Millions pledged to create extra school places
MILLIONS of pounds worth of funding has been pledged to Halton over the coming years by the Government to help create extra school places and improve education facilities.
Education Secretary Justine Greening announced a £2.4bn cash injection for schools across England.
For Halton £283,013 of basic need capital funding has been allocated for 2019-20 to help create more school places in the borough.
In addition for 2017-18, more than £1.9m has been committed by the Government for maintained local authority and voluntary aided schools in Runcorn and Widnes to invest in upgrading or improving school buildings.
A Department For Education (DFE) spokesman said councils have claimed they need ● to create more than 230,000 primary and secondary school places nationally between 2017 and 2020.
The spokesman said that the funding will provide a ‘further boost’ to the Government’s drive to help create over 600,000 extra places by 2021.
Schools, local authorities and academy trusts will also receive a share of £1.4bn to invest in upgrading or improving their school buildings.
As part of this, academies and sixthform colleges throughout the country, will receive a total of £466m to pay for almost 1,500 vital school building work projects.
The Ormiston Academies Trust – whose schools include Ormiston Bolingbroke Academy on Barnfield Avenue in Runcorn and Ormiston Chadwick Academy on Liverpool Road in Widnes – will receive more than £2.8m.
Ms Greening said: “Our Plan For Britain is to build a fairer society, with a good school place available for every child.
“This £2.4bn investment, together with our proposals to create more good school places, will help ensure every young person has the opportunity to fulfil their potential.”
As part of its Plan For Britain, the Government wants every child to have access to a ‘good’ school place, giving them the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in the future.
Alongside the multibillion pound investment, the Government is considering wider proposals to ensure school standards continue to rise by creating more ‘good’ places in every part of the country.
These proposals include lifting the ban on new grammar schools – on the strict condition they improve the education of other pupils in the system – as well as harnessing the expertise and resources of universities, independent and faith schools.