Today’s Education in the Media blog looks at school funding and the Diana Award.
Funding
Earlier this year we announced a new funding formula for schools in order to remove historic injustices in the system. The old formula was based on out of date data and resulted in schools with the same demographics in different areas getting completely different levels of funding, creating a postcode lottery.
The new formula, backed by £1.3bn of new investment into school budgets, means that no school will lose funding, and under-funded schools will see significant gains of up to 3 per cent per pupil in 2018-19 and a further 3 per cent per pupil in 2019-20. Under the formula all secondary schools will attract at least £4,800 per pupil, with all primaries set to attract at least £3,500 per pupil.
It doesn’t mean all schools will get the same amount per pupil because that wouldn’t be fair so there are some schools that stand to gain more than others as a result of the formula. Today, Tuesday 14 November, a group of teachers representing schools that gain less than others in the formula, are due to hand in a petition to Downing Street.
The Today Programme covered the news, as well as BBC Breakfast, BBC online and an editorial piece in the Guardian . The articles mainly focus on the demand for extra funding.
We are clear that with the additional £1.3 billion we are investing, the formula provides for a cash increase of at least 1 per cent per pupil by 2019/20 for every school, compared to its baseline.
You can read more about misleading claims on school funding in a previous media blog entry.
Minister for School Standards Nick Gibb said:
The introduction of the National Funding Formula from 2018-19, backed by £1.3bn of additional investment, has been widely welcomed and will put an end to historic disparities in the system.
There are no cuts in funding – every school will see an increase in funding through the formula from 2018, with secondary schools set to receive at least £4,800 per pupil by 2019-20. As the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies has confirmed, overall schools funding is being protected at a national level in real terms per pupil over the next two years.
Our formula will provide significant gains for under-funded schools of up to 3% per pupil in 2018-19 and a further 3% in 2019-20.
Diana Award
This week marks anti-bullying week and yesterday, Tuesday 13 November, The Diana Award – a charity legacy to Diana, Princess of Wales’ – held an event in London to empower everyone to tackle all types of bullying.
The Daily Mirror covered the event and included a comment made by Minister Nick Gibb calling bullying “a scourge that we need to eliminate.”
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