11/12/2013 Look East - East

News at Six, so it's goodbye from me, and on BBC One we now join

Schoolchildren in this region have the worst chance of a good education

compares with anywhere else in England. Ofsted says finding the

right features is a problem. You would not want to go if Ofsted say

the schools are not good. We will not apologise for identifying where

we think things are not right. That is our job. Welcome. Also tonight:

Detectives rule out foul play in the death of movie star Jean Kent at her

retirement home in Suffolk. Six days after the tidal surge, the race

begins to repair the damage sea defences. Join me at Silverstone to

see how some of the region's sporting superstars get on behind

the wheels. Schools in this region have been

given another set of poor marks by the official watchdog. In Norfolk

and Suffolk they are still stuck in the bottom ten per cent of the whole

country. And Ofsted says the gap between our struggling schools and

the rest of the country is getting wider. In its annual report, Ofsted

blames "poor leadership and teaching" which are delivering "a

mediocre education." The main concern is in primary schools. In

England almost 80% of pupils are going to good or outstanding

primaries. Locally we fall short. In Essex, seven out of ten attend a

good school. In Suffolk and Norfolk it's even lower. Compare that with

inner city areas like Lambeth and Lewisham. Both scored around 90%.

Speaking today, the education minister said a number of factors

were to blame. What Ofsted have said is overall schools are improving,

more schools are good and outstanding, but there is still an

issue with behaviour and discipline. This government has given more

powers for headteachers to exclude pupils permanently, to have the

tensions, to search the sessions. `` same day detention. In a moment, the

picture in Suffolk. But we start in Norfolk which had a mountain to

climb after it was placed near the bottom of the league tables last

year. A spokesman for Ofsted said today it's puzzling that such a

beautiful county was struggling to attract talented teachers. This is

from our chief reporter Kim Riley. A teacher in Norfolk for 40 years

retires next week after 24 years as head teacher at Angel Road Junior

School in Norwich. He is proud of what the pupils have

achieved, far exceeding national targets set in a previous

inspection, and is confused by Ofsted's ruling that the school

needs improvement. Ofsted are adopting a very punitive approach,

no matter how hard I try, it is never going to be good enough, and

they are rewarding schools that have raised and it's by taking us down a

grade and saying that we require improvement. `` raised standards.

This Ofsted inspector accepts that no system is perfect but says there

is no doubt that some of the teaching needs to improve. I asked

two questions, is the lesson you have taught good enough for your own

offspring, if you come out of that and think you would have been

disappointed if your children had been top that, you should be

disappointed in what you have done . The other question, if you keep on

delivering lessons like that, perhaps the second question is, is

this really what I want to be doing? Ofsted's chief is the says the story

of our schools is a tale of two nations. It is a problem, not just

in Norfolk but the whole country. We need to have some investment from

government, it will not be enough to expect the county councils to do it

on their own. The county council's improvement plan has set an

ambitious target to have all schools rated good or outstanding by 2016.

This time last year, the education authorities in Suffolk were shocked

to find themselves at the bottom of national league tables. It triggered

a programme of improvements involving schools, teachers and

parents. Has it worked? These pupils are practising hard for

a concert but according to Ofsted they are among 29,000 at schools in

Suffolk that require improvement, are not up to scratch. The

headteacher's priority is a good rating, but for now, this is one of

the underperforming schools. It is very demoralising. When I started

teaching here many years ago it was considered to be one of the better

local authorities. People used to say to me, they will look after you.

Unfortunately, the dwindling numbers of people available to support

schools has made a big difference to what they are able to provide.

