EDUCATION Secretary Nicky Morgan listened to teachers’ concerns about increasing workloads and changing national demands when she visited Ilkley Grammar School yesterday.

Miss Morgan, who took over the role of Secretary of State for Education from Michael Gove this summer, heard teachers talk about their own workload, and negative perceptions of education nationally.

Head teacher Helen Williams made a plea for the Government to make “no more changes” to education, giving schools a period to adjust to reforms of recent years.

Miss Morgan acknowledged the work done by staff in schools in implementing changes in the education system brought in by the Government.

“We couldn’t have done it without the hard work of heads and teachers of this country, and I would like to say ‘thank you’ for that.”

She spoke in favour of a “school-led self-improving system” and equality in access to good education regardless of background, and the belief that education can be transforming.

“This is what we want to see in education,” Miss Morgan added.

“We happen to believe academies are a good way to do that.”

She insisted the Government would not push schools into becoming academies but said she believed the creation of academies was a way of increasing standards.

Keighley MP Kris Hopkins joined Miss Morgan on the visit and spoke about Ilkley Grammar’s wish for a new or rebuilt site.

Miss Morgan’s predecessor, Mr Gove, who visited Ilkley Grammar in 2011, before the school gained academy status, scrapped the Building Schools for the Future Scheme, which it had been hoped would fund the rebuilding of the oversubscribed school.