Fridays will end early in savings bid
Wheatley Park School and, inset, Mrs May as pupil in 1973 MOST schools are delighted when a famous former pupil decides to give something back.. but not in Theresa May’s case.
Her unwelcome gift to Wheatley Park has been a string of Tory funding cuts.
And it is now having to close early in a bid to save money.
The school in Holton, Oxon, which Mrs May attended between 1969 and
1974, has sent a letter to parents warning of proposals to end the school day at 2pm on Fridays.
It read: “School budgets are under enormous pressure and our own is no exception. The school has some reserves but will quickly tip into deficit unless we can find further ways to reduce costs.
“Reducing the week by one period would mean fewer lessons would need to be taught. This would mean fewer teachers would be needed.”
Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner said: “There is a clear lesson that she could learn from her old school… cuts have consequences.
“But there’s no sign that either she or the Tory contenders to replace her are listening to anyone other than themselves.” Mrs May won a place at the then Holton Park Girls Grammar School when she was 13. She was there when it became Wheatley Park School in 1971.
School head Tim Martin joined a protest march in London last year calling for more cash for education.
Overall school funding has fallen by 8% in real terms since the Tories came to power in 2010.
Ms Rayner added: “There is no excuse for Tory ministers to ignore the crisis their cuts have caused to schools across the country.
“We have heard from heads forced to cut the school week, crowdfund for basic supplies and clean the toilets themselves to save money.
“Mrs May promised that austerity was over, but our children are still paying the price for her failure to keep her word.”
Last month, Jeremy Corbyn accused Tories of being in “denial” over school cuts. The Labour leader said 26 schools “close early on a Friday every week because they don’t have enough money”.
And he warned more than 1,000 are crowdfunding for basic equipment.
Budgets are under enormous pressure & ours is no exception
TIM MARTIN HEAD OF WHEATLEY PARK SCHOOL