Suffolk county council insists it is working hard to help pupils and

drive up standards. They are spending ?2.4 million on this

programme. September, officials have removed three governing bodies and

issued three warning notices. Standards are rising in Suffolk

schools. We need to speed that up, work with head teachers, governors,

to ensure that they are doubling their efforts to raise standards in

school and get them better. The problem is worse in the primary

schools. They are 138th out of 150 in the national league table. The

secondary schools are 89th out of 150. They plan to be rated good by

Ofsted next autumn. I am confident that this school was borderline,

requires improvement, is close to achieving the grade it deserves. The

teachers are motivated and inspiring. That is all I need from

my children. That is what they get here. There are signs that standards

are beginning to improve, but for now, that improvement is small and

it could take a long time. Sean Harford is the regional

director of Ofsted. Earlier this afternoon, I asked him about the

situation. Primary education across the East of England is, in terms of

the schools, the worst in the country. The gap is widening, so

whilst we have seen some improvement over the year, the gap is widening

further, against other regions. Why is that? We see too much mediated

teaching in schools, and we think that is as a result of weak

leadership. Across the East of England we have the weakest quality

of leadership management in schools of any of the regions. I seem to

have heard this time and time again. We don't have the right people

teaching our children. Why can we put it right? The national report is

calling upon the National College for teaching and learning to

incentivise the best teachers to go to these areas where we need them.

Spell this out for us, should we pay them more? In part, it is about

conditions as well, there is an element of selling any area. Norfolk

is a beautiful county. Why you would not want to go work there, I don't

know. Ofsted keep seeing the schools are not good enough. We are not

going to apologise for saying where we don't think things are right. It

is the job. Is the problem money has been poured into inner cities and

places like Norfolk suffer? They do not have enough money? Clearly, we

would not deny that you need funds to give children a good education.

The issue is that we can identify other places in the country with

equal funding to the East of England where they are doing better. It is

not just about funds. It is about great leadership. It is about making

sure that when you have the people you have got, you improve what they

do, and if they don't improve you need to be disciplined. You spoke

about incentivising, you said it was partly about money, then you said it

is all about money. It is partly about money. But equal funds produce

different results. If I was a child who started in primary school five

years ago, my life, reasonably, has been ruined because nobody gave me

the right start in education. We have identified this year and idea

between the lucky and the unlucky child, and you're absolutely right.

I live in Cambridgeshire, my children were lucky to go to a

really good primary and secondary school. My daughter is at a

fantastic college. If I drive 30 miles north of where I live,

appearing there would have a different story to tell. `` parents

there. Do parents in this region have to accept that we will have a

lost generation of children coming through schools? I don't think they

should. They need to play their part in making sure are not right they

are telling people where things are not right. Come to terms with it? I

don't think we should because it sounds defeatist. We want to stop

wringing hands and rolling our sleeves up. Thank you. Detectives in

Suffolk said this evening there was nothing suspicious about the death

of one of Britain's great movie stars of the 1950s. Jean Kent was

found collapsed at her home in Suffolk two weeks ago. The coroner

asked for a police investigation because of injuries on her body. In

her heyday, she appeared alongside some of the Hollywood greats,

including Laurence Olivier and Stewart Grainger. Let's get some

more details now from Gareth George. This is Saint Margaret's church in

West Thorpe, where Jean Kent's funeral should already have taken

place. The service was postponed while the police investigated the

circumstances surrounding her death. Quiet Suffolk villages are not where

you would expect a fine film stars, but Jean Kent, pictured here for

months before she died, had lived here for more than 20 years. ``

expect to find film stars. She was one of the most likeable people you

could ever wish to meet. No edge, always a past of `` part of the

community, and friendly person to have around. This is Jean Kent with

Stewart Grainger. She was one of the biggest British film stars of the

1940s and 1950s. At her wedding she was mobbed by fans. This is the

house where Jean Kent had lived alone in the death of her husband.

On November the 28th, her housekeeper found her lying

semiconscious on her bedroom floor. She was taken to the West Suffolk

hospital and was found to have fractured ribs and severe bruising.

She died two days later. At first, police treated her death as

unexplained. They were asked to investigate. Wherever she is now,

she might be having a black laugh about this scenario, saying it was a

bit like the plot of one of her films.

Did anyone still recognise her? Yes. We have been out with her, people

would recognise her, they would go up to her and say something. Late

this afternoon, Suffolk police said officers were satisfied there are no

suspicious circumstances surrounding Jean Kent's death. They inspected

her house and found no signs of a break`in, and she told nobody at the

hospital she had been assaulted. That is why police have come to the

conclusion that there is nothing suspicious. That will be a relief to

her friends and family, they can now start planning a fitting tribute to

her. Thank you. Railway workers will be holding a

ballot on industrial action in a dispute involving cleaners at

railway stations. The RMT Union is in dispute with the train operator

Greater Anglia. They say they want to push through proposals to cut

jobs. The ballot will be held between now and January sixth.

