Chancellor: I made school funding fairer
Montana’s tribute after tragic death of her friend
BUDGET WOES Alex Bird SCHOOLS should not have to close early on Fridays to save money as funding is now fairer, Chancellor Philip Hammond has said.
Headteachers across England have complained about squeezed budgets.
Alex Bird, head of St Mary’s Primary in Horsham, West Sussex, said “working conditions were atrocious” as he has had to cut support staff ’s hours to make ends meet.
But Mr Hammond told BBC1’s Andrew Marr show: “I don’t want to see any schools closing early.
“We’ve put £1.3 billion of additional funding into schools in 2017.
“We have now introduced a fair funding formula which is ensuring that money is spread more fairly between schools… but that will take time.” Mike and Montana on Love Island LOVE Island star Mike Thalassitis was in a “dark place” and had turned to self-help books to keep going shortly before he was found hanged, Montana Brown has revealed.
Montana spoke of her devastation after learning that 26-year-old Mike had been found dead in woodland in Edmonton, North London, near his Essex home, at the weekend.
In a tribute to her friend from the 2017 reality show, she revealed details of their last phone call, in which he had congratulated her on a recent swimwear launch.
She said: “Now I know you were in a dark place a few months back and I thought you were past it and that you were on the up.”
She had advised him to get the selfhelp book, The Magic, by Rhonda Byrne. Montana, 23, said: “You wrote down your gratitudes, you had the pictures of your family in your car to remind you to be grateful for them.
“I just don’t know how I didn’t notice… I am absolutely heartbroken that I couldn’t help you. Your phone call a few days ago to tell me that I’m smashing the swimwear, you’re proud of me and that you’re grateful for my friendship is the only thing that’s keeping me going.
“At least you knew how much you meant to me.”
Cleaning Up star Sheridan Smith, 37, said that she felt ill after hearing news of the reality star’s death.
The BAFTA award winner wrote online: “This should be a massive
Mike’s death devastated Montana Brown wake-up call. I feel sick, reach out, sometimes to the most confident friend. We can only learn & try to change.”
Sheridan has spoken about her own experience of mental illness. She suffered a breakdown following the death of her father, Colin, from cancer in 2016.
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Metropolitan yesterday said: “Police were called to a park near Latymer Way, N9, at 9.28am on Saturday, March 16 to reports of a man found hanged. “Officers and the London Ambulance Service attended and found a man, aged in his 20s, deceased. The death is not being treated as suspicious.
“Police are in the process of informing the man’s next of kin. A file will be prepared for the coroner.”
Mike was given the nickname “Muggy Mike” after getting together with fellow contestant Chris Hughes’s girlfriend, Olivia Attwood, on the show.
A semi-professional footballer, he had played for St Albans and Chelmsford.
He dated The Only Way Is Essex star Megan McKenna, but they split last year.
In June last year, Sophie Gradon, who was in the 2016 series of Love Island, was found dead at her home in Newcastle at the age of 32. WARNING Sheridan Smith
Police statement MONTANA BROWN ON LOSS OF MIKE THALASSITIS
Your phone call a few days ago is all that’s keeping me going