Boris’s £2bn boost to make schools ‘superb’

SCHOOLS in England are set to receive a £2.2billion boost as Boris Johnson promises all children a ‘superb education’.

Most state school pupils will have an increase in Government funding of at least 3 per cent next year.

Mr Johnson said secondary schools will get at least £5,150 per pupil – up from £5,000 this year – while primaries will receive a minimum £4,000, up from £3,750.

Schools in historically wellfunded London will see slightly smaller increases per pupil than in other regions as part of ministers’ ambitions to ‘level up’ the Midlands and North.

Smaller schools and those in remote rural areas will enjoy extra cash after the formula was changed to redress underfunding.

The Prime Minister said: ‘Every child deserves a superb education – regardless of which school they attend or where they happened to grow up. That is why we are providing additional funding now and for the future for every school, with those historically underfunded receiving the greatest increase.’

The Department for Education (DfE )said schools would also benefit from the Government’s £1billion Covid-19 catch-up package to make up for lost teaching time during the pandemic.

A secondary school with 1,000 pupils will receive £80,000 while a 200-pupil primary will get £16,000. The funding increase is the second instalment of a three-year settlement up to 2022 which will see annual spending rise by £7.1billion over the period. Mr Johnson will today visit a school in the South East to promote the funding boost.

Geoff Barton, of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: ‘We are pleased the Government is delivering on its promise to improve school funding with this second year of its three-year plan for extra investment.

‘But we are disappointed that it has so far failed to recognise the impending financial impact on schools of safely bringing back pupils from September.’

He stressed that ‘these seemingly enormous sums are spread across more than 21,000 schools and eight million pupils’. Labour education spokesman Kate Green said: ‘The fact is schools will still be worse off in 2023 than they were in 2010 under these plans as a direct result of the Conservatives’ decision to cut budgets. Far more must be done for every child to have the opportunity to reach their full potential.’

The new financial plans come after ministers announced thousands of school places would be created for children with special needs and disabilities. The DfE said 35 special free schools, opening from September 2022, will provide children with tailored support and specialist equipment.

‘Levelling up the regions’