Still to come: Living with dementia, we report on a big step forward in

research in this region. These sports men are good at rugby,

football and cricket, but can they drive?

Six days after the tidal surge swept down the region's coast, work has

begun on repairing the damage caused to sea defences. The Environment

Agency says it's too early to say how much it will all cost but it

will take time and money. Today, the Minister in charge of the recovery

programme chaired a meeting in Whitehall. We'll be hearing from

Brandon Lewis in a moment. But first, our environment reporter

Richard Daniel has been to see the diggers in action in Suffolk trying

to plug the gaps. It was built following the floods of 1953. But it

was no match for the surge of 2013. This was one of 22 places in Suffolk

where sea and river walls were breached, as were many more in

Norfolk. Here's the point where the water poured in. During the search,

the sea came over this whole. There was pressure on the front edge. What

they think happened is the water went mind as it came over. It

created a weakness which caused the wall to fall. Heavy machinery

arrived to make emergency repairs. Locals say not enough has been done.

Banks slump, they lose height over a period of time, that would have had

an effect this particular case, because there are at least 120

metres of topping and a lesser amount in the other direction.

Norfolk and Suffolk's defences for the brunt of last week's North Sea

surge. The extent of the damage and the cost is still being assessed.

Months of work lie ahead, the cost is expected to run into millions of

pounds. With the field teams and contractors we are going out of the

most urgent locations and filling them with clay. We are doing

emergency repairs so we can stop any further tide coming in right.

Ultimately, we will come back and assess these locations to see what

further work will be needed. The environment agency is drafting in

extra staff. They said the immediate priority is to plug the gaps that

have left properties and communities at risk. A committee to oversee the

reconstruction of homes and businesses met for the first time. I

spoke to Brandon Lewis, the MP. He said there will not be any extra

money so I asked how the work will be paid for. At the moment, local

authorities, the agencies charged with the clear process, arguing that

work. The government has activated the Bellwin Scheme, so local

authorities can make a claim to central government. It is a

well`known scheme. They have used it in floods before. They will be

recompensed for that. The environment agency is assessing the

damage. They will assess that as part of their budget. They have an

ongoing budget in terms of flood work and repair work and flood

protection. That has increased under this government and in my own can

Rich Ricci, just next year, there is a scheme to improve it. `` my own

constituency. What have your constituents been saying about help

from government? Obviously, I have a role to look at what we're doing, to

make sure the clear up work is going ahead properly across the country.

As a constituency member of Parliament for great Yarmouth I have

two sides of it. We have residents who have benefited this year from

the work that was done, and the town centre was not as badly hit, and we

have a further ?28 million of work starting next year, that is

fantastic news to protect about 15,000 properties. We still have

work to do around the coastal erosion issue. Part of this is

making sure whatever work is done is the correct work. Making sure the

experts have looked at it and the money is being spent to give help to

those areas. How worried are you about future flooding events? We are

always against nature. The internal work that is being done will give us

further protection, but when we get a surge like that, even with flood

defences and coastal erosion work, there will not necessarily be

protection from the harshest realities of nature, particularly as

an island nation. There is a concern about why it is important that the

planning work is done. Local groups did amazing work making sure those

preparations are in place. They paid dividends to make sure areas like

great Yarmouth could evacuate. If we have that, the important thing is

people remain safe by listening to the advice they are given by all of

the agencies, the emergency services, the environment agency, he

the warnings and stay safe. `` he'd the warnings. As you may have seen,

world leaders are ` for the first time ` coming together to talk about

dementia. It's given hope to a Cambridge charity that has for years

worked towards treatment and a cure. Today Alzheimer's Research UK

announced it's going to spend ?3m to boost research into finding the

right drugs. Anna Todd has been to meet two women whose lives have been

turned upside down by the disease. In their late 80s, life began to

change for Mary and Fred Carling. She could not make a cup of tea.

