New funding 'threat' to rural teaching

CAMPAIGNERS fighting for the country's worst funded education authorities – which includes five councils in the region – have voiced fears that plans for the pupil premium and for colleges and schools to receive the same level of support for post 16 pupils will have a negative impact on rural communities.

The f40 group is calling for a meeting with the Government in response to changes to the way schools are funded being introduced from next year amid fears that countryside schools could be forced to close. The pupil premium is being created to ensure that schools which educate children from the most deprived backgrounds receive extra cash.

However the f40 group, which includes the East Riding, North Yorkshire, North Lincolnshire, York and Wakefield is warning that this plan could lead to schools which are already among the worst funded in the country losing out on more money if the pupil premium is taken from existing funding. The Government has described the pupil premium as an extra 2.5bn on top of the schools budget. However Labour has claimed it will result in the Direct Schools Grant for all schools being cut.

Tony Norton, a Brigg head teacher and f40 national executive member, said schools which have a low number of pupils receiving free school meals will miss out on funding when the pupil premium is introduced.

Now the group's chairman Coun Ivan Ould has voiced fears that rural schools could face "budgetary nightmares" if the pupil premium results in their funding dropping.

There are also fears that ensuring schools and further education colleges receive the same level of post-16 funding will mean schools need to operate larger class sizes – something which small rural sixth forms could struggle to sustain. Schools currently receive more per head than colleges.