Shropshire schools to share in £267 million funding

Education Secretary Justine Greening announced that schools across the region are to receive the funding in the hope it will create more than 24,000 extra school places by 2020.

The funding is also aimed at giving 200 new projects to improve and expand school buildings the green light.

The news comes as new Government figures show that almost 735,000 additional school places have been created nationally since 2010 – 74,000 of them in the West Midlands – with 93 per cent of new primary school places and 92 per cent of new secondary places created in good or outstanding schools in the region in 2015-6.

The funding allocated this week also includes £58 million for West Midlands schools to invest in upgrading their school buildings and gives the go ahead to 200 vital school building work projects.

Education Secretary Justine Greening said: “Our Plan for Britain is to build a fairer society, with a good school place available for every child.

“This investment of £267 million in the West Midlands, together with our proposals to create more good school places, will help ensure every young person in the region has the opportunity to fulfil their potential.”

The funding is part of the £2.4 billion of capital funding allocated to create new school places across the country, and to maintain and improve the condition of school buildings. It is part of more than £24 billion the Government has committed to investing in the school estate between 2015-2021.

This overall funding comprises of £980 million of funding for local authorities in 2019-20 to create more than 60,000 school places. This is part of a wider investment of £7 billion in the course of this Parliament, which alongside the investment in the free schools programme, the Government expects to create an additional 600,000 places by 2021.

The £2.4 billion of national funding also includes £1.4 billion of funding allocations for schools, local authorities and academy trusts to invest in improving the condition of the school estate. This includes £466 million through the Condition Improvement Fund to fund 1,435 projects across 1,184 academies and sixth-form colleges in 2017-18.

As part of its Plan for Britain, the Government wants every child to have access to a good school place giving them the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in the future.

Alongside the multi-billion pound investment, the Government is also considering lifting the ban on new grammar schools – on the strict condition they improve the education of other pupils in the system – as well as harnessing the expertise and resources of universities, and independent and faith schools.