Things like that. She put frozen food into a draw. `` drawer. They

started arguing in ways that they had not done before. Their daughter

watched as dementia set in. My father was diagnosed and we were

told there was nothing we could do. My mother was not diagnosed, the

Doctor said there was not much point giving her any medication. Today,

world leaders pledged treatments and cures by 2025. Arguably the most

significant event in dementia and Alzheimer's described the disease.

We are tasked with making it more visible than it has ever been

before. Hope is hard to come by. Most drugs trials fail. On the back

of this summit, one Cambridge charity is pulling together a

consortium, research experts from all sectors. Why has it taken so

long for the world to come together? It may be that some ageism is at

play. That is perhaps one reason it has not received the attention it

deserves. Another is we have not had many success stories and I think

success breeds success. It is too late for Sarah Kane's husband, who

was diagnosed with Alzheimer's age 43. I don't have children,

grandchildren, I will probably not grow old with the man I was

expecting to grow old with. Together in a care home, Mary and Fred

Carling did just that. They celebrated their platinum wedding

anniversary in the home. In spite of everything, they loved each other

right up until the end. If you have any questions or

concerns about dementia you can get some very useful advice from Age UK.

You can ring them on 0800 169 6565 or log on to their website. It is:

ageuk.org.uk. Some of the region's most talented sportsmen swapped

their rugby boots and cricket bats today, for the wheel of a fast car

at Silverstone. The idea was to see how stars from Northampton's

football, cricket and rugby teams would get on around the circuit.

Driving a fast car is one thing but tearing round in the fog this

morning proved to be a real challenge.Mike Liggins was there.

Alex Weekley was trying on his motor racing uniform for size. I checked

out if these Northampton Town footballers were safe to drive.

In the briefing, Danny Emerton looked nervous, but then he spoke a

good game. I am a good driver. A few of the lads then there would not be

so sure about that, but I will be OK. Really? Some of them not so

good? You need to look out for them. Strapped in and ready to go. This

footballer bunny hopped his way down the pit lane. The foggy conditions

made driving difficult. One of the drivers appears to have stopped. He

cannot start again either. I think he got lost in the fog.

We saw you bunny hopping down the pit lane. That was quite good.

Obviously, my car is a bit different. Once I found the clutch,

I was more comfortable. Then it was the turn of the rugby players and

the Cricketers, they have had three years. The sports are coming

together, we trained with another team the other day. It is good for

the town. Sadly, some of the players never got

to show how quickly would have been because the fog came down and it was

not safe to drive, but money was raised for Northampton general, and

the footballers ever give up the day job, there might be a new Lewis

Hamilton here. Unlikely, but you never know.

What a shame for all of them. Very bad luck. Quite a lot of us have

this fog. For some of us, it did lift, making some beautiful sunsets.

We have some photographs showing the sun setting. Some of us had fog all

day, making conditions Chile. It will re`form through this evening

and overnight. `` chilly. It should not be as widespread as it was last

night. You can still see that we have high pressure, light wind,

clear skies, conditions are pretty ideal. You can see the satellite

image from earlier across this western half, that is where it

lingered. Expect an evening, the first part of the night will be

misty and foggy. Temperatures around freezing for most of us, that could

mean fog patches. Temperatures will hover around 2`3 Celsius. Tomorrow,

it is going to be misty, but it should lift the way and we will be

left with a cloudy forecast. There might be brighter spells but the

general trend will be for the cloud to increase into the afternoon. It

should stay dry, although into the afternoon and evening, just a few

spots of drizzle are possible. Still a cold day. The wind will freshen

from the south. The pressure pattern is changing, by Friday the

high`pressure routes away `` moves away and we have this coming in from

the west. The wind will strengthen, but this weather front will not have

a great deal of rain on it by the time it gets to our part of the

region. Some brighter spells to start with, but on the whole a lot

of cloud. Into the mid to late afternoon, there is a chance of

patchy rain, turning more persistent. The wind will freshen

through Friday. For the weekend it looks largely dry, a bit cloudy at

times. Another chilly night, but temperatures will be above freezing.

times. Another chilly night, but temperatures will be Goodbye. See

you tomorrow.