‘Horrifying’ gap on poor pupils
Warning as figures reveal 60pc of our deprived schools have had funding cut
EDUCATION LEADERS in Yorkshire yesterday warned of a “horrifying” funding gap facing disadvantaged pupils across the region and the UK.
The warning came after a Whitehall watchdog revealed Government efforts to level up funding for education had resulted in cuts to the money going to the most deprived schools.
The new report by the National Audit Office said since the introduction of a national funding formula for England there had been a “relative redistribution” of resources to schools in better-off areas.
In contrast, it said, almost 60 per cent of the most deprived schools had seen a real-terms reduction in Government funding since 2017-18.
Charities, education and business leaders in Yorkshire are urging Downing Street to prioritise the most vulnerable young people in the North, who even before the pandemic were not on an even playing field with their peers in the South.
Samantha Twiselton, leader of the Doncaster Opportunity Area – one of three Yorkshire opportunity areas alongside Bradford and the North Yorkshire Coast – said the audit office report came as “no surprise”.
She said a concerted effort was needed to prioritise the most disadvantaged pupils, particularly those in northern schools, to tackle an education system beset with inequalities.
Opportunity areas were set up in 2016 by then Education Secretary Rotherham-born Justine Greening to improve social mobility in the most disadvantaged regions. Ms Twiselton told The Yorkshire Post: “It sounds like a horrifying gap. On the ground it certainly feels true. It feels like these are cash-starved schools, whose budgets have been getting more and more squeezed.”
She has been in contact with former education catch-up tsar Sir Kevan Collins, who quit last month over the funding package offered.
This week he again condemned the Government’s “feeble” approach to helping schoolchildren, saying its £1.4bn package fell far short of what was needed.
Ms Twiselton said the disadvantage gap could create a downward spiral for young people.
She said: “What Covid has done in the longer term is make that disadvantage gap even wider.
“It’s this combination of poverty which then leads to more poverty because those disadvantaged already just haven’t got the financial social capital resilience to be able to cope when something like a global pandemic comes along.” Helen Rafferty, interim chief executive of education charity Shine, said long-term action and reform was needed from the Government, particularly across areas hit hardest in the North where there were high levels of longterm disadvantaged children.
She said: “This is our best opportunity to create a fairer society for all children and young people across the North, regardless of their background or where they live.”
Sarah Mulholland, head of policy at the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, added: “Levelling up needs action targeted at the fundamental issues in disadvantaged areas in towns and cities if we are to close the North-South divide.”
Cash-starved schools have had budgets more and more squeezed. Samantha Twiselton, leader of the Doncaster Opportunity Area.