Stephen McPartland, Member of Parliament for Stevenage, was delighted to welcome the Secretary of State for Education, the Rt Hon Michael Gove MP to open officially the new Marriotts school together with the new Lonsdale school for children with special needs.

Stephen said, "I invited Michael here because I think it is an amazing development. When the Building Schools for the Future programme was scrapped, I asked Michael to reconsider and he thought these two schools together was a great concept so allocated £80m to have it built. It is very kind of Michael to come and open the schools. We have been working closely together to make it happen and it is fantastic we have been able to give the pupils these facilities.

"I am passionate about education and want to ensure every child has the opportunity to change their life chances by getting a good education. The work we are doing locally will have a massive impact on our children, but it will give children from poorer backgrounds a great start in life."

Mr Gove said, "I wanted to come here because Stephen has been a brilliant advocate for Stevenage and was so proud of the changes that have been made here. I can see why; I have met some delightful students using state-of-the-art equipment, which is very encouraging.

"One of the most distinctive things is that you have genuine co-location so the children who are attending Lonsdale and the children who are attending Marriotts regard themselves as being part of the same community. The real story has been an MP like Stephen committed to the very best in education, a county council that wants to help, and individual headteachers, newly appointed in post, who are raring to go and who want to achieve significantly better than in the past."

Click here if you would like to help Stephen make a difference