EDUCATION IN CAMBRIDGE
A bright future Ours is a city on the move – though like anywhere else, challenges lie ahead. But today’s school pupils are the problem solvers of tomorrow
e do things differently here. Bigger, better and often with an eye to the future, Cambridge
Positive though all this sounds, there are some difficult balances to be struck. A rising population means that more housing is needed, a challenge being taken on by a plan to build up to 250,000 extra homes – unveiled earlier this year. While everybody agrees that more homes are needed, questions about how and where they’re built are harder to resolve. There’s also a growing drive to make homes greener, with some of our local residents showing the way forward by opening their houses up this autumn to visitors, sharing their experiences of going green and reducing their reliance on fossil fuels – jettisoning the oil tank or gas boiler in the process. Then there’s the uncomfortable reality that while average salaries are rising, the benefits aren’t being equally distributed. Our city remains not just highly polarised but tops the list as the most unequal in the UK, with some residents earning well under £20,000 a year. And the impact this has on the youngest members of society is stark, with a high percentage of pupils on free school meals doing substantially less well in their GCSEs than their more affluent peers. Local food banks, too, are seeing a surge in demand, higher even than during the pandemic as the cost-of-living crisis continues to bite. While there are no instant solutions, there is a growing drive to make things better. Charities and community interest groups are joining forces with private-
is one of the fastest-growing local authorities, with a significant increase in households over the past decade. It’s not hard to see why this has happened. Take technology – far from the only area of innovation, but one that runs like a golden thread through many aspects of our daily lives. We’re in the UK’s top ten for the number of tech-related jobs on offer according to one survey. This is courtesy of our area’s ever-growing appeal both to existing big-name firms opening offices and homegrown ‘Cambridge cluster’ companies – numbering close to 5,000 and continuing their rise with a seemingly insatiable appetite for highly trained, highly paid staff. As our city increases in size, the proportion of affluent residents grows too. One survey found that we are home to one of the highest percentages of millionaires in the country. “Cambridge is one of the fastest-growing local authorities, with a significant increase in households this decade”
8 AUTUMN/WINTER 2023
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