It is very disappointing that certain heads have chosen to write to parents again apparently in order to blame MPs for funding pressures rather than work constructively with us to achieve further progress. Last month we had a very constructive meeting with a group of heads from across West Sussex at which we agreed:
-
Changes to the funding formula were welcome but still need to go further to narrow the gap with other better funded metropolitan authorities;
-
The additional £1.3bn for schools which we had campaigned for relieved some of the immediate pressures on school budgets with some schools receiving a double figure increase but again the cumulative effect of years of underfunding means we still have some way to go;
-
There is a specific problem with special needs schools which are not covered by the new funding formula and which have been hit disproportionately and need special help which we would lobby for;
-
We agreed that MPs would request a meeting with the new Education Secretary to set out these requests and lobby for additional funding to acknowledge our specific situation and then would report back to heads and parents alike.
We also discussed the level of standards in West Sussex schools where overall results are well below the national expectations, especially at Key Stage 2, which is very worrying. We raised a number of examples of other authorities funded worse than West Sussex where results re appreciably better and this needs to be investigated. Unfortunately there is no mention of standards in the letter from the Heads which will be of greatest concern to parents who obviously want the best educational outcomes for their children, as do we.
Local MPs fought to get a Conservative Party commitment to make funding fairer. We then fought to ensure it was introduced by a Conservative Government.
We then fought to improve the Government’s initial proposals. We then fought for increased funding for all schools. At every stage we have won battles to improve the relative position of West Sussex schools. We will continue to fight for a better deal for West Sussex schools and will do so in the way we feel is most likely to secure success