Shropshire school funding disparities revealed

In Shropshire the figure under the current formula can vary by up to £1,700. Under figures released by the government Hadley Learning Community – Secondary Phase in Telford received £6,498 per pupil, while the Marches School in Oswestry received £4,826.

Haberdashers Adams, a selective school in Newport received £4,736.

A basic amount is provided to all schools and it is supplemented by different criteria such as deprivation or attainment, with greater funds for poorer areas, and those where educational attainment is not as high. The figures have been confirmed as ministers prepare to launch a new framework they insist will “level up” funding.

Gary Hickey, headmaster of Haberdashers’ Adams explained why there can be such a difference in the current funding levels.

He said: “The basic amount the government provides for us to educate each pupil is supplemented by various funds designed to help pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. Schools will get higher amounts based on the attainment level of their pupils when they join in Year 7.

“As a selective school, as you might expect, our pupils are normally achieving very highly on the government’s measure and therefore we do not qualify for that additional amount. Schools also receive additional income to support pupils who come from a deprived area, normally based on their home postcode, and pupil premium funds to support pupils from low income families.”

The proposals for a new formula aim to remove discrepancies in funding arising from budgets being allocated by local authorities, in a bid to ensure that all school budgets are set using the same criteria.

From next year the minimum per-pupil funding level will be set at £5,000 for secondary schools, in a move Education Secretary Gavin Williamson says will guarantee funding is directed towards the pupils who need it most.

Andrew Burns, an executive principal at two schools in the Ormiston Academies Trust, which runs 39 academies across the country, said the new system will be “far simpler and transparent” – and an improvement on the current “unfair” framework.

“Every child will get the same amount of money and that will be topped up with extra cash for deprivation and special needs,” he said. “Local authorities will have an effect on that, so Sandwell, for example, will get more money than somewhere like Kent, due to there being more need in Sandwell.

“At the moment there is an average difference around the country of up to £500 per pupil. Sandwell is actually one of the lowest funded local authorities. As an example, we get £500 a year less per pupil than Stoke. The important thing is that the funding makes it to the right children.”

Mr Burns said that while the new system would make things better, party politics had played a role in some local authorities delaying bringing it in. “Some of them are not moving to it with any great speed,” he said. “Part of that is undoubtedly down to Labour-run councils not wanting to bring in a Conservative policy”.

However, Mr Burns warned that the increased Government funding for schools over the next three years was only a “sticking plaster” that would not make up for years of under-funding.

The Government has pledged to invest an extra £7.1bn in schools in England over the next three years, including an increase of £2.6bn to the core schools budget in 2020-21.

The Education Policy Institute (EPI) think tank has claimed the new framework could direct extra cash towards more affluent schools which “risks widening the education attainment gap”. Jon Andrews, deputy head of research at the EPI, said schools had seen “growing pressure” on budgets due to a real terms drop in per-pupil funding over the past decade.

He said while the Government’s plans would reverse school funding cuts, per pupil funding in 2022-23 would be no higher in real terms than in 2009.