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Minister gives pledge

Mrs. Margaret Thatcher, Secretary of State for Education and Science, gave new hope to parents of children at St. Michael's C. of E. School, Headingley, Leeds, today when she said the new middle-school building should be ready to accept pupils by September, 1972.

Mrs. Thatcher was making an informal visit to the school during today's visit to educational establishments in Leeds.

“Everyone is very anxious that children should get into the new building in 1972. The money has been allocated and work should begin on time.

She said the first phase-costing £71,000, would provide more accommodation than there was at the existing school.

“If the children have a better building they should have very much better opportunities and it would make it a great deal easier for the staff to give them these opportunities,” said Mrs. Thatcher.

She spent more than threequarters of an hour touring the school, built in 1834 and one of the oldest in the city and expressed concern about the conditions teachers were having to put up with.

Mrs. Thatcher had visited the school, not originally on her programme, after representations had been made to her by the Parent-Teacher Association.

New school

The P.T.A. and the Evening Post have been campaigning to have the existing school building closed under reorganisation and a completely new school provided.

Mrs. Thatcher left the school more than 15 minutes behind schedule to start her official programme at the nearby Spring Bank Teachers' Centre in Headingley Lane.

She also visited Blenheim County Primary Infants' School and Grafton Educationally Sub-normal School in Craven Road, Leeds 6.

The main purpose of her visit was to visit the site of the new Park Lane College of Further Education, where she laid the foundation stone this afternoon.