American Independence day! No relevance to my day. My first visit of the day is to St Ann’s Hospital, where the George Marsh Centre is a facility supporting sickle cell and thalassaemia sufferers.

As sickle cell affects mainly members of the Afro-Caribbean community it is a big issue here in Hornsey and Wood Green. I am there to open the ‘awareness day’ – an afternoon of talks and discussion about the condition and how to support the community and spread awareness. Some of the support staff were chatting to me before the opening and saying – ‘well Lynne – what are you going do to raise awareness?’

I thought my best use – apart from opening things and turning up to things – was to put down parliamentary questions pushing the government into more action and support, perhaps be able to have a Westminster Hall debate on the issue and so on. And I will.

Then Alexandra Park School science block opening – a grand occasion. Mike Tomlinson (he of the report that the government is ignoring) is opening the block itself – and I am opening each of the classrooms. So Mike gets to pull the red curtain back on the plaque. I get to pull bits of red paper off the sign on each classroom.

At each class one of the children reads out the reason that a particular name has been chosen. For example – Albert Einstein – and then I pull off the paper to reveal the name.

We go into each classroom where the kids and their teacher are doing scientific things with Bunsen burners. Looks absolutely fantastic fun – and such talent being nurtured. Almost revised my opinion of government policy on specialist schools…!

They we trooped over to a classroom for ‘maths in the 21sst Century’. I loved the way they taught maths. If I had had such an enthusiastic and innovative and alive maths teacher as Iraj – I might have learned more myself. So – the key to the amazing atmosphere in the maths department I think had a lot less to do with the razzamatazz of the white boards and the IT and far more to do with having a brilliant teacher – who sadly was about to leave.

Then run to Commons arriving literally as the division bell rang to vote. Phew!