Last week the Minister for Schools, Nick Gibb, visited Halesowen & Rowley Regis to talk to the Halesowen Teaching and Learning Community, a group of local headteachers who meet regularly to discuss local education.
During the meeting with the schools Minister local headteachers had the opportunity to raise any concerns that they had and held a good discussion about funding, assessments and staffing where some very important points and concerns were raised, but also demonstrated some of the real passion and success of local teachers.
Local MP James Morris said, “Education was a major issue during the recent General Election, and rightfully so. It’s important that our schools are adequately funded, resourced and staffed to ensure that our children get the best possible start in life, and it provides them with the skills to start out in the workplace and in society.”
Chair of the Halesowen Teaching and Learning Community, Mrs Mackinney said, “As local headteachers we were delighted to have the opportunity share our concerns about the changes to the assessment systems, impact that current budget pressures are having on our schools and also the difficulties we face in the recruitment and retention of teachers. We feel that the Minister really listened to what we had to say and took on board our concerns. We are very grateful to him for giving us the opportunity to have an open and honest conversation about education.”
Over the last year there has been a consultation taking place in regard to funding, which was unfortunately used during the election to scare teachers, parents and even pupils. Like many areas of Government, savings have had to be made, but the schools budget is at its highest level on record this year at almost £41 billion. An additional £1.3 billion over the next two years means funding will be £2.6 billion higher in 2019-20. Fairer schools funding, backed by this additional investment, will increase the basic amount every pupil will get, protect funding for those with high needs, and ensure every local authority can give schools a cash increase.
Locally this means that local per-pupil school funding will increase by 2.3%. This means that every single school will receive a funding increase of at least 1%, with others receiving up to 6% more depending on need in Halesowen & Rowley Regis.