If you are not already a NAPE member then why not consider joining and supporting us?

Twenty years ago the association known familiarly as NAPE came into being. This was the outcome of a growing feeling among parents and teachers that the importance of primary education was not sufficiently recognised or resourced.

The association was founded on the belief that the achievement of high standards in education is utterly dependent upon the quality and strength of children’s learning in their early years. By eleven years old it is too late for many children to succeed. For some children it is already too late at seven.

From the beginning our membership has been open to everyone concerned for primary education. Teachers, heads, advisers, inspectors, parents, councillors, even some MP's have made up our ranks.

We have campaigned flat out and continue to campaign for a better deal for nursery and primary schools and a universal acceptance of the need for young children, their parents and their teachers to be high on the list of national priorities.

Much has been achieved. The present government is the first ever to finance nursery schooling for all children. Recognition of the vital need for small classes has led to the adoption of a legal maximum class size for under sevens. The differential between primary and secondary funding has been steadily reduced.

At the inception of NAPE some 70% more was invested in a child on entering secondary school; in 1998/9 the difference was down to 34%.

Of course much remains to be achieved. Within the lifetime of the next government we expect to see the maximum class size extended to cover all children up to the age of eleven. We will continue to campaign for equal investment in children right across the statutory age range.

Currently we are campaigning on behalf of classroom assistants. Increasingly assistants are forming teaching teams in partnership with teachers and the time has come for government to fix salaries on a national scale and recommend appropriate conditions of service.

All those who share our commitment are invited to join us by calling the national office on 01604 636326.