Academy in Newcastle, in aid of Everest Expedition the school are coordinating.

Friday I am visiting the Tynedale Business Network to discuss the March Budget and what Local Businesses want the chancellor to do more to help us continue to grown  the Northumberland economy.
Then I have meetings with the Asian Business Connections and the MEP Martin Callanan, followed by lunch at the Beacon with Excelsior, Newcastle College and Newcastle University Students. In the Evening I have a meeting with the CCF locally in Stocksfield.

Saturday I am in Prudhoe for several meetings, and then will be knocking on doors, before further surgeries and meetings later in the afternoon.