It was back to school for local MP Laura Sandys when she toured classrooms at Ramsgate’s Marlowe Academy  last Friday (11 November) and was surprised to be set a brief  Spanish (Castilian)  language test to the amusement of on-looking students.  

She was also pleasantly taken aback when young pupil, Mark Golds, rose unprompted from his desk and strode confidently to shake her hand.

Not surprisingly, Mark’s second career ambition is to be a politician - his first aim though is to be an astro-physicist.

Laura Sandys, Conservative MP for South Thanet, toured the school, greeting many of her young constituents, while on a fact-finding mission with Marlowe Academy’s interim Principal, Carl Wakefield.

In other classrooms she viewed lessons including maths, tourism, and art with silk-screen printing.  She also dropped in to see a food technology lesson where dishes were being prepared including upmarket salads, Cornish pasties and rosemary potatoes.

Mrs Sandys offered to include Marlowe students in a special local tourism seminar early next year which could help the Marlowe tourism students with their studies.  She said:

“Local organisations are looking at what we can deliver to tourists - and I am happy to include Marlowe students as part of my presentation to a group of about 80 people in the tourism and leisure sector in East Kent.  They can do part of the presentation work.”

Reflecting on her visit, she added:

“I have been here many times before - but what I have seen is a very committed team of teachers and there is a very positive feeling about this school.  Of course there are challenges, but one thing that is important is that students, no matter how challenging their circumstances, should not lack ambition.”

Marlowe interim Principal, Carl Wakefield, said:  “It was good of Laura Sandys to take time out of her busy schedule on Armistice Day to visit our school.  We showed her most aspects of our Academy and spoke frankly about the challenges we face - there were no hidden areas.   She made a number of helpful suggestions and a positive offer of help for our tourism students.”