Education

Conservative cuts

Every child deserves the best start in life. But Conservative school cuts mean that our children are being held back and their chances damaged.

In this autumn’s budget the Chancellor failed our children again.

Our schools are facing real terms budget cuts.

Our teachers have been abandoned by this government.

I am campaigning for a better and fairer deal. I’m calling for an extra £7 billion for children’s education, so that no school loses money per pupil in cash terms, and fairer funding can be delivered to every school.

So please back my campaign, and sign the petition below:

I call on the Chancellor to provide extra funding for our children's schools - now! And to meet the £7 billion needed to make a real difference in next year’s Spending Review.

Freezing on Funding

Our community is very lucky to have such dedicated teaching staff - striving for the best possible outcomes for all our children. But the Government is not helping them do the best they can - they are making their work impossible, by heaping cuts on and freezing funding for schools.

There has been an 8% cut in school budgets in real terms since 2010, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies. In post-16 education there has been a 20% cut. The Government may say they have increased school funding but in real terms the funding has decreased or been frozen. Government figures show that £2.8bn has been cut from schools budgets in the last three years *2. Many schools are running with, or planning for, a deficit.

The government say that spending per pupil is at its highest ever - but there are an extra 500,000 pupils and costs are rising, so the amount to spend per pupil is shrinking - and this can only affect outcomes.

Schools are being forced to make hard choices on what they spend the decreasing pot of money on. Funding is being prioritised to meet core costs at the expense of improving outcomes. Vulnerable children, including those with special education needs and mental health issues, are at risk. To compound things cuts in local government have pushed cost burdens to schools for aspects of youth work, parental support and social care.

Schools cannot provide appropriate support for pupils with additional needs if they cannot afford to run a basic core education for all.

Being a teacher has never been more demanding. As funding decreases the demands are higher than ever. - now, they are not only responsible for educational outcomes but the wraparound care the local authority can no longer provide.

The relentless pressure means that the drop-out rate of NQTs is 60%. The lack of affordable housing means that teachers can’t live in Esher and Walton and that, coupled with a national crisis in teacher recruitment and retention, means that the quality of our children’s education is at risk. Here’s an example - 25% of Physics is being taught by teachers without a physics degree.

Bailed out by parents

Schools are being bailed out by parents who are being asked to foot the bill and plug the gaps.

From the Government there are broken promises. Ministers promise a lot publicly and then row back on the detail when it comes to give the money to schools. The teacher pay settlement has not been properly funded. Only some of the money promised has been given to schools. Of the 3% across the board pay award promised by the Government, they have rowed back on the detail and only funded some of it, asking schools to find the rest. There are increasing pension rises that need funding and the government have only promised funding for these for the first year.

The Liberal Democrats have pledged to put an extra £7.5 billion into education and triple the early year’s pupil premium to £1,000.

We believe in our children’s futures and we are demanding better funding for our schools.