Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
That’s a bit rich: King’s asks taxpayers to chip in for lunch
Request for £755 to feed disadvantaged youngsters at science day vetoed Exclusive
by Emma Grafton-williams school for its financial support? If it were perceived that we as a council were financially supporting the King’s School, that is not going to go down terribly well and that is a risk.”
Appealing for the grant, science teacher and King’s School head of partnerships Christina Astin said without the donation it would have to restrict numbers on the day, which will cost more than £3,000 to host.
“The biggest expense is not the staffing, it’s the lunch,” she said. “We want to give everybody a good hot meal as we felt it was a very important part of the day.
“But less funding will mean we will have to restrict our numbers.
“We can’t expect the staff to work for nothing – they already work six days out of seven. We hope it will be a springboard to working more closely with the council and the community.”
Cllr Louise Jones (Con), who told the meeting her son attends a public school, said the committee had turned down other worthy applications because mem- bers felt the money could be raised somewhere else and not out of the public purse.
Fellow Tory Cllr Steve Williams proposed giving King’s half of the cash but members rejected the motion by five votes to four.
Following the meeting, school bursar Mark Taylor told the Gazette that King’s does a huge amount of work with the local community and state schools through its partnerships programme, supporting more than 2,500 pupils and 120 teachers.
It also pays about £1 million in bursaries for children who cannot afford school fees.
He added: “We just thought that by applying to the opportunities fund it would be seen as more of a joint community event and encourage more children to attend.”
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